Thankful Thoughts

For as difficult as 2020 has been, I have much to be thankful for and will strive to be mindful of that in the challenging days ahead. We had a whole week of sunny, warm weather, and I was able to put the gardens to bed for the winter, plant a few bulbs and enjoy hikes in some of the lovely natural places we have nearby. Dramatically rising COVID numbers are limiting holiday plans, but my teaching year has ended on a successful note and I look forward to lots of time in the studio. When I say “studio” I really mean my 7 x 10’ mini-bedroom, outfitted with a dresser filled with sewing supplies and a repurposed wood dining table. This room has four full-size windows with a southeast exposure and provides beautiful natural light, which I prefer any day. There is also a closet that stores part of my collection of fabrics and domestic textiles on inset shelves (overstuffed at the moment.) My laptop plays my latest audiobook, and the cats enjoy sleeping on the single bed (also a staging area for the palette of fabrics I am using). I have baskets of yarn and thread on the floor, and a very cool Romanian sewing box for more thread. I have a display wall and ironing board set up in an adjoining room, where I can pin up the piece I am working on and take a good long look. This will be my domain for the winter months, and I am so thankful for this place.

Wisdom Cloak: The Sibyl (For Rachel Carson) was made specifically for entry in SAQA Global Traveling Exhibit Primal Forces: Earth. This exhibit will be premiering at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah KY, and I am so pleased to have The Sibyl selected. Details to come.

Here is what I have been reading:

The Pull of the Stars, by Emma Donoghue—this book is set during a three day period in a Dublin hospital during the 1918 flu epidemic. Timely and very moving. The Red Lotus, by Chris Bohjalian; The Devil and the Dark Water, by Stuart Turton; and Magic Lessons, by Alice Hoffman.

Thankful thoughts from me.

Faux ancient needles, made from epoxy clay then glazed with oil paint. These appear in the Wisdom Cloaks series. I made a fresh batch this week with more cloaks in my future work plans.

Find the needle in this detail from Wisdom Cloak: The Sibyl (For Rachel Carson).

Armor for the Days Ahead

COVID rising, elections less than two weeks out, wild fires still burning, mass evictions looming and kids struggling to learn on screens…I feel like I need an armor of fortitude for the days ahead.

Women’s PPE: Domestic Chainmail

Fall has arrived in Northern Indiana, and with it darker days and chillier temperatures. I cut the last of the zinnias to enjoy indoors, and harvested a few stray tomatoes that may or may not ripen. I have some artwork out in the world. PERSIST and Reimagine continues online for another month with two of my Women’s PPE Series on view. What She Carried: Hussifs will appear in Old Myths, New Stories, a WCA exhibit opening November 7 in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and I am delighted that Wisdom Cloak: Mender of Rifts has been selected for Quilt National 2021.

I pulled these two breastplates off the form this week. Women’s PPE: Wound Care 1 and 2. These will be the last before the elections. Now I am starting a series of anxiety shields. Who knew what a rich vein of images a pandemic could generate?

I have limited my news intake significantly, so I have been reading a lot of audio books and a few in paper form too. The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John’s Mandel; The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett; The Last Great Road Bum, by Hector Tobar; The Searcher, by Tana French; and The Boy in the Field, by Margot Livesey. Our library, the St. Joseph County Library, has been a lifesaver during the pandemic.

Be well.

Cloth Constructions

I have the honor to have work included in the exhibit Cloth Constructions, at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. Installation views of the exhibit can be viewed by clicking the link. David Hornung curated this collection of smaller works by eleven artists and gave a very interesting Textile Talk about the exhibit and artists that you can listen to by clicking. The exhibit opened September 4 and continues until January 30, 2021. The collection is work by some very accomplished textile artists and I am humbled to be counted among them. Here is a detail from one of my pieces on display:

A History of Toil: The Roost (detail)

The faded blue houndstooth fabric is from a deconstructed apron of unknown provenance. You can see the full view in my History of Toil gallery on this site.

I am enjoying the cool fallish weather, even if I don’t have much gardening energy at this time of year. The yard seems wild, yet very beautiful in its untidiness. Many visits from butterflies and birds, and a giant mantis on the garage. I don’t want to think about when we can’t be outside as much as the cold and dark move in to stay. We have had a smokey haze from the western fires these past few days and I think of my friends and colleagues in the path of the fire and in the middle of the smoke with concern and wishes for safety and a break from the punishing weather and wind. I am hoping for many things to change.

PERSIST

PERSIST opened online on August 31 at the Women’s Work Art Gallery. Click here to see the artworks. Two pieces from my Women’s PPE series were selected for this WCA online exhibit and one is featured in the photo below.

