something old, something new...

I've started a very large artwork. As a matter of fact - it barely fits on my design wall. But it feels right.

Several years ago I brought home from Russia all of my grandmothers' linens. And I do mean all! Doilies, embroideries, curtains, towels and lovingly mended bedsheets. This piece started on one of those bedsheets. Actually that's not true. The first part of it begun almost two years ago on a plastic drop cloth. I stitched a huge fire escape to hang in the window of my solo exhibit, you can see it in the background of the first photo in this blog post. After the show was done, I didn't know what to do with it. So I conducted an experiment and hung it out on the deck for a few months. It held up well. Then I put it away.

This month as I pondered about what to start on in the studio, I pulled out a mended striped bedsheet and hung in on the design wall. And then I remembered the fire escape! I pulled it out, trimmed away all the excess plastic and pinned it to the sheet. The sheet and the fire escape are speaking to each other. I have started stitching it down by hand with a snow dyed pine thread that I tamed a while back.

I'm not sure where this is all going, but in my mind it's all making sense. There might be a lot of mending involved in this eventually, there may or may not be doilies involved eventually... Stay tuned!