These are new pieces for a group show at Becca Gallery in June. I realize after finishing them today that they represent much of the joy I feel after such a beautiful Jazz Fest here in the city as well as some anxiety over the up and coming hurricane season. I use a technique where I draw into paint and then build my spirit houses with found paper and beeswax. I entered my studio this morning with WWOZ on the radio and the memory of mellow sights, smells, and sounds from a lovely weekend of world class food, art and music. People from all over the world converge in New Orleans for one of the best celebrations of life around. One of the blessings of living in this place is the realization that there is no real safety to be found in the external world of flux. We can only find security in knowing that we can handle what may come based on the strength we have shown in the past. This frees us to live in the present to a greater degree. So here we stand, like my little black bird, in our colorful patchwork houses, perched, alert, and free.
Here is a piece that I am about to ship out to someone in Boston. My inspiration for it came from the many quilts that have been handed down in my family. Often I remember waking up, my eyes beginning to focus after a long sleep on the stitches that held the disparate pieces of fabric together. There is such warmth in the remembrance of this from childhood and as I grew, I began to wonder about the people that made these tapestry that covered our beds, were the base of our picnics and comforted us when we were sick on the sofa. Having never witnessed a man with a needle and thread in his hand in Mississippi, I knew they were made by women. This practical art of quilting worked its way into my soul and emerges in my work. It is a reminder of what women do in every culture...make whole the separate and often discordant parts of life which we are given and/or have chosen. 
