Spirituality – Page 6

That’s OK

These human-created ideas of time elude me. Sometimes I feel like I’m just whirling through the galaxy. Occasionally, I’ll stop and think, “What happened to April?” or “Is today really Wednesday … already?” or “Did I really just spend 3 hours doing bookkeeping?”

In my life, I’ve experienced days that feel like they just would not end. Occasionally, that’s because the situation is horrible and I just want to move on. Other times, its because I realize I did a ton of things and notice there’s still plenty more time to continue enjoying the day. Ahhhh, … time … sometimes I love you and sometimes I hate you.

What challenges my acceptance is when I know I’m working non-stop, yet, have little to show for it. I guess we all want to see quick results, but I know that’s not reality. Today, I look at the scraps on my cutting board and see the energy laying there. The bits remind me to accept that time moves slow. I know eventually I’ll be on to something new. For now, it just is and that’s OK.

Take time to listen

We’re living in unsettling times. There are so many things that seem uncertain, upsetting and chaotic. If we seek balance amongst the chaos, we have to look inward.

The only thing we can change is ourselves. So when dealing with troubling times, maybe its as simple as seeking a different perspective or just seeing the good things around you. Find the calm within you, because its there.

My looking inward has me focusing on the fire in my belly. What gives me motivation and inspiration? Answer: my art. I can sit here waiting for the uncertainty to resolve itself, or I can keep moving.

Right now, I’m working on a songbird series which brings me joy. To keep the inspiration going, I stop and make a bird between larger projects or when I get artistically stuck. Up next in the series is the Eastern Towhee. They make me smile when I see them foraging in my yard. The male bird tells us to “drink your tea” or some say he just says his name “Tow-hee.” Either way you hear him, just take some time to listen.

Gathered along the way.

In a couple days, we’ll be at the official end of summer. For me, it’s been a long one filled with a lot of good things. I got to spend a few days at the beach and I worked on an exciting professional opportunity. This opportunity presented me with 2 deadlines. One was at the end of July and the other was this week. I look back on the days and I’m proud of my accomplishments. High-five to me, I did it! I also realize I enjoy what I was doing. Now I have to figure out how to continue with this momentum.

Over the next couple months, I’ll be working to make changes with my professional journey. After a year+ hiatus from teaching, I’ve decided to get back into it. I’m going to be approaching it all differently this time. I want to share my enthusiasm for “art” quilting and encourage other’s who feel the cravings like I did when I first started this journey.

I’m going to use the motivation of my summer deadlines, to continue moving forward. Using the symbolism of my bee friend, I will continue to explore the possibilities while remembering to enjoy life’s nectar, to work hard on my goals, and to share the information that I’ve gathered along the way.

Make sense of the world

What were you doing on Monday, August 21, 2017? Did you get to see the eclipse?

I felt lucky to live 3 hours from Columbia, SC. This was a site of totality where the moon would cover the sun 100% for several minutes. It didn’t work out for me to be in this path, but I did get to see it as it crossed my neighborhood at about 96%.

Talking with people who witnessed it, some felt that it didn’t live up to the hype. I’m one of those who felt otherwise. I sensed something more in the air Monday afternoon. I cannot describe the vibes I was feeling. I was aware that during the apex the cicada’s became very loud and seemed in synch with their melody. I was, unfortunately, in a place where young children were playing and their sounds drowned out other details I might have detected. It didn’t get too dark here, but everything had this strange color. It seemed like I was wearing cheap brown sunglasses (cue: ZZtop).

Things seemed eerily surreal to me. Having experienced this, I can understand how ancient civilizations could have been confused and even scared. Before scientific study of the planets, we couldn’t predict anything to this level of accuracy. I might never have known the exact time of day I needed to be peering at the sky. This is why I love science and use it for creating my art. It helps me make sense of the world.

Have the opportunity again

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Herdon, Virginia to be part of the Sacred Threads Artist Weekend. Sacred Threads is an art quilt exhibit held every other year which focuses on the spiritual side of making quilts. For this juried exhibit, artists were asked to submit quilts with statements that explain their story.

This was my first time entering this exhibit. To my great honor, my quilt “Soar” was accepted.

