Artist Statement for Story Cloth

It all began with swimming, watching the reflections in water, how when I wade into water, I shed some of the things that bind me on land. I have also been my most terrified while on water. But I learned early that loving something also meant dealing with its underneath, the scarier dark, or the simply real parts. 

As a theatre artist, I have vividly felt the power of the words of others, but I discovered the strength of my own words when I was swallowed in the belly of parenting, wildly away from land of myself. At that point, my writing and making life ripened into a regular practice. I write about motherhood to give my interior life a context.

My Story Cloth reflects how I keep time with my needle.

I am shaped by relationships with humans and the natural world. The things I make reflect those connections. I am intrigued by the slow accrual of marks that serve as a map made beautiful by the time it takes to stitch by hand, a book, a garment, or my story cloth.

I make hand bound books, paint and embellish papers, use textiles and thread in my mixed media compositions. I consider the prompts I create for the classes I teach an art form. I brew jam, libations, and dyes from plants. I learned early that art can be useful, thus my work is always near at hand, on my lap, or in my bag.

My fingers feel how the point of a needle emerges through a sheet of painted paper or the tight weave of linen. This is to bring from the underworld a sense of revelation, as if joining darkness to light is necessary and needed. How coming up from underwater I am a creature of both worlds. Linked signatures, or silk thread looped to a French Knot, or connected questions in a writing prompt all serve as way-showers, unseen to seen, silence to voice.