I’m still working on PPE, experimenting with different materials and techniques. Using PVA glue to stiffen the fabric was simply not satisfactory, it had the texture of oilcloth, so I am back to a commercial fabric stiffener. I’m going to stop when the nested pile reaches the top of a Rubbermaid tub.

I have been reading a lot, here are a few top picks:

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk. This one really spoke to me. The book is translated from the Polish and I listened to the audio version. Wonderful reader, had all the difficult-to-pronounce names and places right and told this amazing story so well. This is a 5 star review!

Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward. The recurring bone theme was accidental, but this harrowing story, told over a time during and after Hurricane Katrina, was a page turner, and beautifully written—no surprise it was National Book Award winner.

A Children’s Bible, by Lydia Millet. This dystopian story, also set during and after a huge storm, was suspenseful and sometimes chilling.

Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo. Written with not much punctuation, this book weaves together stories of women of the African diaspora over time and place. I loved it.

This was a pretty weighty reading list, I mixed in a few mysteries and light reads for fun too. Lots of sewing, lots of reading, lots of delicious heirloom tomatoes, and a new grandbaby expected in early March. Life is good.

On Exhibit, with Restrictions

I listened to an anthropologist being interviewed on the radio, saying that he had discontinued his blog because “everyone needs an editor.” I’m thinking about that. So many words, so many places to find them.

My work will be in a couple of exhibits this next month, with limited hours, masks and social distancing restrictions.

Three quilts from the Recollected series will be in the Indiana Women’s Caucus for Art Exhibit at the Garrett Museum of Art, Garrett, IN. August 7 - September 12.

Form not Function, opens August 15 at the Carnegie Center for the Arts, New Albany, IN. Wisdom Cloak: Invisible Visionary is one of the 19 pieces selected for exhibit.

August 31, two of my Women’s PPE will be in an online exhibit called Persist and Re-imagine—more on that next month.

A few good titles from my reading list:

The Lady and the Unicorn, by Tracy Chavalier; The Long Petal of the Sea, by Isabel Allende; Everything Under, by Daisy Johnson; Autumn, by Ali Smith; Enemy Women, by Paulette Jiles; and History of Wolves, by Emily Fridlund. I read all of these as traditional books, except for the Isabel Allende title, which was on audio.

Recollected 1, Cotton, linen, found domestic textiles, hand embroidered and stitched

Women's PPE

Today I am showing some of the breastplate forms I have been working on. My visualization of women’s PPE has ending up being a testament to the resilience of women during trying times. Somehow we manage to clothe ourselves in an armor of fortitude, maintain a sense of humor, and present a forward-looking face. Women so often do the heavy lifting for real and sustainable change.

I used a plastic torso form (less that $15 on ebay), with an extended midriff I made from a plastic folder, to provide the basic shape. I filled things out a little with plastic bags, not wanting it to look too much like Wonderwoman, more like a real person. The stitching is done on at least two layers, cut to a basic bodice form. I used standard garment-making darts to create the 3-D shape. Then I used some fabric stiffener I have had for 20 years (who knows why I bought it in the first place) and it worked like a charm. I have since read that PVA glue works too, so that will be what I use going forward as I have a gallon in the basement. I have also played with constructing the torsos with plaster gauze. These are more “hard shell” and I will use mixed media to build up the surface. I am having so much fun. It is nice to be working on smaller, more immediate pieces and trying out different techniques and materials. I have been posting these pretty regularly on my Instagram account, here is a sample.

I have really been enjoying my garden and being outdoors, even in our isolation. My creative energy burst has meant a lot of audio reading, and a few good ones on the nightstand.

Conviction, by Denise Mina; Faithful Place, and The Witch Elm, by Tana French; Writers and Lovers, by Lily King (loved this); The Transit of Venus, by Shirley Hazzard; Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Weiss; and Simon the Fiddler, by Paulette Jiles.

My mom would have been 98 years old today. Happy birthday memories and a lot of love.

Protection

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

Navigating Life Apart

After well over a month of social isolation our new routines give a shape to the days. We drink coffee, work in the garden and take a long isolated walk every day. My next door neighbor kindly made masks for us, using fabrics from my stash. Mine is a subtle violet, Mike got the red batik elephants. The past weeks have not been especially pleasant outside, so I have been in overdrive stitching the Wisdom Cloaks. The seventh, a tribute to women who are mentors, is almost completed and I am gathering my materials about me for the next piece. I hope to make twelve in total. I have been thinking a lot about personal protective equipment, in a psychological context, and have a few ideas about making some art about that.

Here are a few details from “Mentors.”

