the private side

I pinned the daily practice wall pieces up on the design wall.
These are daily collages that I stitched on every day between January 1 and April 7 2018
In the first one, I tried to make collages about observations and intuitions.  (Super Moon an example)
In the second one, I used abandoned work, attempting to give new life to some cyanotypes.
In the third one, I just recorded the passage of time and the containment of love.

Then I flipped them back to front...and wow.

They stir my emotions more.
I wonder why.

the reverse of these pieces are simpler than the front
minimal colour
naked maybe, yet marked with those black dotted lines
they are sensuous
private

there's a serenity to them
maybe they are more spiritual
more connected to something ineffable

 the materials are wool felt and wool thread

they remind me of the sweet grass baskets stitched with black thread that I collect here on Manitoulin
made by the indiginous crafts women
this scented grass remains so sweet even when it drys from green to a golden colour.

I began collecting these small and simple lidded baskets when we moved here 25 years ago
this one holds some pieces of mica, gifts from nature

the three wall pieces also remind me of mbuti bark cloth from the congo in africa

click here for more examples of bark cloth

To make the daily practices, I stitched arrangements of plant dyed velevt to the felt

always designing from the front of the piece.

yet I prefer the back sides.

The inner side.
the inner world.

The front is too distracting and noisy.

we've been thinking about being alive for thousands of years 

Jessica Stockholder