Our Vision of His Transition

2020, 76”L x 142”W, hand-dyed, printed and painted cotton and silk fabric, machine-quilted, hand-embellished.

This is the piece I consider my ‘COVID’ work. I worked on it almost nonstop from February 2020 through December 2020, when my family was sheltering in place/working from home to stay safe. My mother’s brother, Douglass Turner, got very sick, was in hospital for several weeks and passed away in early February. I spent time with my cousin, Aaron Turner, taking care of my uncle before the end.

When I tried to put the experience into an art quilt I was overwhelmed with the terrible hospital experience. I could not gather the colors of the harsh hospital and nursing home rooms without despairing. I purposely decided I could instead put him where I wanted, and where I thought he would want to be for his transition - a warm summer night in the woods.

My uncle loved the outdoors. He enjoyed canoeing, camping and bird watching. ‘Our Vision’ is a testament to everything I learned from him in life and in his transition.

If you zoom in and look closely you can see the baby owls in the tree.

The leaves and flowers are small quilts sewn with glow in the dark thread and beads. Many of the background images also glow in the dark. Much of the blue here is my own dyed indigo. I sewed ALL the beads on by hand, using monofilament thread. I would pull the thread very tight to make the leaves curl up and stand out from the background. Beading is contemplative, healing work.