Earth In All Its Glory
A popular set of prompts is earth, wind, water, and fire. Earth is our foundation and the other three impact our lives. Primal Forces: Earth is the first part of a series of three exhibits planned by SAQA sometime soon—hard to tell exactly when due to moving target dates vis a vis Covid 19.
I decided to make something rather fun as my entry. While I am not a native Texan, I am proud to claim Texas as my home and enjoy all the fun and quirky things about it. There is a huge quilting tradition in Texas along with the international quilt Festival held annually in Houston. Then there’s the space industry and all the busyness and excitement of launches and interaction with astronauts.
While this piece will probably not make it into the final exhibit, it may bring a smile or two to the faces of the jurors and hopefully anyone reading this blog.
And then, with my tendency to use every little bit, I took a handful of strips left from another project—my grandmother who lived through the Great Depression imbued this in me—and created this piece. The strips were laid down in order on top of a piece of corduroy–my favorite supporting fabric, and then stitched and stitched and stitches until all the pieces were flat. It looked too bare and so I added the oak tree and parts of oak leaves.
Oak leaves are the last leaf to crumble away into the earth. Maple, elm, hickory, ash, willow–all dissolve into the earth within weeks, but the oak leaves remain for months. They are sturdy enough to serve as small plates holding water–and sliding against each other when you attempt to stopyour bicycle at a stoplight in late December in Wisconsin—I had a small scrape on my knee from that incident and the bike got a bit dented but still functional.
Sylvia Weir Art 