Art quilt Venus

[mezcraft]

 I have recently put a piece in to an art exhibition called "Goddess - the she within we"  at Gallery 96 in Stratford.  It is in a factory that has been converted into studios, an art gallery and art class space. I had gone to the Toronto Design show and seen this amazing art quilt that was 15 feet high and 20 feet across with large squares barely attached together.  I really liked how fragile it was and wanted to try something using a similar technique.


So I began to think about themes I wanted to explore and I had found that something that I am grappling with personally is my ability to make children or rather more importantly my inability to do so.  I am still going for tests and stuff so it isn't ruled out, but I have a lot of mixed feelings about it.  I found that the image of Venus of Willendorf was a perfect fit for me.  She was supposed to be a Goddess of Fertility, she was originally so small you could fit her in the palm of your hand. She was something that the nomads who worshipped her could take from place to place in their pocket or satchel.  (In one PBS special I watched about her, she was also likened to early pornography, but that doesn't have anything to do with my art piece.. just an interesting fact) As Fertility was so difficult in those times people praised the ability to have large child bearing hips, breasts that were full of milk to feed the children, and a healthy vulva ( sorry to be vulgar, but that is what she is all about) The irony really isn't lost on me that she is - to us- an obese woman.  My own obesity is one of the reasons I am having difficulty with my own fertility.


The other thing that I got me on to doing this project was the idea of a prayer quilt. As I began to work on it, not really knowing how exactly it was going to pan out I kept thinking about churches that do Prayer quilts. Usually it is for another person, so that they can feel the prayers of someone else when they use it to keep warm. I felt like this piece was a bit of a selfish prayer for myself in comparison to the original idea of the prayer quilt.  However the more I worked on it, the more a lot of different feelings began to come out and I realized that it was important that the piece didn't look perfect, that there were some places that were barely holding on, that were very loose because I too, feel that fragile.



So I entitled the piece "A loose Prayer" and that is why.

[mingus107]

A wonderful piece. Thank you for sharing the story behind it. Good luck!

[HSG]

Beautiful story and gorgeous piece of art!

[jcorn]

Very moving piece!  You will be in my prayers.

[sloth003]

sorry i missed this one...


it’s a lovely piece and a very personal story. thanks for sharing. and good luck. infertility can be a real b****.

[graced]

It's a lovely piece. I love the fragility of it, especially given the backstory. The goddess is very clearly there.

(Good luck on your quest to have your own children.)

[hoboe]

Thank you for sharing the prayer quilt and the story behind it.  It helped me to read it.

[decidedly average]

Lovely piece! May I ask what the squares are made out of and how you attached them together?
Good luck to you in the future.

[mezcraft]

The squares are made of Solid Kona Cotton and I sewed them together quite precariously!  I sewed each row horizontally first - placing a 1/2 inch square on the sewing machine, put two stitches into the square, then added another piece. It was pretty slow going and a bit hap hazard, so when I did the vertical rows I pinned them to some tracing paper so that they were slightly more aligned ( which I then later very carefully tore away). But as I said in the post it wasn't really about being perfect. I think if I had started on paper and pinned each one ( yeah right..) they would be straighter, but again that wasn't really the point.

[graced]

I've been thinking what an amazing windowshade this technique would make for my craft room, if only I could think of or find an image that's simple enough to do. (Yours is WAY out of my league.) Thanks for sharing the mechanics.

(You've crossed my mind several times today, and I've been praying for you....)