muse

 

It saved me from being trampled
Colour of ages 

no more thunder

 

How will I spend this brief lifetime?

Reconnecting with my own being, just the way it is. 
Opening up.

two linen and damask quilt backs

 

"From the age of six I had a penchant for  copying the form of things, and from about fifty, my pictures were frequently published; but until the age of seventy, nothing that I drew was worthy of notice.  At seventy-three years, I was somewhat able to fathom the growth of plants and trees, and the structure of birds, animals, insects and fish.
Then when I reach eighty years, I hope to have made increasing progress, and at ninety to see further the underlying principles of things, so that at one hundred years I will have achieved a divine state in my art, and at one hundred and ten, every dot and every stroke will be as though alive.  Those of you who live long enough, bear witness that these words of mine  prove not false. "

Hokusai's postscript  to One Hundred Views Of Mount Fugi, written at age 73

a history of what is carried

 

 

"work that might seem very ordered in a way, but also has a history of its own making, a history of what it carried, and I want that to be very present"
Lawrence Carroll

to softness

 

it's a journey

cottage conversation

 

'stop it!' she says and throws a pillow at me from the day bed.
'stop getting old'

about existence in a world of flux

showing the reverse side of thunder moon, with the coloured wool inner layer revealed by the stitch process itself, through the sheer wool back cloth

It's that essence I search for.

Betty Goodwin, in 1975  

an atmosphere of time

 

I am intrigued by the qualities of old cloth and by the evocation of its own history through the surfaces, whether patched, stained, rich, worn, moth-eaten or faded.
I want to create works that are contemporary equivalents of these old fragments of cloth.

Pam Gaunt
Australia

Then one day she stopped painting

 

 

 

So often, women wrest their art from brackets of silence.  Nothing in our special education as women encourages us to stsruggle for significance.  How do we dare to create forms and images, to illuminate our experiences, to subject our possibilities to scrutiny?

Caffyn Kelley, editor Gallerie Women's Art Volume 1  1988

phenomenology

 

phenomonology:

a philosophical approach that concentrates on the study of consciousness and the objects of direct experience

a philosophy of embodiement

the haptic sense, emotional, subjective

what is different about the new minimalism?
touch

the timeless present

An artwork or building made a thousand years ago - in a culture completley unknown -
touches us because we encounter the timeless present
of being a human being
in that work.
Juhani Pallasmaa

enter into the life of trees

nourish the spirit more than the intellect

basket full of cloth

 

 

 

 

I emptied a basket of cotton cloth
It took me a week,
I pinned the cloth to the wall and looked at it while I rode my stationary bike.
The first couple of wall-fulls were not photographed.
I am inspired to make some quilt tops from these cloths.
they have been saved for years.

Watch this wall xo

like it can touch you back

 

Any material that has any kind of intelligence is kind of like a battery.  If you spend enough time with it, you can charge it.
Fabric, laundry, has that charge because we rub up against it so often.
The investment - intellectually, conceptually, materially, temporally - makes the artwork feel charged like it can touch you back.
Or when you look at it, it can look back.
It's magical when it happens.                            Abbas Akhavan 

creativity is a habit

 

Wolfgang's first good fortune was to have a father who was a composer and a virtuoso and recognized ability in his son. 
Nobody worked harder than Mozart.
"People err who think my art comes easily to me.  I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I"  W.A. Mozart

His so-called genius, his discipline and work ethic were its equal.    Twyla Tharp

apparently endless

a warm quilt of art is pulled over the world

heart of hearts

 

Dear Heart
What do you want?
Do you want to be loved?  Touched?  Cared for?  Of course.
Do you want to be more independent?  stronger?  Braver?  Yes.
Which do you want more?

(journal entry from May 10)

caress

the caress
is an awakening to a touching between us.
It is a gesture that is at the same time
an act, an intention, an emotion.
Luce Irigaray

old material, new way

side a

side b

wool has longevity as a natural fibre
wool blankets tend to serve generations of people
our experiences are imprinted on their fleece
stains, worn bindings, mended areas

Marie Watt

this is not a hobby for you

 

'you have such integrity in your work'
'you have got to guard against your desire to take eveyrthing to such high standard'
'there is no point in being academically ambitious if you become creatively sterile'
'nurture your creativity with things like your family life.  You need to"

Joan Richardson 2011
phone call conversation with my tutor during my degree work from Opus School of Textile art, Middlesex University UK, (notes from my journal of that time)