The completed work!  It measures 6 feet squared and is full of symbols that are important to the young couple as well as the maker.  The bright braid that encircles the central motif twice represents the intertwining of two lives as well as the traditional twisted bread that sustains life.  Grapes to enjoy the fruit of the vine throughout their lives, birds to let their lives take flight with happiness and freedom.  Musical notes since the groom is a musician and the central OHM that is the center of 'the everything'.

details

 

Here are a few detail shots of the finished canopy. You are looking at 2 different corner elements.
This next photo is a detail of some of the birds on the border, I hand embroidered the details before applying them to the quilt and doing the free motion quilting.

merav and mena's chuppa

Last summer I had the honour of being asked to create the wedding canopy for a wonderful young couple.  She is a Yoga therapist and he is a Musician.  They had many thoughts about what they wanted to stand under while making their vows, and non-traditional describes it all.  It was a pleasure to work with them because they were so thoughtful about all the iconography wanting everything to have meaning for them.  The center illustration is the Ohm, the 'everything'.  She wanted it to be set against sunset colours and her favorite colour is purple. He created the graphic pattern that is the grid around the Ohm.  The braided fabrics represent the intertwining of their lives, the birds, their love of nature and freedom. Stay tuned for the finished product!

class critique continued

I am forever impressed by the diversity and creativity amongst the students! Below is my project for this assignment.

This piece hung like a roman shade on the wall going from very light to very dark with a red thread running through the darkest element and pooling on the floor.  I am exploring the nature of honour cross culturally. The word is sliced and burned as it is repeated to the ground. In the western world it is difficult to connect the word 'honour' with killing and yet we have seen that is easily done in other cultures. Examining the definition of honour cross culturally it is fascinating to see that despite the extremely violent behavior, the understanding of honour is similar.  Honour is connected to values of integrity and family.  How is it that it looks so dramatically different?  I feel that unless we can try to understand 'the other' we will never be able to co exist.

class critique

Yesterday our class had our critique of our "Narrative and Language" project. We were asked to create fibre works which represent 'communicative intention'.

This is a needle felted pillow speaking to the story of little red riding hood.

These are pillow form shapes speaking to Shel Silverstein's book "The Missing Piece".This is both crochet and needle felted 'speaking' to the language of Braille.

This is a nostalgic look at Toronto with a photo transfer technique using mat medium.







This is a reliquary referencing the accidental discovery of animal bones in the woods.

These are hand felted elements referencing an interest in the study of philosophical truths.



         
This is a hand made cotton skirt with a print in ancient text telling the story of how love is of greatest importance.

    

This is the back of the Ying yang quilt to illustrate the free motion quilting.

...and here's another baby girl quilt I created while in a similar frame of mind.

This is a drawing I created last year when I was exploring issues of motherhood.  I used pro markers on paper.




As I was reviewing images of my work I was struck by how similar the following quilt is to this drawing. I wonder if we have a certain 'hand' that repeats in our work no matter what we create. Is this always with us or is it developed over time?

This baby quilt was made for a sweet baby girl that was hoped and prayed for.  I called this quilt the 'ying and yang of motherhood'.

http://annahergert.wordpress.com/

Check out Anna Hergert's blog.  An inspirational artist.

playing with felt strips

Wow. Can You Believe This Rug is Made from Strips of Felt?!?

Posted by lizstan on December 29th, 2010 at 3:10 pm

This is the most beautiful felt project we’ve seen. Strips of felt are wrapped around each other with hot glue to create this amazing swirled effect. What a great project for a snowed-in weekend and a movie marathon with the family. The kids could even help cut strips and decide on color combination while you operate the hot glue gun. Would you attempt something like this?

Keep reading to see more pictures and find out where to find more details about this beautiful felt project!

You can see all the instructions and details here on The Crafts Dept blog

A few other fun pictures of the process:

I cam across this neat idea on the web and thought   it   would be a great use of the donated felt strips in the fibre studio at OCADU. 

All you need is a glue gun!

This is an abstract example of the technique mentioned previously. This was a commisioned piece and was one of the largest I created using this method. with 16 blocks it was about 4-5 feet square.  It is stretched on a canvas frame.  The client has it hanging in her library.

Old Friends

For some time I have experimented with acrylic painting on fusible web.  It is important to thin the paint with water and apply it gently.  Initially, this idea was introduced to me by Jeanie Jenkins who suggested that applying the fusible to a batik backing and layering an organza on top creates surprising results.  I love the idea and have made many abstract images as well as this  one entitled 'Old friends'.

Like Night and Day?

 I created this quilt for a guild challenge in 2009. 

The Theme was "Like Night and Day" and I turned it into a question wondering whether indeed we are like night and day or are woman, all around the world dealing with similar challenges in different circumstances?

This piece won me a membership in the Ontario Crafts Council.