commonplace holiness

 

we have astonishment
there is life held within materials
and in the art made from them

This is an idea Giuseppe Penone speaks about often.
Astonishment.  Poetry.
That there is life held within materials.

My friend, Connie Wilson,  gave me these handkerchiefs.  (I wrote about them here)
She died on Saturday and I miss her.

 

she was a daughter of the spirit,
a friend for two dozen years,
she taught me how to love

loving planet earth the way she loves her linens

 

starting a new piece inspired by
women's handkerchiefs and red thread

and our Canadian poet, PK Page

the trees must be washed and the grasses and mosses

they have to be polished as if made of green brass.

the rivers and little streams with their hidden cresses

and pale coloured pebbles

and fools gold

must be washed and starched

or shined into brightness,

the sheets of lake water

smoothed with the hand

and the foam of the oceans pressed into neatness

from Planet Earth by PK Page

started stitching again

Yesterday I started stitching again.

I needed to, so I did.

 

For me, stitching is like breathing.

 

Like heart beat.

prayer for the 21st century

May gardens be wild, like jungles,

May nature never be tamed,

May dangers create of us heroes

May fears always have names

May the mountains stand to remind us

Of what it means to be young,

May we be outlived by our daughters,

May we be outlived by our sons.

by John Marsden

Tomorrow is Canada Day and in my country we will be celeberating 150 years.  Canada is a young country with a history older than 150 years....short memories, high hopes.  

Prayer Flag For Canada at this link   (John Marsden is an Australian poet)

prayer flag for Canada

 I finished this today

 in time for International Women's Day

 for Canada

a prayer for women,
for our grand daughters

the old hankies were embroidered with circles and edged with red thread, and then buttonholed to a linen backing cloth

 the backing cloth was then removed, revealing the inner - ness

 I washed it and hung it on the line

then I blocked it by pinning it to the wall
stretching and smoothing with my hands instead of ironing

and noticed that some of the threads were bleeding.

that's ok

gift cloth

I am carefully basting red edged hankies onto thin white linen in the shape of a cross.
There is something quite powerful yet really domestic in this work.
I believe in the power of domestic.
Domestic is a poetic space we carry along inside us throughout our entire lives.
Gaston Bachelard said that.

I'm not setting my kitchen timer for one hour like I used to do.
I just start working and go at it all day, breaking for walk or errands or visiting my dad or meals.
All the day, I work.
Even my reading has slowed to one Grace Paley short story a day,
her observations and compassions about mothers and lovers.

soft and gentle
healing vital energy
my work is absorbing, not exhausting

I feel my way towards a new body of work
I hope to join together my thought process with my making process

Usually, I begin with a thought and then start placing fabrics
but things then get urgent and firm up so quickly...I can't stop them.

I go with the new way
I have to.
I would like to slow down the many false starts I make.

I just don't have time to go off hand stitching in all directions.

soft, subtle
unsophisticated
intuitive, almost artless
that red!

red edge thin and delicate
I hold it up to the light ...
strength of colour
softness of cloth

facing down mortality
this is careful work
like the tai chi movement of carrying  a tiger - heavy yet dangerous

red and white together mean death in many cultlures, accidents

red thread edges mean protection in many cultures

red and white has such a childlike simplicity

Someone will love this, I think, as I slowly hem the linen,  because I do.
Old fragile squares plus new red threads and time

The time it takes to put it together and the time it recalls from the past century.
both

All of these hankies were gifts.

it's a gift cloth

Why are red and white so beloved and feared?

refuge from everything
a sense of chance

The work unfolds and takes its course
like nature does

the greatest pleasure

Q:  What part of the process of making a quilt gives you the greatest pleasure?  

A:  I like every single part of the process, from choosing and dyeing the fabrics, designing the composition, planning and then executing the hand stitched marks and finally, finishing the edges with care.
I love to gently wash a finished quilt and hang it on the line.

Q:  What do you consider your greatest challenge when working with this medium?  

A:  The greatest artistic challenge for me is to retain the simplicity I love.

Q:  Approximately how many hours a week do you devote to quilt making?

A:  I work at least six hours a day, 7 days a week at my art form.  That's 40 - 50 hours a week.

 Q:  How long have you been making quilts?

 A: 45 years

Q:  How has your artwork changed over time?

A:  The quilts have become less auto-biographical and more universal. 

For the last ten years or so i have been using the archetypal shapes of circle, square, crucifix or repeated dots within large scale hand stitched pieces.  

Q:   Who or what has had the most influence on your artwork?

A:  Becoming a mother brought my creativity forward.  For years my artwork reflected on the responsibility and beauty of motherhood.

Otherwise, I would say that studying fine art has been very important to me.  I am continually inspired by looking at art and reading about artists and how they interpret and communicate their relationship with the world.