Story Scarves

Hey Darlings---
here is my artist statement from Images on Fabric....specifically about the story scarves. I'm trying to attach some pictures!!!! Blogger is having issues, but hopefully I'll get them up by the end of the day. big love + wild dreams of a new beginning.


ARTIST STATEMENT MARCH 2008
Of the late, I have been thinking about a line from the 1980s film Moonstruck. Nicholas Cage says this to Cher, “we weren’t put here to be immaculate. We were put here to take risks and mess up and love the wrong people.” I love this idea; I think that there is such a lot of pressure in the world to do “the right thing” and there is a very narrow window of that which is regarded as the right thing. When I really think it over, I begin to believe a couple of things. The first is that there is not a single way to live a life, there are many paths to Nirvana, to inner peace, to achieving what is good. Another is that good and doing a good job are relative and personal terms. If one wants to do a good job they need only to listen to their deepest, truest, innermost voice and they will be on the right track.
As I create more work and become further involved and connected to it, and that work becomes more and more of the vocabulary that I live my life thru it becomes easier for me to listen to that voice and know that it is right and good for me to follow what it says.
When starting out on this project, I tried to give myself a lot of space to figure out what I really wanted to create. It quickly occurred to me that it my work I hope to encourage people to listen to their innermost voice and to act according to it. I think that often times people are afraid to do that because they feel like whatever that voice leads them to do will not be accepted. I want to create pieces that totally support and nurture that aspect of the people that I know. I want to love people for the right reasons and make them feel bolstered up and admired for the pieces of them that they are most truly connected to.
These story scarves are meant to sing a little song to you about the messy thrilling lives of the people that they are about. Like a song, I hope that although each scarf has a specific story that it tells and person that it refers to, you will feel some connection and find ways to apply the imagery and the story to your own garden of dreams, wonderings, thoughts and ideas.
The scarves are made of a variety of fabrics; depending on the person they’re about. Each one is hand dyed and embellished in honor of these souls that I feel so connected to. Each scarf has a Milagro sewn to it someplace. Milagro means Miracle in Spanish and refers to small metal charms that the people of Central America nail up on doors, walls, windows and chairs. The different shapes and figures mean different thoughts and prayers. I added them to the scarves because they add an element of magic and we could all use a little of that.