The Neighborhood and riomaggiore

I have been trying a new sewing technique on trees, all based on photos I have taken in my neighborhood. Banana Street and Citron street are mounted (or in the process thereof) on canvas; coconut Street is unfinished. I like the slash pines on Coconut but I have been un-sewing the bamboo palms on the left because they didn;t work the way I had wanted.
Meanwhile............I am SO EXCITED !!! Husband and I are going to Italy with a dear friend who has a home there (also in FL). We will be there 13 days. Her hometown, Riomaggiore, is so picturesque. I will surely want to blog about the trip if possible so I have revived this site.

Inappropriate Remarks May Result in Your Arrest

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Inappropriate Remarks May Result in Your Arrest

“Inappropriate Remarks May Result in Your Arrest”

While waiting in the Houston airport last fall, I heard a
computerized loudspeaker voice repeat this
message every few minutes:”Our current threat level is……orange.
Inappropriate remarks may result in your arrest”.

These words caused me to think about exactly
what I would consider to be an inappropriate
remark.

To paraphrase Ben Franklin,
“Those who would sacrifice liberty for safety
deserve neither”.

DARkly FURgotten

DARkly FURgotten

Months ago I heard a radio interview in which a doctor in Darfur described his makeshift hospital and many of the horrible wounds he was treating. He spoke, somewhat matter-of-factly, of a woman who came to him with her wrists cut nearly to the bone. She had been hung from a tree limb and gang raped by the Janjaweed militia for three days. Her story is woven into my art.......... I have sewn her amidst a sea of trees representing Darfur’s countless victims. She holds a replica of Earth based on a EUMETSAT satellite image of our planet and asks “will our story remain darkly forgotten?”

The atrocities in Dafur are many..........men and children are killed (estimates range from 80,000 to 400,000) and maimed, women are raped by the thousands by the Arab Janjaweed ("evil men on horseback") army and then branded with fire and knives. An estimated 90% of black villages have been destroyed and 2.5 million are refugees living in fear.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,702074,00.html?iid=chix-sphere
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/20/60II/main650457.shtml

What will WE do about Darfur?

To Gwen Magee..... my heartfelt respect for your blog and your willingness to have a conversation about censorship and about art in response to social issues, all presented with meaningful quotes and wonderful information about textile resources.........thank you!
http://creativityjourney.blogspot.com/

Postscript:

I have had so many questions about the woman's eyes and why they are seemingly green, I would like to copy an answer I wrote in expanation:

To answer your excellent question about her eyes........they really are brown! I started with dark brown eyes and changed them to light brown because I wanted the black irises to show up better. Surprisingly to me, when I finished the work and added the green silk charmeuse scarf at the very end, those lighter brown eyes caught the green in the scarf so well they appear to be green. But if you look closely you will see they are brown.

The face itself is based on a famous Benin mask of the Bibi tribe that is housed in a London museum.

http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_Of_Art/viewOne.asp?dep=5&viewMode=0&item=1978.412.323

I chose the copper colored dupioni for her face because the mask itself is a beautiful copper color. I wanted to copy the mask because it was beautiful and regal and, except for her eyes (in which I tried with the pupils to convey a hidden hysteria) my intent was to evoke a proud woman, not necessarily a helpless victim.

I have since learned that women in Darfur who are raped by the Janjaweed must "mask their shame" from their community so my basing the face on a mask gained new meaing for me.

Rounding the Mark

I just finished a new work called "Rounding the Mark", about the sailboat races on Charlotte Harbor.
In Hurricane Charley, my beautiful Skipjack ketch (4 red sails) was destroyed by a neighbors' flying roof.
Many boats were lost and the races ended for a time. Our harbor turned black........from all the debris of our destroyed homes and businesses. But we cleaned the harbor, rebuilt our homes, and the races are back on Firday evenings. I figure, after 3 years, we have finally "Rounded the Mark".

The quilt is large, 60" X 63". It is mostly several different kinds of silks that I have hand-dyed along with cheesecloth, knit, chenille, etc that I have also hand dyed.

Good news, good times

Received news that "Hot and Exhausted" was juried into the IQA Houston exhibit "The Sky's the Limit"...wow, what a treat! It will, I believe, also be traveling with the exhibit to Chicago next April and Portland, OR next May. I am excited that it will get some exposure for its theme expressing the dangers to our climate from the un-checked burning of fossil fuels.

I am posting a photo of myself..........cannot figure out how to post it in the "profile" section.

This is me sewing in my favorite spot, aboard my 34' Mainship "Sweet Babu". It can be challenging to sew on a boat ...........not from the motion so much as from the lack of space to bring supplies (I hate being away from my stash). But it is such a beautiful setting the rewards are well worth it.

About me..........

