I have been thinking a lot about women’s personal protective equipment for a couple of months. My cloaks, covered with amulet-type objects are fundamentally connected to the idea of wisdom, but also protection from harm. So many of my fiber friends have been busy sewing masks, but in all honesty I have not felt this calling. Instead I have been stitching a story, almost a visual diary of protection.
Wisdom Cloak: Invisible Visionary, wool, cotton gauze, hand embroidered and stitched, 52 x 58” (Photo by Kay Westhues)
Invisible Visionary is a piece I worked on in the cold of winter, reflecting on the “invisibility” of women as they grow older. That lack of societal regard can be disheartening, but sometimes surprisingly useful. The piece is built on a whole cloth of wool felt from Nepal, and includes needle felting, couching and thousands of stitches, mostly in crewel embroidery wool with a cotton gauze backing. Each of the cloaks has an archaic “bone” needle sewn onto the surface. I made a dozen of these fascimiles with epoxy clay that I burnished with oil color after they dried. I have completed eight of the twelve Wisdom Cloaks and will be taking a break (I find wool to be unpleasant to work with in warm weather) and I’m shifting to PPE breastplate forms, much smaller and made with mixed media. More on those as I progress. These will be somewhat three-dimensional and will also have small talismanic objects embedded into the surfaces. My research on the breastplate form led me down some very interesting rabbit-holes, investigating armor and a whole world of amazing “cosplay” artists who are creating wearables from new and imaginative materials—fascinating. Check out my Pinterest Board “patterns-Armor” .
Another Lost Grip is now appearing in a Woman Made Gallery Exhibit online called Touch. There are many very interesting and compelling works to browse through.
Here are a few of the titles I have been reading while I stitch (most on OverDrive from my local library):
The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern; Turtles all the Way Down, by John Green; Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly; Redhead by the Side of the Road, by Anne Tyler; The Illness Lesson, by Clare Beams (I was drawn to this book because of the beautiful cover illustration, a mysterious embroidery by Michelle Kingdom); Gods of Jade and Shadow, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia; The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich.
Be well, create art.
Peonies, Coral Charm