It’s always a treat to visit the exhibits where my quilts hang, but this time things were different. The emotional energy that’s in the building can’t be explained. Most quilt exhibits, you look at a quilt and move on, but in this exhibit you’re compelled to read the stories. More than once I was moved to tears reading the artist’s intent. Lisa Ellis and her team of volunteers also produce an audio tour of stories told by the artists and there’s the book, a big book, of all the quilts and artist statements. I didn’t have time to read all the statements while I was there, but I did buy the book and plan to read every one. I had the most fun, stalking fellow artists and asking them to autograph my book. It gave me a reason to have dialog with these talented people and personally learn about their artistic motivation.

During the weekend event, there was a special gallery viewing in which the artists stood by their quilts and talked about their art. Due to the traffic flow of show, I found my best observation point to be across from my quilt. I enjoyed the opportunity to observe people’s reaction to my piece. I had a great vantage point to see people’s reaction without them knowing I was there. I found that a lot of men were attracted to “Soar’s” large osprey wing. That intrigued me. Was it the size? Visual impact? Or that it didn’t look like a traditional quilt? I didn’t ask, but its an interesting tidbit for me. If you have the time to visit this week, I encourage you to go. If not, it will be 2 years before we have the opportunity again.

SEE MY QUILT “Soar” at the
Sacred Threads Exhibition
July 7, 2017 – July 23, 2017
Floris United Methodist Church, Herndon, VA
www.sacredthreadsquilts.org

Dates on quilts

Right now my quilt “Soar” is in Herndon, Virginia waiting to be hung in the Sacred Threads Exhibit. I’m excited to be part of this biennial exhibit which is designed to convey spirituality, healing and inspirational messages without emphasizing any particular religion or theology. The concept of spirituality lives close to my heart as I travel this Earth looking for meaning.

After living with this quilt for awhile I decided to change it’s name from “Solar Worship” to “Soar.” Soar just fits what I see when I look at it. Because of the name change, I had to change the label before I took it to the shipper. I was also required to supply a formal appraisal of the quilt for insurance purposes. Well, that was a first for me.

We have a licensed quilt appraiser in the area, Jane Hall. Jane is known as the “Pineapple Queen” because she has written numerous books about making pieced quilts using the pineapple block (a variation of the log cabin block). She’s also kind of a rock star legend when it comes to quilting; she’s been on many of quilting tv shows and in many magazines. I’ve met her several times before and she even appraised some of the antique quilts that I own. She is an amazing lady. Very kind, talented, and knowledgeable. I really enjoyed my visit with Jane.

One thing she told me was that I need to date my quilts. Since I had to change the label anyway (name change), I decided to heed her advice and include the year made. Dating a quilt is important for historical records. Years from now someone viewing your quilt will wonder about you and the label/date will help them find out who you are.

I have some reservation about dating my quilts, but I do sign them. Sadly, in today’s throw-away society, things that are “slightly old” aren’t valued as much as things that are “new and fresh.” I think if artwork is 10-20 years old, people view the piece as old fashion or out-dated. Jane knows best, so I added the date. But I wonder what you think about dates on quilts?

SEE MY QUILT “Soar” at the
Sacred Threads Exhibition
July 7, 2017 – July 23, 2017
Floris United Methodist Church, Herndon, VA
www.sacredthreadsquilts.org

The force is with you

Several years ago, I took a class given by textile artist, Dottie Moore. I was immediately drawn to her spiritual interpretation of creativity. I noticed as she walked around the classroom meeting students that she would stop and ask them thought provoking questions. Her question to me was “What’s holding you back?”

Recently, I’ve been reminded of this question and it has me thinking. I’m moving forward on my path, setting goals and executing them. But, goodness it seems slow moving some days. What’s going on with that? Every now and then, it’s good to ask yourself questions like this. Do you have a good answer?

Sure, I could answer the question by laying blame on all the outside forces impacting my life. But really? If I wanted it bad enough, wouldn’t I just get to it? What really is really holding me back? The answer, to be honest, is … me.

That’s the key, you know. When we question what we think is holding us back, we’re likely to realize that its in own power to change the situation. AhHa! So there lies the magic of Dottie’s question. It’s like Star Wars and Luke Skywalker … “Luke, the force is with you.”

My ancestors are guiding me

I’m happy to announce that my quilt “Soar” will be heading to Herndon, VA in a couple months. It was accepted into the “Sacred Threads” exhibits which will be held July 7, 2017 – July 23, 2017 at Floris United Methodist Church.

