"I Descended From Women Who..."

UP DATE: This quilt is going into a show at the Lawler House Gallery in Suisun, CA on Sunday, January 30 called, "Text, Texture and the Tantalizing Egg."

In October our on-line quilt group: Quilts Around The World were to make a small quilt 8" X 11" of a Self Portrait. I had at first thought I'd do my face in a Picasso fashion, and then the more I thought about it I realized my thoughts kept going back to the ancestral women in my life from whom I descended and the realization that they were all artists of one sort or another. I decided I wanted to make a quilt that honored them and show how I became who I am today because of them.

I took some old photographs of my maternal grandmother, Ella, and my paternal grandmother (seated) Golda and my aunts (dad's sisters in this photo:Rae, Ester, Molly, Freda); my mother Estelle and her sisters, Jane and Miriam, all of whom are wearing clothing they made themselves;

and finallymy self and my grand daughter. And note that in this photo my grand daughter is drawing a picture. She at age six also takes an after school class called Textile and Fashion Design where she is learning to sew.

You can click on the photos to enlarge them if you like. I transferred the photos to white silk and sewed them to a piece of white linen. I added some bits of lace and white buttons and beads. And then in black thread I outlined the photos as a way of quilting them. I then wrote in free motion style around the border of the quilt these words:

"I am descended from women who sewed and knit, drew painted photographed.

I pass on the you in me to my grand children with love.

Thank you grandmothers, mother and aunts."

I showed it to my six year old grand daughter and explained it to her, introducing her to her great great great grandmothers, great great great aunts, great great aunts and great great grandmother. I explained the art they all did. Sharing how I felt we do what we do today because of them. And she got it!

That is my self portrait!

Stop Bullying Now!

UPDATE: I picked this quilt up from the Lawler House Art Gallery show on Jan. 30, 2011. I was told that many, many people stood and read the quilt. This was a very good feeling to hear.

Second Update: Early May 4-8 2011 Stop Bullying Now hung at the Dixon May Fair and received 15 viewer votes!

Third Update: May 21-July 2 2011, "Stop Bullying Now" was accepted into the 34th Juried art show at the Vacaville Art League art gallery. It hangs there under a spot light very proudly for all to see!

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I made this art quilt with a message in October of this year. I dedicated it to Tyler Clement and other teens who took their own lives as a result of being bullied. It is currently hanging in a show in Suisun, CA at the Lawler House. The show is called "Quilts of a Different Matter".
I made a rather traditional easy quilt with one piece of fabric and a border and edged it for the background. I free motion sewed across the background with a spiral design of my own invention.
And then I wrote on pieces of white muslin free motion style again the words/messages and sewed them to the background.

I added some photos found on line from news stories about the kids who had succumbed to bullying and the candle light vigil held in their honor.

I added some beads for further embellishment.

I hoped my message would be clear.


It will hang at the Lawler House until the end of Janurary and then I may send it on to another show in Gualala, CA called Confrontational Art in Febuary.

As it turned out the timing was off so it does not go to Gualala after all.