I often refer to my life as a journey. I know I keep moving forward. I keep changing. And, I definitely keep experiencing new things. As I’ve been working on my art this past few months, I feel like everything I’ve ever done is coming full circle. Well, actually it’s a spiral or mobeius. My life starts on one end and I keep coming back to the same intersection. In reality, I’m slightly misaligned from the last time I crossed that point. There’s too much that has happened, so I am someone different than the last time I was here.
But why does it feel like I’ve gone full circle?
When I was a small child, I played outside a lot. I loved discovering new things. I picked flowers, dug in the dirt, played with earthworms and hugged a few trees. I loved animals. I used to have a slip of paper that I wrote in grade school which read “When I grow up I want to be a conservationist.” I have no idea how I knew that word, maybe it was from the countless hours I spent reading Ranger Rick magazine. I pursued that dream for many years and eventually earned a Master’s degree in wildlife biology.
Then life happened. I needed to work and found gainful employment in IT at the peak of the dot.com era. When that bubble burst, I started exploring art and found employment editing books. During these years, I almost completely walked away from my childhood interest of conservation. My art “sometimes” had environmental components, but it never had a real meaning. I just made things because I wanted to make them.
I’ve realized the environmental theme has been more evident in my art these last few years. I have a story in my head & heart that I want to share. I mentally visualize the things that mean so much to me. I remember the forests, the plants, and the birds. I think of the earth as a whole and how we’re destroying it. I want you to see the beauty. I am back in my youth, full circle almost, but with a different age and understanding of the complexities of it all. I’m picking flowers and dreaming big about how I will save the world one quilt at a time.
Join me for:
“Paper, Canvas, Cloth”
November 4 – December 17, 2016
Campbell House Galleries, Southern Pines, NC
featuring the work of
Sharon Ferguson, Marilyn Vendemia, & Nanette S. Zeller
