Poet's Forest

This is the final piece of hand stitched fiber art that is the poets commissioned piece.   Here is what he stated upon seeing this piece " an image of ressurection, renewal, reinhabitation after what some people call destruction or disaster. I believe these two words exemplify the anthropocentric view that most humans have of Earth Phenomena"  


 This is imagery which portrays my view of the part of Long Island called the Pine Barrens- it undergoes deforestation through forest fires and then constantly renews itself.  I feel I captured what he desired in this piece and I am pleased with the results. The piece was actually  by a poem by Tom Stock titled " Soil Meditation" so that the final art piece became a very personal tribute to this author.
Tom has worked tirelessly to preserve and pay tribute to the Long Island Pine Barrens and has studied the area as a poet and a naturalist.  I am thrilled that this fiber art piece will now be part of his collection among other  art he has purchased.

Beautiful Indigo Dying

When I was in Kyoto I got to visit a family of Indigo farmers and Dyers.  What is absolutely mesmerizing was the techniques of storing the tiny buds of the indigo plants and then transforming it into a blue dye called indigo that they then use to dye both fabrics and handmade papers.  The cloth comes out this rather grey color , but then when they wring out the dye with these poles it is set with the dye that is stronger and more permanent than any other type of blue dye.  They showed us shirts and jackets with indigo dye that looked totally saturated and as if it had been dyed last week although it was at least 50 years old.  The indigo plant buds are basically stored in damp and dark storage facilities and then they are mixed with water and set into these dye vats into the cement floor.  I have quite a bit of the indigo dyed cloth and find it quite beautiful to work with.