Recent GREEN QUILTS News
May, 2004. By Susan Shie
This is our last GREEN QUILTS Update page, and it includes both
the message about ending the project, as well as lots of news about GQ
artists and their work, as well as some related projects. It's been three
years since my last update, so this one is huge!
Index to all earlier GREEN QUILTS News Updates Pages. Note: These came after eight years of mailed on-paper newsletters:
- June, 2001
- March, 2001
- June, 1999
- November, 1998
- August, 1998
- May, 1998
- April, 1998
- March, 1998
- October, 1997
GREEN QUILTS PROJECT Officially Ends May, 2004. After over fifteen years of managing the GREEN QUILTS Project, we've decided to end it, because it's time, though this is sad news to all of us. There was wonderful response to my idea for this project, beginning in 1989, and everyone who participated has my deep gratitude. The project had a bell curve peak probably in 1994-6 and has slowed down continually since then. We realize that there will always be the need to send healing and balancing energy to the Earth and to all the living forces it supports, but our personal efforts with this organized project need to end now. If someone else wants to start another project with like characteristics, we only ask that you give your project a different name, so that historically the activities of the GREEN QUILTS Project will be associated with what we have done, along with our contributors and their work.
Meanwhile, please continue to make art quilts with messages of hope and healing for the Earth, which you use to help raise the awareness of everyone about the need for healing. Keep addressing the many issues of the environmental balance and safety, if you are so inclined.
(NOTE: As of May, 2004, we have officially ended our silkscreened GREEN QUILTS label service. Robin regrets that she has been unable to find time and energy to make the labels for some time now. If you have sent Robin money to order labels, you should contact her and ask her to please return your order money, telling her how many labels you ordered and when. Be sure to provide her with your address. Thank you.)
Many thanks to everyone who contributed by making and showing quilts with healing messages and who took the time to send us their slides and news of the quilts' activities throughout the 15 years of the project. Thanks to the people who held GREEN QUILTS exhibits over the years. Thanks to Hilary Fletcher, who allowed us to present our GREEN QUILTS Award from 1995 through 2003 at her home, during the Quilt National opening weekends in Athens, Ohio. Special thanks to Robin and Michele, for their longterm dedication to this effort.
Green Quilts Award 2003
The GREEN QUILTS Award for 2003 was presented to Dinah Sargeant of Newhall, CA, last year in May, during the opening weekend of Quilt National '03, at Hilary and Marvin Fletcher's home in Athens, OH.
At left: me, Dinah, and Robin pose with the painting I made as this year's award. A large crowd of Quilt National exhibitors and their guests once again witnessed our ceremonial announcement of the Quilt National Robin and I had just selected as the piece in the show which we felt best represented the spirit of the GREEN QUILTS Project.
"Link." ©Dinah Sargeant 2002.78"h
x 84"w.
100% cotton fabric hand painted by the artist. Hand and machine appliqued, machine-pieced background, hand and machine quilted.
"Link evolved out of an experience I had drawn and written about in my journal. I started with white cotton fabric, using Rocco Fabric Art paint and resist, and worked very loosely. Colors were applied with brush, rag, hand or tossed from a cup. At this point I just enjoyed the flow of paint and color. When the color was set and washed, I hung it up to look at and dream with. (This is often when a story begins, or continues, as in Link's case). This stage took many days before I could commit to scissors and pins. Even then the imagery went through many transformations before stitching began. There is always a lot of this dream time involved in my work, and in order to stay focused on the story's power I usually work on one piece at a time. Link took approximately five months to complete.
Link: One night two owls
flew overhead. Oblivious to me, they clicked and glided together in their
own world. I walked in mine, felt privileged for a glimpse of theirs, and
then, recognized our connection. The world feels full of magical moments,
unexpectedly showing up to jolt us awake and take notice of its mysterious
beauty. "Link" evolved out of one of these moments. After watching
the owls I felt a profound awareness of our private universes and the layers
between us, coexisting one on top of the other. The layers felt connected
and interwoven in a complex arrangement of balance, energy and oneness."
-Dinah Sargeant. Ddsargeant@aol.com
The four earlier GREEN QUILTS Awards went to Melody Johnson in 1995, Rhoda Cohen in 1997, Maya Schonenberger in 1999, and Jane Sassaman in 2001. You can read about the last three in earlier GQ update pages here. Melody's award was given before we turned to the internet for our newsletter, so it was in the 1996 mailing instead.
Missing Women's Legacy of Hope: Quilting a Legacy in Canada This is a project I find very compelling, headed by Valerie Hughes.
MWLS goals are local and national. Our support is local, national, and international. Our media coverage is local, national, and international. The families of the Missing Women have the world's attention and we, and our supporters, intend to use it to create a Legacy of Hope for all women and children who suffer addiction, homelessness, and violence.
