Out of the Woods for the SAQA Benefit Auction

Out of the Woods

 I have been a lucky participant in four SAQA Global Exhibitions, including Light the World which will open in France this autumn. So I am very happy to once again contribute a 12" x 12" quilt for the SAQA Benefit Auction, the proceeds of which help to fund the exhibitions. The auction begins on September 10th, and I will be sure to post updates and reminders. I very seldom make work in this size, so this is a great opportunity to begin or add to a collection.

This began with a red mulberry leaf, a nice substantial leaf, that I collected in the fall of 2020 and pressed. This spring, on the equinox, I used to make one of my experimental wet cyanotype/solarfast prints on cotton. You can read about that process here. I then layered the print and stitched it heavily where the leaf veins would be, and added pebble stitching all around it. On the corners I added some of the hexagons I have been obsessively hand stitching in preparation for my JWST artwork. The final touch was to paint some transparent iridescence on the leaf.

As to the title, here's my statement: It’s been a long, strange path through the wilderness of the unknown, but now we can see our way clear again. The question remains: are we out of the woods? What will our new normal look like? I choose to be optimistic.