Walking In Love Installation

Welcome to Walking In Love

2012-01-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

If this is the first time you have come to this blog, welcome. The nature of blogs is like reading a book from the end to the beginning. This blog has chronicled the creation of a group art installation, the Walking In Love Installation. So if this is your first visit to the site please go to the archives on the right and begin at the oldest blog and read forward for the story. This blog was begun in January 2011.

I can pretend this is a prologue, that you have never read about Walking In Love before. What would I like you to know? An idea came to me. One that many people (gratefully) decided was worthy of their creative time and attention. A journey began. It has been full of all of the emotions life has to offer. In the end we created a magnificent one of a kind art installation which touched many lives. I hope you enjoy reading about this experience.

Walking In Love at Five Windows Gallery

2012-01-02T09:09:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce that the Five Windows Gallery in Weaverville, California will show 8 of the 40 panels which were created for the full installation of Walking in Love. Kimberly Piazza, gallery manager, is showing the best of all Weaverville shows from 2011 and invited Walking In Love to exhibit a sample of our group effort. It is so difficult to pick just eight panels to represent the entire work. It is the whole that made the show unique and powerful. It is likely that I will return to Weaverville part way through the exhibit and change out some of the panels in order to offer a fuller experience to viewers. Currently you can see eight panels in the front window of the gallery on Highway 299. What an honor it is to be considered among the best art that Trinity County offers.

Renewed Vision for Walking in Love

2011-11-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

When my second child was born I experienced a postpartum depression. It is only after I came out of the depression that I noticed just what had happened. The Walking in Love Installation was the creative child of many people. Dozens. But in fact it was a child that came to me at it's inception. This creative child came to me and asked if I would nurture it.
The magnitude, at least for me personally, of this project was beyond what I could have expected to foster so rapidly. I suspect larger forces at work. I have carefully kept many of my own personal opinions of this work tucked away. In truth I have felt myself to be a servant to something larger that has been at work all along. Once the Walking In Love Installation went to the 2011 Sacred Threads show in Herndon, Virginia, and then came home again I felt a little bereft. I was also exhausted and needed to attend to the six months of work that my ranch demanded when I committed myself to bring Walking In Love to life. I have said on this blog that there are other venues interested in this project. It is true. What has not been true is my own ability to step forward to gestate another creative child. Not right away.
But now, after five months, I begin to wake once again. To recover. To find the deepest meaning behind the origin of this project from the very start. My wonderful friend, Neil Harvey, has said that he sees the softest, sweetest, deepest and truest meaning of this project to be found in the way in which artists are invited to participate. To work on a piece of art while holding a feeling of love is at once quite simplistic and at the same time the hardest demand. It is so deep that the effects have surprised us. I've found that holding to an intention of love while creating becomes something radically transformative. I felt it and many who were part of creating this work of art felt it too. Those who walked through the finished piece felt it and they knew none of us. How we bring ourselves to our lives, to our art, is felt. It matters.
My ongoing work will be to help to teach people to create from this place of love. I have learned many different lessons these past years and in this project. While I am by no means perfect in my ability, I desire to help others into their deepest creative heart, to bring into their art and lives the way to work from love, to create from love. The Walking In Love project invites you to enter the creating of your art this way. If you wish to learn more, stayed tuned.

Where is Walking In Love?

2011-09-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

Physically speaking, the Walking In Love Installation sits in the middle of my studio classroom at Quail Meadows! Metaphorically speaking it is in a waiting period. There have been options for other venues but I have felt this deep need to rest.

The rest I speak of is an internal place. Outwardly I am full swing into the harvest of tomato and other veggie of the garden, peach, mint, dill, not yet with apples, elderberry and more. I am filling my woodshed with firewood my son, a friend and myself harvested from the woods at my home. Wonderful work and the kind of work which allows me to contemplate.

When I allow my thoughts to rest on the Walking In Love Installation and what came out of the beautiful venue of Sacred Threads a few key things come to me.

The method of expressing Love through three dimensional art works powerfully.

Love transforms people.

Transformation shows itself in many ways.

I will continue to grow Walking In Love (and it will no doubt continue to grow me too!).

The Installation was successful because many people dedicated themselves to seeing the vision fulfilled.

