Dear Patricia. Thanks for sharing your DarFur piece. I think it's very powerful, and those terrible stories really do need to be told. I especially disagree with those who told you that this kind of quilt should be restricted to specific theme shows. It's a very free country, and we DO need to be confronted by these issues.
Keep up your good work! Good luck in finishing your piece and getting it accepted into the show.
If I still had the Green Quilts project going, I'd ask you if you wanted to send slides of it for our registry, because I feel this kind of exposure is what leads, hopefully, to healing.
It is quite powerful. I agree with susan and the MANY others who are behind you 100% in bringing these horrible events to the mainstream light. We need to face these tragedies in order to stop them.
Patricia, your piece has really captured a combination of hollowness and survived pain that I see whenever I watch reports on this tragedy or listen to broadcasts reviewing the hideous events. All of it plays over in my mind and makes me sick to my stomach and at a loss for what to do. The physical nature of your quilt is so beautiful and the representation of events and humanity (in the surviving woman) and lack of humanity are so powerful. I want to look away from her eyes (you did a masterful job in the simplest of ways)but they just draw me in and then right through her and into the landscape and the rest of the pictorial space.
You know that you are doing something well when so many complain about what you are doing, like the QA list garbage. Sometimes cat hair and flowers just doesn't cut it for some people. So, keep on with your powerful statements.
Hello Patricia, Thank you for posting your link on the QuiltArt list - I wanted to see this work after all the dissension.
I am constantly amazed at man's inhumanity to man and woman. Your work illustrates the aftermath so well. Those eyes are expressive of a never-ending suffering.
Thank you for putting your pain about this crisis into your art. I hope it is seen by thousands and touches each of them so that we exert pressure on our "representatives" to use the resources of our country to help the victim-survivors in Dar Fur.
Thank you for making this darkness visible (to steal a phrase from Milton). I hope this gets seen by as many as possible. May I include a link and a copy in my blog?
The tragedy of this whole thing is that there is no public outcry, no world wide response, just a closing of the eyes. The victims of Darfur have been in my prayers for several years. You have taken on a difficult subject matter and have handled it very well. Keep on working on things from the heart.
The eyes are haunting. The quilt is powerful (as others have said). What can we do about DarFur? What can I do. I guess thinking about it is a first step -- I've tried to ignore it.
Susan, Tina Marie, Sonji, Roberta, Carol, LizzieB, and Christine........
Please forgive me for taking so long to respond (and for srponding to you ien masse) I am just figuring all this blog stuff out. How wonderful you all took the time to share your feelings, your support, and your insights.
Thank you for this piece. I hope you won't let anyone tell you that this is not a subject for your art, or that it should not be shown. It is very moving. I am reminded of a few lines in this poem by Anne Stevenson, which reminds us that as women, able to give life, we are particularly called to speak out against atrocities like rape and war:
Nothing's more perfect/ than that bleating, razor-shaped cry/ that delivers a mother to her baby./ The bloodcord snaps that held/ their sphere together. The child,/ tiny and alone, creates the mother.
A woman's life is her own/ until it is taken away/ by a first particular cry./ Then she is not alone/ but a part of the premises/ of everything there is./ A branch, a tide ... a war./ When we belong to the world/ we become what we are.
Dear Patricia, I too am glad that you have chosen to enter this quilt into "mainstream" quilt shows. Your message is very powerful. Shame on those who would turn their heads and not want to see it because it makes them uncomfortable! Please keep making quilts from your heart.
11 Comments:
Dear Patricia. Thanks for sharing your DarFur piece. I think it's very powerful, and those terrible stories really do need to be told. I especially disagree with those who told you that this kind of quilt should be restricted to specific theme shows. It's a very free country, and we DO need to be confronted by these issues.
Keep up your good work! Good luck in finishing your piece and getting it accepted into the show.
If I still had the Green Quilts project going, I'd ask you if you wanted to send slides of it for our registry, because I feel this kind of exposure is what leads, hopefully, to healing.
Love and thanks, Susan
It is quite powerful. I agree with susan and the MANY others who are behind you 100% in bringing these horrible events to the mainstream light. We need to face these tragedies in order to stop them.
Patricia, your piece has really captured a combination of hollowness and survived pain that I see whenever I watch reports on this tragedy or listen to broadcasts reviewing the hideous events. All of it plays over in my mind and makes me sick to my stomach and at a loss for what to do. The physical nature of your quilt is so beautiful and the representation of events and humanity (in the surviving woman) and lack of humanity are so powerful. I want to look away from her eyes (you did a masterful job in the simplest of ways)but they just draw me in and then right through her and into the landscape and the rest of the pictorial space.
You know that you are doing something well when so many complain about what you are doing, like the QA list garbage. Sometimes cat hair and flowers just doesn't cut it for some people. So, keep on with your powerful statements.
Hello Patricia, Thank you for posting your link on the QuiltArt list - I wanted to see this work after all the dissension.
I am constantly amazed at man's inhumanity to man and woman. Your work illustrates the aftermath so well. Those eyes are expressive of a never-ending suffering.
Thank you for putting your pain about this crisis into your art. I hope it is seen by thousands and touches each of them so that we exert pressure on our "representatives" to use the resources of our country to help the victim-survivors in Dar Fur.
Roberta Ranney
Thank you for making this darkness visible (to steal a phrase from Milton). I hope this gets seen by as many as possible. May I include a link and a copy in my blog?
Carol Dean Sharpe
The tragedy of this whole thing is that there is no public outcry, no world wide response, just a closing of the eyes. The victims of Darfur have been in my prayers for several years. You have taken on a difficult subject matter and have handled it very well. Keep on working on things from the heart.
Liz Berg
The eyes are haunting. The quilt is powerful (as others have said). What can we do about DarFur? What can I do. I guess thinking about it is a first step -- I've tried to ignore it.
Susan,
I really appreciate your comments and support. Please send me more info about the Green Quilts project........
Susan, Tina Marie, Sonji, Roberta, Carol, LizzieB, and Christine........
Please forgive me for taking so long to respond (and for srponding to you ien masse) I am just figuring all this blog stuff out.
How wonderful you all took the time to share your feelings, your support, and your insights.
Your comments have heartened my spirits.
Many, many thanks.
patricia
Thank you for this piece. I hope you won't let anyone tell you that this is not a subject for your art, or that it should not be shown. It is very moving. I am reminded of a few lines in this poem by Anne Stevenson, which reminds us that as women, able to give life, we are particularly called to speak out against atrocities like rape and war:
Nothing's more perfect/
than that bleating, razor-shaped cry/
that delivers a mother to her baby./
The bloodcord snaps that held/
their sphere together. The child,/
tiny and alone, creates the mother.
A woman's life is her own/
until it is taken away/
by a first particular cry./
Then she is not alone/
but a part of the premises/
of everything there is./
A branch, a tide ... a war./
When we belong to the world/
we become what we are.
Dear Patricia,
I too am glad that you have chosen to enter this quilt into "mainstream" quilt shows. Your message is very powerful. Shame on those who would turn their heads and not want to see it because it makes them uncomfortable! Please keep making quilts from your heart.
Jo
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