Of this Moment

Through the work I’ve shared, I’ve been reflecting on the places around me both indirectly through the painting, and directly through fiber and plant dying. In a few of the newer pieces I’ve stitched the linen to create larger foundations for paintings and their own dynamic compositions (below). This foundation (above) has been hanging in my living room for a long while. I haven’t felt ready to paint on it yet. Maybe it’s the size. But, it has served as an interesting new inspiration.

Fiber arts has recently has been my go-to creative activity. I’m in an learning phase and soaking up all the ways fiber can be manipulated to tell stories. Embroidery, needlework, quilting, various dying, sashiko, boro, weaving.

I’ve also continued to love linen and have spent the past two years hoarding second hand linen. Thriftstore shirts, pillow cases, sheets, tableclothes, curtains. My collection on any given day feels daunting and also like just a tiny little bit. I’ve saved the white linen pieces for future dye batches. But the colored pieces have mostly become quilts.

I live in this special little beach/forest place but the community it’s nestled into, Tillamook, has a deep love of quilting. There is a quilt museum (below), a quilting cotton shop that I remember visiting when I was so little the memory is very blurry, and a Barn Quilt Trail.

There was a time where I was actually afraid this was where my art was headed. And now I’m so excited to be embedded in this place with so many resources, and a focus on not just the hobby, but the art and history and community surrounding it. How does this craft intersect with my art practice? Not sure yet, still exploring and experimenting and learning. But it feels like something true and a way to deeply accept my creative voice without judgement or wondering how it will be received. Just a way to be. In this place, in this time, as me.

Post Script: Things I’m thinking about (or paraphrasing stolen thoughts) when I’m working on these pieces. The second life of the material. The purpose of a quilt ie: connection - physical and relational, protection, warmth, legacy. The act of creating a quilt - silence, repetition, flow, consistency, improvisation, mobility, physicality of thought, focus and detachment. How this relates to my previous work - memory, place, reflection, remembering, neuro-pathways.