The Butterfly Effect

2019

Springtime is simply glorious in Texas. Along highways and backroads everywhere, wildflowers bloom profusely. In the Hill Country the show opens with the famous bluebonnets and what blooms next depends on weather and rainfall making every spring performance uniquely colorful.

It has inspired me to create my own home gardens with native plants which attract pollinators — bees, hummingbirds and the butterflies. Texas has the greatest butterfly diversity in the U.S. with over 400 species. My gardens feed wildlife which support the local ecosystem and, collectively, a healthier planet.

6.30.2020 — Accepted into SAQA Regional Exhibition A Sense of Place: Texas Landscape Art Quilts. Premieres at The Center for Contemporary Arts in Abilene, Texas, and then tours to additional venues.

Seeing Shapes

2019

Looking at the loose chevron weave of the fabric, combinations of forms emerged in my head. This is spatial reasoning which has everyday applications because it involves problem solving. Multiple studies show that early music instruction is linked to enhanced spatial reasoning abilities. Overall, learning to play a musical instrument has many mental, cognitive and emotional health benefits and should be emphasized in primary education.

No activity uses the entire brain like playing music. To illustrate, when our eyes see musical notes our brain converts these abstract symbols to appropriate timed sounds executed in rhythm by the coordination of our fingers/hands/feet. The result is improved fine motor, reading, listening, concentration and math skills.

Nearly 2,400 years ago Plato said, “I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.”

6.24.2019 — Accepted into SAQA Global Exhibition Musica!. Premieres at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky and then tours to additional venues. Some venues cancelled/altered due to safety precautions during the pandemic.

Make Do and Mend

2019

During World War II, American and British governments rationed clothes and urged citizens to revive and repair worn clothing with the ‘Make Do and Mend’ campaign. And patriotically, people found many clever solutions during those tough times.

I think we’re living in tough times again. The threat this time is our own consumer habits and sensibilities. It wasn’t long ago when garments were bought with intention to wear for years, some even decades. Now the lifespan of personal items often measures in weeks and months. Discard and replace has become too common rather than take the time to mend a tear or sew a button. In consequence, Earth’s natural resources are depleting while landfills are compounding.

Found materials and a damaged tablecloth were salvaged in this project including a holiday garland improvised as buttons. Give worn, torn and dated belongings a second chance. After all, this is how patchwork quilts came about in many cultures – out of necessity and ingenuity.

9.11.2022 — Accepted into Round Rock Arts My Art, My Cause exhibition at the Avery Building Gallery, Texas State University, Round Rock (October 10 - December 2, 2022).