Quilters have a long history of compassionate community spirit and when Val spoke at the Ridge Meadows Guild she was deeply moved by the outpouring of support she received. She shared with the guild, the loss of her sister, the losses of the other families, and the plans Missing Women's Legacy Society had for helping the women and children who were still out there and suffering. Val asked them for donations of quilts and /or quilted art to auction at an upcoming MWLS fundraising event and they gave generously. But their compassion would not stop there they knew of the healing power quilting and offered to teach the families of the missing women how to quilt. They did this at a tent, across from the Pickton property, at which the families congregated in an attempt to provide support for one another. Every Wednesday and Saturday our quilting teachers would come bringing with them everything we would need; sewing machines (we had a small generator), irons, donated materials and, most important, their gift of friendship. Out of these quilting bees, came something even more beautiful it was decided that we would make a quilt for each woman entering Legacy House for recovery. Our teachers, members of the Ridge Meadows Quilting Guild, expanded on this and promised to help teach the women of Legacy House how to quilt. Each woman who enters care will receive a quilt. During the course of her stay she will create the quilt to be given to the next woman taking her place. As this women moves on into her new life, her quilt will forever reminder her of the healing power that women can share and of her own victory over addiction. This project is now called "Quilting a Legacy of Hope".
We are asking quilting guilds and community groups across Canada to support women and children by informing your friends and families of the MWLS Cross Canada Tours and asking them to become involved by inviting MWLS to their communities and to provide a forum at which, MWLS will present vital information about addiction, homelessness, violence, and the power of the community in healing.
Valerie Hughes, president of MWLS and family member of missing woman, Kerry Koski, will accept invitations to present information to all interested parties. To extend an invitation, simply contact Val through our website, www.missingwomenslegacy.ca . We are now accepting invitations, calculating necessary travel times, and confirming presentation dates. MWLS's intent is to increase public awareness of the issues surrounding Vancouver's Missing Women and all missing and murdered Canadian women, creating a national dialog that will lead to comprehensive long-term solutions.
MWLS will also use these tours as a fundraising vehicle for our project Legacy House a comprehensive support recovery home for women suffering with addiction. At this time Missing Women's Legacy Society is completely volunteer driven, so there are no administration costs associated with fundraising.
Both tours begin June 15th, 2003 in St. John's, Newfoundland. The Compassion into Action Cycling Tour will cover the southern areas across Canada to Victoria, British Columbia. The Art of Giving Tour will zigzag from south to north through the provinces, including B.C.'s Queen Charlotte Islands and the Sunshine Coast, ending in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, at the proposed site of Legacy House.
Please share this information with your members and pass along our request. Another part of the Quilting a Legacy of Hope Project is to solicit donations of 100% cotton fat quarters to be used in our quilting projects. These fat quarters can be mailed to the address below and if you have any question please contact us through our website or by telephone. If you include with your donation a statement of value, your name, address, and phone number we can offer a tax receipt.
Thank you again for your time. Together we will saves lives and reunite families. - Valerie Hughes missingwomen@telus.net or at val@missingwomenslegacy.ca.
Missing Women's Legacy Society 22617 Hinch Crescent, Maple Ridge, British Columbia, V2X 7H5 Canada, 604-318-9611, www.missingwomenslegacy.ca
"Lost
Treasures I" (Rainforest) ©Petra Voegtle 2004. Munich, Germany.
"Lost Treasures I" is a "green" piece and dedicated to our rainforests, the green lungs of our world. It is a reminder of what we are currently doing to our own life because what is lost for profit and "civilization" is part of ourselves. When we continue to kill our trees and the living beings in our world we will finally kill ourselves. Hundreds of specimen are extinguished daily and never return. Stop burning the forests! Save our lives!
Materials/Technique: Silk top, poly batting, viscose/poly backing, mesh, filling material, paints, metallic pigments, cork, acryl gel; silk carving technique©, hand and machine stitched, burnt, painted. Size: 66" x 17"
Far left: "Lost Treasures 1" full view.
Near left: detail.
Contact Petra Voegtle at vyala@arcor.de or visit her web site Vyala-Arts, where you'll read about her silk-carving techniques, which she invented, and see images of her art quilts and other art.
Boise Peace Quilt Update
Do you know anyone you'd like to engage in positive change? An
issue you feel we've all been snoozing about?
Do you have a passion for making the world better, and want to encourage
others to join your efforts? We've got something for you: The Wake UP!
Quilt.
The Wake UP! Quilt is the latest project of the Boise Peace Quilt Project. A brightly-colored quilt with a clear "wake-up" message, we designed it to loan to organizations and individuals to call attention to the power and possibility awakened people can bring our world. Organized around a central clock motif, the quilt has panels depicting issues on which people can make a difference. It also has pockets in which you may place hand-outs or banners with your individual message.
The Wake UP! Quilt is the Boise Peace Quilt Project's 39th quilt since 1982. It has venerable siblings that have sprung from our needles: you may have heard of the National Peace Quilt. Sixty-seven U.S. Senators spent a night sleeping beneath its fifty squares from every state, dreaming of a peaceful future for our children and recording their commitment to bring the dreams to life. Perhaps you saw our Joint Soviet American Peace Quilt made with Soviet women and presented at the bilateral arms talks in Geneva. It was featured in an Academy Award-nominated documentary, "A Stitch For Time."