On a final note, I spent many years teaching art in public school classrooms and I worry about our K-12 students isolated at home. I worry about equity issues they face around connectivity, getting proper nutrition and exercise, not spending their lives in front of a screen…I worry that for many kids, this will be a hole in time that will be difficult to climb out of. Teachers will be essential workers in the up-hill climb. As my college students wrap up their semester, we have all gotten more expert at video conferencing, but we recognize that so much of education is about being together in a learning community. I look forward to a time when we will gather in classes and studios again.

Sheltered in Place

Hunkered down in South Bend, Indiana, traces of spring are poking up, and budding out. If it dries up a bit, I will put in lettuce, spinach and peas next week. The rhubarb is pushing up out of the ground and the everyday noises of birds can be heard clearly without the buzz of traffic to muffle their songs. I saw a honey bee on an open crocus flower last week, so the world is waking up after all.

What She Carried: Hussifs

Fantastic Fibers, Yeiser Art Center 2020, Paducah, KY

This is the first time I have had work accepted into FF, and the first time I have submitted an entry to an exhibition that is not wall-hung. The Yeiser will try to make the exhibit available online, and still plans to publish a catalog, but like most things now, it is all up in the air for the foreseeable future. These “hussifs” are made with fragments of a very old, very damaged quilt from the 1880’s. The stitches are unbelievably small and even, the pattern is called double X. Sometimes called “huswifs” they are modeled on the rolled sewing kits that were common at the time of the westward expansion. I have a Pinterest board of historical examples if you are interested in seeing others.

Here is the artist statement I submitted for this exhibit:

The lives of women, and how we are connected to textiles, is what interests me as an artist.  I enjoy the process of working with materials that have passed through other hands, constructing meaning from pieces of cloth. A hussif is a rolled sewing kit. These three hussifs tell stories of women who traveled to the plains and prairies of the Midwest during the time of westward expansion in our country.  Leaving the familiar landscapes of home, they found an endless expanse of grassland, isolated and strangely beautiful. Inspired by diary entries written from a sod house on a Nebraska homestead, I have created these visual narratives of women uprooted.

Someday, we will all gather in our communities again, meanwhile I have a few strategies. I am truly an introvert, so long times of solitude are not a big problem for me. Mike and I are still getting out for a long walk everyday, sometimes together, other times not.

- I have just finished the fifth in a series of large works called Wisdom Cloaks, and will start another today or tomorrow.

-I am reading a lot of books (fortunately Mike and I went to the library and stocked up two days before it closed) and here are a few titles: Educated, by Tara Westover; Dear Edward, by Ann Napolitano; Creatures, by Crissy Van Meter; Things in Jars, by Jess Kidd; The Lost Man, by Jane Harper.

-I am staying in touch with friends by phone, text and email, we enjoy a family Zoom conference with our four kids and their families every Sunday afternoon. Tonight we are having virtual starters and wine with our Monday night supper club.

-I have vowed to have a sparkling clean house by the end of Easter week…I am trying to get Mike on board for that one.

-Teaching my college classes virtually has been a creative challenge, but so far, so good. There is a learning curve, but the technology has been cooperative.

-I stay mindful of how fortunate I am, and how difficult life is for so many. May this crisis be a catalyst for positive change in the world, and let it begin in this place, with me.

Be well, stay close, find creative outlets in your own sheltered spaces.

Leap!

I thought a February 29th post would be fun, so here we go.

A very quiet quilt, Gathered In 1, will be included in the Ancient-Emerald Art Quilt Exhibition at the Emerald Art Center, Springfield, OR. The exhibit runs from March 3 through March 27, then on to another venue, the Yachats Commons, Yachats, OR, April 11 and 12.

Gathered In 1, 39” x 32”. Cotton, linen, found domestic textiles, hand embroidered and stitched.

This artwork began with an interesting piece of rust-dyed fabric that my friend and fellow artist Carol Myers gave me. The cloth is quite sheer and I began to draw it into gathers with stitches on a brown linen base. I tucked in bits of lace and handwork, as well as some embroidered monograms from hankies and napkins. the whole piece has an understated quality, maybe because it is so light in value. I liked the idea of bits and pieces gathered in and considered. I made two pieces of identical size with the fabric that Carol gave me. They may appear as a pair sometime in the future. This is the statement I wrote for the exhibit:

“Gathered In is a reflection on the countless generations of women who have made useful and lovely things by hand. Thousands of stitches honor the cloth keepers, the ones who save and gather in the textile legacy of their lives and the lives of all the women who stitched before them.”

Good Reads

Winter days spent inside sewing and listening, and always a book on the nightstand. Here are a few titles:

First, Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson and read by Marin Ireland. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I also have enjoyed The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett; The Vanished Birds, by Simon Jimenez; The Long Call, by Anne Cleeves; and Snow Hunters by Paul Yoon..

Tomorrow will be March and I may venture out to find some signs of spring.