Today I returned to the store to buy a few more smaller frames for my exhibit next May. The repetition of patterns and block letter and number images feels intuitively uniform for my message I hopefully will communicate with my viewers in both my assemblages and poetic verses stitched into the fiber works. I now can see how my block printed words can be connected onto the surface layers of the older linens and fabrics I have collected will unite the overall continuity in my whispers. Whew... that sounds high minded thinking...I never would have thought to even articulate this process back in 1990 when I had my first one woman exhibit at the Methodist Seminary in Delaware,Ohio. Then I was flying by the seat of my pants and now I realize how important my preparation is in making this authentic and sacred. Yes, I consider this as a form of my spiritual prayers and making them visible. They are not perfect but hopefully they will help me create a connection with my family, my community and my earthly home. Working with the fragility of fiber and threads creates an intimacy between both the creator or artist and the persons who come to experience the works. Collectively when the connection is made there is a dialogue beyond words and the fiber artwork wants to touch you back and caress us through our fingertips. I am not sure I am being clear but when I am immersed in the stitching process I get lost in the present moment and breathe into my existence a new vision. This is my prayer.
I am watching a HBO special "The Day the Levees Broke" about the anniversary of the tragedy four years ago when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. The filmed images are almost unimaginable and hard to believe. I have been jaded by computer generated images in the movie industry in the last couple of years and this documentary burdens my mind and heart. Have we learned anything? I know meeting a transplanted musician from New Orleans when I visited Nashville a few weeks back and in a very brief time I could see how difficult surviving Katrina was to this one human being. Ri'Chard...Richard is a survivor and making a new home with good home cooked foods and live musicians every night ...Art Saves Lives...for a new community of loving expressive individuals. Cajun cooking will forever remind me of the courage this spicy man needed to survive. What have we learned?
The sunshine warms my heart this afternoon and the birds are singing their blues...summer is fading and the times are a changing right in front of me. Gentle reminders to pause...standing still...feel the caress of the breeze on my face. Angels with invisible wings pass over me as I return to my work. Imagine Peace and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart
I love the barn picture!!!
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