I am a devoted boater, it has been my life and my livelihood. My husband and I own and operate a marine survey business (www.magnificomarine.com). We live in South Florida and keep very busy during storm season inspecting damaged boats (we're also licensed adjusters) for insurance companies. I have a passion for weather watching and "hit the jack pot" when I went thru the eye of Hurricane Charley. I'd do it again in a heartbeat...........minus the aftermath which is horrible.

I also love traveling and lived in Belize for many years (my only child was born there; she is a citizen and I am a Permanent Resident). I've been married for 26 years to an attorney turned pirate.....we met commercial fishing on the West Coast. We've had our share of adventures to include surviving two boat sinkings (I was picked out of the water in my survival suit). But our most challenging adventure has been surviving the upbringing of our beautiful daughter, Becca.

Juried into Denver National Quilt Festival

I received word yesterday that "Rhapsody On A Theme" was juried into the Denver National Quilt Festival to be held May 3 - 6, 2007. I am thrilled.
Even better, my wonderful husband talked me into flying to Denver (from Florida) to see the festival.
Lucky me.

This is the 75 word description I submitted; the Festival theme is "The Peak of Perfection"

“Rhapsody on a Theme”

Often we build from another artist’s work in
our search for perfection. Rachmaninoff began
with Paganini’s “Caprice” and took it to musical
perfection with his “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”.
I’ve depicted his first measures with the musical notes,
with the shape of the lower panels, and with the buttons.
Technique I learned from Carol Taylor began the quilt
but it quickly transformed into my own personal
Rhapsody on a Theme.
Peaks and fields symbolize my journey.

Close up of "Rhapsody on a Theme"

Rhapsody on a Theme

So, I have worked on many projects since "Hot and Exhausted"; two were gifts and one was a portrait of my daughter in a bikini at age 4.
But what I feel is my first "serious" work since last November is called"Rhapsody on a Theme".
It began with a technique taught by Carol Taylor but morphed into something all its own.
The musical notes are from Rhachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" (the melody is from Paganini's "Caprice"). The size and length of the bottom panels as well as the placement of the wood buttons also reflect the melody.
I used artist-dyed jute, twine, silk, cotton, wool, cheesecloth, and chenille as well as commercial silk dupioni and various yarns.
Any and all comments are welcome. I composed and constructed "Rhapsody on a Theme" for a quilt competition themed "The Peak of Perfection" and the mountain peaks and fields of grain represent my search to learn more of how I might espress myself through this wonderful art of textile compositions.

First Place, QU Hole Thing Challenge

"Hot and Exhausted" placed first in the Quilt University "The Hole Thing" challenge and will be viewable on the www.quiltuniversity.com webpage for the coming year. To see, click on 2006 Guild Challenge winners. There were some absolutely beautiful entries and, once again, I was thrilled first of all to be in such good artistic company and amazed and humbled to win first place.
Thanks so much to everyone who voted for the quilt.

Hot and Exhausted

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Hot and Exhausted

I am pleased to say that my latest work, "Hot and Exhausted" (made to meet a challenge "The Hole Thing") was judged by artist Cheryl Fausel this past Saturday, November 4, 2006 at the Ft Myers, Florida, Alliance for the Arts. The show was sponsored by my art guild, Art Quilters Unlimited. (www.artquiltersunlimited.com)
There were many beautiful quilts so I felt quite honored that mine was chosen First Place.
It will, I believe, be displayed on an internet site and will be open to anyone who wishes to view all the entries and vote for their favorite.

My depiction of earth is based on a EUMETSAT image of air mass satellite image of earth as focused on Africa and southern Europe. EUMETSAT is Europe's conterpart to the United States' NOAA.

My earth is composed of yarn and outlined in cheesecloth, all of which I hand-dyed. I used the yarn in a "coiled and sew" technique to evoke the fluidity of the air masses. The representation of earth is elevated 3/4" from the background of the quilt and is surrounded by the orange/red cheesecloth to indicate climate warming. My hand-dyed and pieced cotton fabric (the sun's rays) and hand-dyed batting (for both the miniature cars and for the exposed black batting of the cars' exhasuts) complete the work's composition.

I obtained written permission from EUMETSAT to represent their images in my work; the date depicted is September 4, 2006 and the exposed white batting on the earth's image indicates convective waves rolling off Africa, one of which I believe later became Hurricane Gordon.

To see EUMETSAT's real time satellite air mass images, which are breathtaking, you can veiw them at:
http://oiswww.eumetsat.org/SDDI/cgi/listImages.pl?m=prod,a=1,sa=8,pr=RGB,f=1,c=AIR,se=0,n=24,d=1,v=400,pp=0,t=200608302200#controls

The "toy" cars respresent our child-like oblivion to the consequences of burning fossil fuels. The cars' exhausts, shown as rips or tears in the black silk dupioni background, expose the dyed blackish gray batting and indicate the effect we all have on our atmosphere and, ultimately, on our climate.

I would love any and all comments about the art quilt and it's message.

Patricia Anderson Turner
November 8, 2006