This newest quilt is an experiment in "tactical textiles"-an effort to awaken people to the power and hope they can bring to the world. When the news gets overwhelming, it's tempting to just turn everything off and surrender to numb hopelessness. It's easy to ask: "What can one person do?" But we know that one person, especially when joined by other individuals, can do a lot.
You can borrow the Wake UP! Quilt to use in your own community. Maybe you'd like to use the quilt at a press conference announcing a campaign to clean up your city's waterways. Or you could take it to your Congressman's office to ask for more articulate responses to your questions. Maybe you'd like to Wake UP! your community to concerns about violence against women, or war toys, or health care access. You could use it to say "Wake UP!" to the dangers and excesses of SUV's, or the need to fund education and preserve environmental resources. You can be creative!
We do ask that you use the quilt in a loving spirit. Its cheerful design will help. It is our intention to use the quilt to demonstrate common ground, rather than to shame misbehaviors. Please let us know if you'd like to borrow the quilt. We hope it will eventually be so well-used that it will become a household word. We can almost hear the news anchors intoning, "the Wake UP! Quilt went this week to..."
We'll make it as easy as possible for you to borrow the quilt. It will arrive with a press packet with background information about the Boise Peace Quilt Project and the Wake UP! Quilt, to which you can add your own information about your individual cause. We'll explain how to display it, and will send it in a returnable box. We'll ask you to tell us how you used the quilt, and to pay for shipping. There are no other costs associated with the project.
All you need to do is schedule a time, and prepare to have fun. No long hours of stitching. Just some creative social change. Please say YES! We're looking forward to hearing from you.
For the Boise Peace Quilt Project - Heidi Read. Contact the Boise Peace Quilt Project website.
PS: BPQP is embellishing crazy squares for the award quilt for Eve Ensler. I'm going to take in some images of your quilts and show these women embellishment with a capital "E!" Lotsa lush velvets and satins and I think there's going to be some big, lacy black "V" over the top (tho I'm not on the design committee.) It's our 40th official peace quilt, I just checked. We invite folks to visit our website <boisepeacequilt.org>, and to use our cards for their correspondence!
Beth
Ann St. George - Meditation Quilts
At left: "River of Life" ©Beth Ann St George 2002. 65"h x 60"w.
It is most important to know that all my Meditation quilts in this series (30 of them so far) are channeled from energy I feel and guided by the fabrics themselves, sometimes. Sometimes I am "told" the title of the next one "coming"...for instance, my 2 current ones, Shield of Faith and Rainbow of Forgiveness, came to me almost together a few weeks ago.
I do not plan or design the quilts. Sometimes, I have an idea of how they are to take shape...but then as I work on them and am guided, they take on completely different aspects than I had thought.
A few of them, like Motherhood, are a very personal statement, allowing me to express some of my feelings that would otherwise have remained unspoken...but other mothers who have viewed this particular one also feel the power of expressing some of those deeper feelings of struggle and tears and broken hearts.
River of Life was one of the early Meditation quilts--I was not quite sure of the flow of channeling at that time...and I just started working with the fabric--no title...When I finished and looked at it, I knew the name...but other people viewing the quilt "saw" more--the pregnant female body with the 2 babies - dark and light babies--...the black points of sharp protection guarding that new life to come...
River of Life is available for meditating upon when one is feeling disconnected from Life...the river flows constantly, cradling new life--new hope. The women to the left area continuous link with the past and into the future..they are wonderful women --warriors, mothers, workers..we are all them.
Patricia Ballentine, in whose stewardship River of Lfe now lies uses it extensively in healing circles and meditation groups. Here's what she writes about River of Life:
"The River of Life lies...literally at our feet..Step In! Universal consciousness through planetary healing and unity is impacted by the journey of each of us. That consciousness begins with the awarness, from the first solitary stitch, with the thread of each life, that the creative process unfolds...organically..with the pieces..the souls at hand.
The image and the energy of River of Life reveals a journey: From Womb...to Woman...to Women...to Earth Mother...To Universal Feminine Consciousness. Through the birth of a soul, into a family, which is part of a community, which lives on our planet...that is part of the Universe. The health of the soul impacts the health of the Universe."
Women viewing this piece often feel that it leads them back into the stream of life--so easy to forget in this alientated and alienating modern world of ours...That we are all together together....
The piece is machine pieced, hand quilted. 60" X 65" completed in early 2002. I do not pre-wash my fabrics; I prefer the texture that differential shrinkage brings to the piece.
I am seeking a venue for displaying the collection--together they make an avenue of communication from some other place abut our place in Life, on the planet, and in our inner space as part of the world. I feel blessed to be a channel for this communciation.
Most sincerely,
Beth Ann St George 1-22-04
Contact Beth Ann about her work at Bstgeorge@hightechschools.com
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Web site origianlly created by Susan Shie and Jan Cabral ©1997. Subsequent web site work © Susan Shie 1997-2012.
This page updated by Susan Shie, July 20, 2012.
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