Buttons&Beads&Quilts!

I grew up in the 60s when minimalist art was at its height. In art school, the virtues of a few strokes of paint splashed across a very large canvas were extolled. I was left feeling….well, left out and bored. I thrive in the intricacies of details. What’s down inside of here? O-O-Ohh! Look what’s peeking out from behind here! (A stereo-microscope with its abilities to magnify up to 50X in a 3-D format was my favorite piece of scientific equipment when I was teaching middle school science.) So, my intricate endeavors in my art classes went pretty well ignored, or if commented on at all, dismissed.

These years were also the time of riots and civil disobedience regarding the Vietnam War. Art, or so I thought, was supposed to make significant statements about the injustices in the world. The “Occupy Wall Street” posters and banners of today’s headlines are reminiscent of that time period, and I applaud those who are working for a fairer playing field. I’ve seen many examples of street art that are being used to advance that cause.  However, since the 60s, I have come to a state of inner peace where I can see that there’s a place for all kinds of art.

Here’s a detail of an art quilt, “Cherry Blossom Snow” that I wrote about a few weeks ago. It’s poofy and soft, and has thousands of buttons, beads, and mirrors on it to capture a moment when I was standing under a cherry tree during a snow shower, and for one second, the sun came out. The shining, exquisite beauty of that solitary second I can still see in my mind’s eye. Yet, how does this piece improve the human condition?

If you read on my “About Me” page in this blog, you’ll find a statement that I wrote awhile back that contains my “Reasons for Being”. I came to a balance within myself a long time ago that there’s a place for makers of beautiful things is the world. Not only is there a place for them, but there’s a need for that kind of person and their art, as the world is filled with enough ugliness and hate. Some of my pieces have been shown around the world, but on the wide scale of artistic endeavors, my audience has been pretty small. Still, I’ve heard people gasp when they turn a corner and see one of my works in an exhibit. At least for that moment, in that place, I gave some pleasure to that person.

 Here’s another view of “Diving Deep into the Stream of Love and Connection”, which I also wrote about in another blog last week – “It’s All in the Lines”. The beauty and awe that I feel when I look at this piece, even though I made the thing, is often overwhelming. It hangs right now in my dining room, and that jaw dropping sensation of the aesthetic tingles on my neck as the light plays across the surface, the interplay of details, the delight I had in finding the perfect buttons to give the effect that I wanted….all of these experiences are justification for me to make pretty things. Here, on my little piece of the planet, I’ve declared it to be a “Beauty Honored Here” zone. I hope that my sharing of my images will inspire you to create a similar space for yourself, no matter how small. I invite you to start with an honoring and valuing in your heart of whatever your life’s path happens to be, and to guard that special place with all of your passion and zeal against the ravages of the world inside. May you find your own inner sanctuary where lovely things, not matter how you define them, have a place.

Have you ever had one of those aesthetic moments when your jaw drops at the beauty of something? Have you duplicated that experience in some art form or other way of honoring that space in time? We’d love to hear about it, for as one person offers up a piece of their soul’s experiences, we’re all enriched.

To see more of my art work, please visit www.fiberfantasies.com