HEART OF LIGHTNESS

1995
63" x 48"
NOT FOR SALE

Heart of Lightness

hand painted and printed fabrics, rayon and metallic threads, semi-precious stones, glass seed and bugle beads, tulle, collage construction machine stitching and machine quilting, hand beading

HEART OF LIGHTNESS is a celebration of my mother's life.

When I started to make this quilt, shortly after Mom's sudden and untimely death, I thought it would be a requiem, a sad and somber work. I soon realized, however, that Mom's spirit was very much in evidence throughout the making of this piece. Mom was a lively, happy, generous, gregarious, and loving person and a somber quilt just wouldn't come into being!

As I was making this piece, I experienced joy and healing. I felt as if Mom and I were in constant loving conversation. Distraught as I was and continue to be by her absence, the month long period during which "we" made this quilt was an oasis.

The aqua cross which forms part of the background area is Mom's favorite color and it represents her strong affiliation with the Unitarian-Universalist Church. Mom was dedicated to community. She had an uncanny knack of making and keeping friends throughout the world. For me, the cross also represents this ability of hers to achieve community. Mom is the lovely, open figure in the center of the quilt. The world is in her, on her chest. This is the symbol of the Beyond War organization, of which Mom was an active member. The four angels are her four children (we are and were no angels, so I'm guessing she simply saw us that way: a mother's unconditional love!) Mom was very gifted at making braided rugs, and so I created my own interpretation of her braids along either side of the piece. At the bottom of the quilt, the bones symbolize the life, death, life cycle. The urns depict her love of history and art. The goddess figures symbolize her strength as a woman to do whatever she wanted to do. She was not intimidated at all by the fact that she was "just a woman." The snakes represent her ability to transform negatives into positives, to always see the good side in any situation. The water beneath her feet is the oceans which connect (not separate!) her and all the friends she had all over the world.

Towards the end of putting together all of this imagery, I hesitated to add the brightly colored heart. I wondered if it would be too cute. As I stood considering this possibility, I got shivers all up and down my body. That little heart gave me the obvious title and the spirit of this quilt: HEART OF LIGHTNESS. This was the title of the book Mom had written not so long ago about her delightful experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer when she was 50 years old. At first, I was worried about the duplication, but I then realized Mom would be so happy to "share" the title.

Mom is here in this quilt, and I love seeing aspects of her each time I walk by it.

EXHIBITION HISTORY

1999, LAST QUARTER TWENTIETH CENTURY, Invitational Vermont Quilt Festival, Northfield, VT; Round Top Center for the Arts, Damariscotta, ME;

1997, FAITH: SHRINES AND QUILTS, American Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA; QUILTS THAT HEAL, New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA;

1996, ARTIST AS QUILTMAKER, Oberlin, OH, third place award; HAYSTACK FACULTY EXHIBIT, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME;

1995, SANCTUARY, solo exhibition, Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, ME