Preserved: Healing Stories of Plants & Ancestors
AVA Gallery Astoria, Oregon November 14 - December 5 2020
Preserved was a major solo exhibition, an installation presenting a story of lineage wounds, cycles of time, myth, and the healing power of the natural world. The installation immersed viewers in a full spectrum journey of plant derived colors. The show was arranged into seven stations.
An in house story telling video of the exhibit is in production. (Look Here for two video perspectives from AVA.)
The View from the West - looking into the light of Preserved from the cold wet darkness of a November night.
Seven Stations of Preserved
Station One: Beyond Linear Time
“Seven Years of Sundays” a visual calendar of non-linear time made up of 28 seasonal panels of natural dyed cotton strips coated in encaustic medium. This seven year calendar greeted viewers in the three south facing windows prior to entering the exhibit, and with the four years lined up on the title wall. The window hung years functioned as stained glass, defining sacred space. Light shining through them made them appear as if illuminated when seen from either side.
Station Two: The Earth has our Back
“Grotto of the Plant Guardians & Neighborhood Manna garments” Turning towards the exhibit from the entrance the first thing viewers might see is the Grotto enclosure containing plant portraits- botanical prints on wool, silk and rayon. On the outer wall of the grotto are hung the three Manna garments. The vintage garments are backed by an indigo dyed cloth. Each one, Silk shirt, Wool scarf, and Linen shirt, are adorned with 12 appliquéd colored scraps, dyed over the course of a year from plants foraged within a few miles of my house.
Station Three: The Realm of the Ancestors is near to us
“Shelters from the Rainbow Plain in the Western Lands” Walking towards the west window there is a narrow passage between the wall and the back of a large fabric wrapped structure. Coming into the light, a long bench runs under the window holding seven silk tents in rainbow order. Each tent contains a quart jar of dried dyestuffs and seeds for the plant that gave its color. This piece references the lands beyond the Western Sea in ancient Irish folklore, seen as the land of the fair folk, the angels, or the dead.
Station four: Honoring our transformations, bringing wisdom to our Community
“Post Mastectomy Dress #13 - Messenger for the Morrígan & the Rainbow Goddess” This Ceremonial garment is displayed on a one breasted hazel tree dress form. It was made on my fiftieth birthday, seven years after being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, and the year I outlived my great Grandmother who died of breast cancer in 1938 at age 49. The dress contains multiple symbolic features which can be read about in the Journal. All dyes for the garment were grown or foraged in Alderbrook.
Station Five: We are the lucky ones
“Piercing the Veil of creation - Quilt of Seven Generations and Ancestors Worship a WIP” The indigo quilt was made of recycled organic cotton gingham, pieces used in the botanical printing process. The many layers of symbolism are discussed in the Journal. Machine quilting by artist Constance Waisanen. The portrait of my Great Grandmother, and her sisters is a cartoon for a future quilt. painted with Madder and Dyer’s Chamomile lake pigments, and earth pigments. The dozen canning jars at bottom of panel represent her 12 children.
Station Six: Self love and acceptance is at the heart of all change
“The Shelter of Self-Acceptance” this ten foot diameter meditation shelter contains twelve 16” x 72” silk banners dyed over the course of a year from plants found within a few miles of my home. Each panel was dipped in Indigo, symbolizing how we each have a unique reaction to life events. the large round rug was woven in 7” strips using a linen warp, and dead stock rayon curtain material weft. It has had prior uses to define sacred space, in my BFA show at UO in 1996, at our wedding, and in the room where I gave birth to our oldest son. The mats were made from a dismantled futon, the organic cotton covers dyed with Cutch and indigo. The futon was one our youngest son slept on as a small child. The small silk handkerchiefs pinned to the outside of the bent wood structure mimic the order of the banners on the inside, and were dyed at the same time as the banners.
Station seven: We are protected by forces beyond our Ken
“Sacred Well of Indigo + Protective Indigo Pillars- Two Pinks & Diatoms” These pieces are only noticed when departing the exhibit - the Sacred Well was filled with fragrant dried Persicaria tinctorial leaves, the front sewn together vat test strips. The well frame is a globe stand found on the side of the road by my sons. The two pillar banners represent the ways we are protected by the beautiful, though often invisible to us natural world. Uplifting tiny miracles we sometimes overlook. Inviting a second look, and a reframing.
