Its been a long time

It has been a long time since I sat down to write a post. Of course I have thought about doing it and have on many occasions  made attempts to write something but I never managed it until now.

So much has happened since last June, It has been a very busy ten months. There are two main opportunities which have arisen since my last blog, these have kept me away from blogging so that I could focus totally on my work. I know that many people are able to do both really well but I have not yet reached that status. I will continue trying.

In August last year I was invited to take part in an International Human Rights exhibition which is going to tour museums in the USA called Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium. I spent the latter months of the year (2015) working on a quilt which I have now sent off for the exhibition. Each artist taking part was to select one of the articles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and create a quilt 50 x 50 inch inspired by it. I chose the Human Rights law which states that no one should be a slave, below I have shown a detailed section of the quilt which I will reveal completely once the exhibition begins touring. My idea looked at underage marriage and how it equates to slavery. I will dedicate a blog to the quilt explaining my thoughts and symbolism.

I have also been working towards an exhibition at the Alison Richard Building, part of the University of Cambridge which will take place from 11 April to 1 July 2016. I have completed all preparation of my work for this and it will be displayed next week. This exhibition is an important one for  me as I have been to many exhibitions at the ARB over the years and have always enjoyed the space, the building and the atmosphere. I feel really privileged to be a part of this and have always wanted to have my work shown there. 

I will continue trying to perfect my craft, sharing my knowledge with others and being true to myself.

Young woman with the Rams Horn - Painting a portrait part 2

This is the second video in my project which demonstrates how I sometimes create a quilt from an idea in my sketch pad to fabric and finally to the machine for quilting. It shows how I used the first painting as a template to develop the design. Using tracing paper, I add details to the figure and  background. For my background I have used a commercially printed fabric instead of my own hand dyed cottons.
 I have always been inspired by the work of Gustave Klimt and in this piece I have incorporated elements inspired by the background pattern used in his works Expectations and Fulfilment. I realised that these patterns  are similar to the Rams horn symbol used in Ghana and other regions of Africa. The Rams horn is a symbol of Humility, Excellence, Wisdom and Knowledge as mentioned in The book The Royal Arts of Africa  by Suzanne Preston Blier. I combined these elements and the final result can be seen below.

The completed quilt shows a female whose  facial expression quietly displays the qualities of the Rams Horn symbol tattooed on her neck. Her hair evolves into a crown like halo which elevates her to a saintly presence.