Inner Eye

Inner Eye

Last week was difficult for me.  There were a series of things that happened that made me lose sight of myself and brought me back to darker times.

It was during that time that I started working on this fabric collage.  And as often happens with my art, it turned out to be revealing.

I began the piece by cutting off a section of one of the first collages I made.  That’s it in the picture below, above the eye.

The section of collage is the piece above the eye

I didn’t understand it at the time, but this piece was to become about the inner eye.  About knowing and trusting myself despite what may be going on around me.

In my mind, I saw the shape of the eye turned on its side and it became a shield. I allowed my stitching to take me where it would.  A kind of automatic drawing that I used to do a lot of when I first started free-motion stitching.

I created another shield using the negative space this time.  Inside it, a face with its mouth wide open, speaking its truth.

Along the sides of the piece I used a design inspired by the shell of one of my nerite snails.  Then once I had the back sewn on I did some hand stitching to quilt it and hold it all together.

So many parts of my art came together in this piece.  There’s my quilt making, my early thread drawings, the collages I just started making and the embroidery stitches that I learned from making Tiny Pricks.

In most of my art there an element of the puzzle. Of pulling the cast-off and disparate pieces together to create something new, something beautiful. Like going deep inside of myself and salvaging the pieces that help make me whole.

I believe Inner Eye is sold, but I’m waiting to hear back from someone who asked about it.  If it isn’t, I will be putting it up for sale.

 

4 thoughts on “Inner Eye

    1. I just stopped participating Barbara, but it’s still going on. But I see she still needs more before the election. I might have get to it again. Here’s a link

  1. Exciting to see the collage explorations you started in your ‘residency’ showing up in your fabric work now, and then going back even farther to how you started, with quilting, and lots of free motion sewing. I think you may find yourself drawn to make more of these pieces…. and I always enjoy reading your reflections / interpretations of what the various patterns within a piece represent.

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Full Moon Fiber Art