“Sacred Threads” is a biennial exhibit that conveys the spirituality, healing and inspirational messages that transcend all people. Without emphasis on any particular religion or theology, it is an exhibit which allows quilt artists to share their stories and be a source of healing and strength for others.

Like many artists, my work has an under-statement that is frequently unheard. Exhibits often don’t share the artist’s statement about the meaning behind the artwork. The viewer is left to their own interpretation or reasoning. The Sacred Threads exhibit allows the artist to submit a statement which will be displayed alongside the artwork.

I knew I had to enter this popular and well-received exhibit. It makes me very happy that my artwork will hang along side kindred spirits.

Why is “Soar” worthy of this exhibit? Here’s my artist statement that will hang with it July:

“Birds fascinate me. Although I studied songbirds in graduate school, it is the large birds of prey which I call my spirit animal. I have had numerous encounters where they have appeared, soared at me, or simply left a feather as a calling card. I become captivated when I see them floating in the thermal breezes of a Carolina blue sky. It is something about their size, keen eyesight, tremendous strength, and virtual silence that calls to me. Each encounter stirs something deep inside and I am reminded to persevere, because my ancestors are guiding me.”

See “Soar” at:

Sacred Threads Exhibit
July 7, 2017 – July 23, 2017

Floris United Methodist Church, 13600 Frying Pan Road
Herndon, Va. 20171
(703) 793-0026
www.florisumc.org

Emotions into a quilt

Last week I took a trip to visit my aunt in the San Francisco area. I use to visit a lot when I was younger. As I grew older, I had fewer opportunities to visit. Most of my visits as an adult kept me close to Silicone Valley. If you know the area, you know that it has it’s own distinct beauty, but it is also very congested with humans. Last week I visited Marin County, which, too, is over-populated, but contains some hidden natural gems; namely Muir Woods and Mt. Tamalpais.

Considering all the rain they’ve had the past few months, we were blessed with sunny weather each day. On one of these sun-filled days we took a drive up to Mt. Tamalpais. I was impressed with the vast mountainscapes (or as Californians would call them hillscapes) we discovered so near the urban sprawl. State and National Parks secure the forested lands and it was all breath-taking.

On our way down-hill, we made a side trip to Muir Woods National Monument. I don’t recall ever visiting this magical place before. As we strolled along the trails, I was overcome with awe over the gigantic Sequoia sempervirens. These trees, commonly known as the Redwoods, are massive and endangered specimens.

I don’t often have experiences like this, but I truly felt it was a spiritual encounter. I totally understand how John Muir (the monument’s namesake) viewed nature as a form of religion.

In some respects, the spiritual nature of my experience revolved around my concern over the continual loss of habit. My feelings were also due to the sheer size of these trees, reaching up to 380ft tall and 30ft in diameter; I felt small. It takes time to grow to this size, these trees are known to live 1200 to 1800 (or more) years old. I am very sure that the spirits I felt were greatly due to the age of these trees. They witnessed many evolutions of this coastal region. They emitted an energy and seemed powerfully wise, but I’m afraid few people actually stopped to listen.

Now that I’m home, I’m processing all of this and trying to figure out how I will interpret these emotions into a quilt.

Kindness and no regrets

And the count-down is on. A week from Friday my exhibit opens at Campbell House Galleries. This week I’m wrapping up the final details: framing the last few pieces, installing new hanging slats to the large pieces, and adding labels to the newer pieces. Once this is completed, I will be photographing all the quilts.

This has been a very interesting process for me. I’ve always said that I love to learn…I thrive on learning… and I’ve learned a lot about myself this year. Preparing for this exhibit has reminded me to keep moving forward. I know I will continue to grow as an artist and I’ve already thought of ways to improve some things. Yet, there are a number of things I still haven’t figured out. Therefore, I will continue to learn and that’s what makes everything so enjoyable for me.

Any free time I’ve had this summer was devoted to studio time. So I didn’t have time for some of the opportunities I’ve been considering. Once this exhibit is hung, I will take a short break to re-energize, then I’ll be tackling the many ideas I have in my head. What I’ve learned during this process is to always keep moving forward. Sometimes that can be as simple as just putting one foot then the other. Moving forward also requires having the strength to only look back with kindness and no regrets.

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