I haven't written a blog post in quite awhile,
but now it's time because I want to tell you about PIVONKAROSE
- my show that opens tomorrow at Burlington City Arts.
My show is the outcome of receiving the Barbara Smail award from BCA
and represents a year of thinking, planning, process and making.
Now that it is up and I can step back, relax a bit and catch my breath
it is quite lovely to see how it all fell into place and I can savor
connections and sweet synchronicities.
My first childhood memory involves a rose that I was compelled to engage
with, smell and pick - which got me into a good deal of trouble with my
mother.
My mother's maiden name was Christine Rose Pivonka, she was a truly lovely
lady and back in the day of blogging - she religiously read and commented on
all of my posts. She passed seven years ago and while she was dying I was
deeply involved with dyeing with the lovely aromatic eucalyptus.
Tomorrow, March 14, is my mother's birthday.
Pivonka, by the way means peony or rosy cheeked in Czech.
Early 2018 found me in a politically pink state of mind and I wanted to
expand on the lovely salmony shades of eucalyptus and ventured into the world
of cochineal - reveling in the range of baby pinks, deep fuschias, carmine
reds and the exciting oranges resulting from the addition of lemon juice.
With an abundance of rosy fabric, yarn and paper I set about
stitching, knitting, crocheting (like my mother and grandmothers)
and making little pink books.
My inner 8 year-old was in heaven!
Visiting my dad in Arizona a year ago I made a pink crocheted stone.
After several years of creating silk samples from eucalyptus, osage orange,
hibiscus and (more recently) cochineal, I had a significant collection that I
kept in a tall cigar box - too lovely to do anything with. When the space in
which my show would be installed was determined - complete with tall
beautiful wrap around windows, I decided I wanted the light to shine through
all those lovely scraps of colorful silk like stained glass.
Then came a summer full of stitching what I called pink prayers,
fall brought more natural dyeing and into winter I had the pleasure of
being a visiting artist at encausticastle in Kentucky exploring ideas around
stitch and wax. This resulted in a series called the Pudenda sisters - french
knots on silk under wax. If you are curious about the name, go google... more
pink politicking if you will. French knots are dear to my soul - my mother
taught me and stitching them was one our last shared activities.
And then there is Billy Collins' poem - Taking Off Emily Dickensen's Clothes.
Process is at the core of my work and I have a deep and abiding respect for
ongoing inquiry and experimentation. This has been a wonderful year of
exploration and I am very happy with the resulting outcome.
Many thanks to many people - Lisa Lillibridge who believed that dreams can
come true, David Wilson for all and everything and to Colin Storrs and
Heather Ferrell for their kind guidance and helping me remember spaciousness.
Happy birthday Mom - my beautiful PIVONKAROSE.