I bet you didn’t see this one coming! This is an artwork that I started and nearly completed in 2018, but then never quite finished. Then, after sitting around in my studio for a year, I suddenly realized what needed to be done to finish it. Isn’t it odd how that works? Sometimes creative ideas just need to sit on the back burner for a while before the next step becomes clear.
So here is a whole new artwork for you! This one is called “Sharps and Seeds” and is about the prickly pain of letting go and the power of rebirth. When I made it, I was thinking about the process my family went through when we left our life in the UK and moved back to the US. I had been in the UK over ten years and my husband and three very young children had never lived in the US before. We were leaving our old life and giving birth to a new one – a bare two months after having our third child!
This was a powerful transition which taught me deeply about the characteristics of rebirth. In rebirth there is depth, pain, sorrow, love, strength, joy and most importantly faith. You have to have faith that it will work out to hang in there and keep going, opening yourself to the process and letting it break you and form you anew. Just like with walnuts and snakes, the outer shell or skin has to crack or flake off to make room for the new growth within.
Some of the things in this quilt I brought with me from the UK, some I found here on the land where I grew up and returned to after my long journey.
This quilt was intentionally made with warm yellows and browns to refer to the process of ageing. For me, this was a rich connection to my grandfather’s log cabin, which I bought and and now live in. Several of these objects, such as the keys, I found here in this house.
In addition, this quilt has been made with an ingredient which will cause it to gently age and yellow with time. It is a living artwork that will subtly change as time passes.
Here are a couple of snapshots of individual squares and the ideas behind them. If you like this sort of thing, it’s worth following me on Instagram or Facebook because I share stories about individual quilt squares regularly.
Here are some images that haven’t been posted on social media yet:
These are keys that I found in my grandfather’s house after I bought it. Both my grandparents had been deceased for five years and the house had been rented. We found these keys hanging on nails all over the house. They were so mysterious – we couldn’t figure out what they were for at all. I find it so interesting that these keys once gave access to something, but now are just an enigma. Also there’s the bigger metaphor for keys – aren’t we always searching for the key to something greater? What is the key to greater understanding? What is the key to getting past your latest obstacle? Oh, these keys can be so elusive!
These are all different styles of blades that my husband has used for various model making and DIY projects. Aren’t they beautiful? They speak to me so much of the sharpness and difficulty of transitions. They are functional, beautiful, can be cruel, or can be cutting you free from the thing that holds you back. They are so rich with metaphorical meaning.
This quilt will be on display at an upcoming exhibition this summer. I’ll tell you more about that as soon as the fliers are finished!
Thank you for joining me on this journey! I have loved making this piece.
To see the product page or purchase, click here.
Take Care,
Jenny
LOVE this! Such rich stories in each square! You’ve really mastered the art of telling stories with your pieces, and READING the stories that go with each object is so neat. Your thoughts on the square with the keys resonated with me the most!
Thank you so much, Anna! I really appreciate the compliment on the storytelling. I knew when I started this that I would like that part, but I didn’t realize how deeply I would enjoy it! I’m glad you enjoyed the part about the keys!