The Maze of Life
While visiting friends in Tuscon AZ, I saw jewelry designed from the petroglyph Man in the Maze. I knew right away that I would design a quilt based on that imagry and story. As I started to work on it, I knew that I would have to interpret it in my own way. It evolved as I continued to work on it. I painted the fabric to reflect the colors of the mountains and desert in that area. The black of the maze was slightly discharged to give the feel of the patina of petroglyphs that occurs over the years. Since it is reverse appliqued by hand it became a great take along piece and travelled with me. The Tortoise was selected to represent life because they do live for so very long and have a very hard life. Tortoise was my first attempt to bead a figure. It took a long time to do and much trial and error. Beading in the trails of the maze represents the experiences tortoise encounters along the journey to it's final destination which is seen as clusters of memories, wisdom, relationships and experience. Ancient symbols were added by both screen printing and stamping to add texture to the piece. The quilting was a challenge! My final decision was to doodle elements of the desert as I machine quilted. Included in the quilting are land forms, corn, animals, cacti, and petroglyphs seen throughtout the Southwest. My stitching could be better but it does show what I wanted. The quilt has been shown in 4 venues and recently won awards in 2 categories. It received a 2nd place in Fine Crafts and Honorable mention in the Religious category at the Hillcrest Fine Arts Festival in February.. Yep----I was rather pleased.
Making this quilt was very enjoyable. I have enjoyed looking at it and living with it. Now it is time for it to move on to a new home in Tuscon where it will be surrounded by desert and Native American pottery. It should be very happy there. And, I can visit it.
When my friend Bonnie offered to come over and set up a blog for me, my first thought was that this is crazy. My life doesn't need any more complications. After a nanosecond of consideration I decided to take her up on her kind offer.
I would like to share info and photos about my travels and other fun activities. I'm just getting started. Stay intouch and make any suggestions that you may wish to. I neede all of the help I can get.