I welcome anyone who feels they want to work on the fuller vision, the next installation. An artist rendering will be available soon.

Many people have been a part of this installation and have seen it. I am interested in your stories. How you have been affected. Changes to your life as a result of wither working on this or walking through the art. Can you say anything about how these changes have continued in your life and in what ways? Please use the comment tab to write to me. I look forward to hearing from you.

With much love to all of you!
Lisa Brey

Life Wants Love to Flourish

2011-09-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

Life

wants

Love

Flourish

Walking In Love Spiral Comments

2011-07-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

I set a book out at the outside edge of the spiral for viewers to write of their experiences. The tiny bits I looked into this book along the way brought tears of gratitude to me. Here I share some of them with all of you.

"As with love, the installation is all embracing. Thank you for bringing it to Sacred Threads." Carol Nicholas

"This just filled me...full of love and awe." Mary Bartrop

"It brought me to tears, some grief form my 102 year old Aunt's recent passing. Thank you- it is beautiful."

"The feeling is amazing. The concept is beyond words. Feels like a big hug."

"Very impressive, I'm 14 but this is truly amazing."

"A beautiful journey."

"When texture and space come together fabric has a new life and so do we."

"What a unique and beautiful take on a meditation labyrinth. Wonderful energy." Jen Tailman

"Thrills of JOY and anointing of peace."

"This is a thrilling exhibit- all glorious and different. Thanks to the sponsors for allowing this exhibit to be made public." Claudia Patil, Reston, Virginia

"When I need some moments for peace and quiet, I'll close my eyes and remember the experience of walking through you serene memorial." Linda Cooper, Burke, Virginia

"Jaw dropping, spectacular, WOW" Andrew Cooper

"VERY CREATIVE! I loved it." Jay Luns, Culpeper, Virginia

"This is one of my favorite works. Thank you for bringing it here. The spiral arrangement, similar to a labyrinth, has special meaning to me as I contemplate the death of my own mother. GOIng in one side and coming out the other side of loss." Janet Marney "The memory goes deeper each time. I need to make panel for this."

"One of the most beautiful man made creations I've ever seen. Simply sensational." Soheil R.

"Spectacular and very comforting." Karen B.

"You must walk through and experience this. it's so moving and magical."

"I am moved at the renewed awareness of how we, as spirits and beings of light, are all the same AND wonderously unique simultaneously. Thank you for the experience." Lauren

"Thank you for the delightful inspiration in the panel :Love is a verb." I will use this inspiration to make a quilt with photos of grandchildre and family members." Kathy B.

This is but a taste of the many heartfelt thought viewers chose to share after their experience. Thank you to all who took time to write. It means so much to hear how the White Room of the Walking in Love Spiral affected you.

Diane Mercier, Walking In Love Artist

2011-07-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

I met Diane a dozen years ago in a group that gathered from around Trinity County to spin. We met randomly every few months for many years until our dear Marne Wilkins passed away. I think her passing took the stuffing out of us. Such a life force leaving is a giant hiccup. Marne flew airplanes during World War Two and taught pilots how to fly. She wrote books including one on natural dye materials. I could go on and on. I know that Marne brought Diane and I together and I am grateful for that. We did lose contact for a few years but running in to Diane at the yarn shop in Weaverville while there was time to make a panel was a terrific serendipity. Diane is a seriously talented weaver. She has explored many fibers. One year at the Fiber Arts show at the Highland Gallery Diane had an exhibit showing scarves spun in different fibers including american buffalo. Fascinating. When Diane agreed to make a panel I had no doubt it would be something special. I wish I had photos of Diane and her panel but not yet. Diane says:

Fibonacci numbers are a series of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers. They can be found in many things in nature, such as: branching in trees, arrangement of leaves on a stem, an uncurling fern, pine cones or the spiral on a sea shell.

My panel is handwoven of bamboo and silk yarn and the pattern, done in hand controlled leno lace, represents the Fibonacci number sequence. It is in the interconnecting threads of our lives that we find meaning and love. The continuous threads move in and out, over and under other threads...other people, other creatures, other living beings, other parts of the whole cloth that is our world, our universe.

For me, weaving this panel for “Walking in Love” is a celebration of life and love.

Diane

Striking the Walking in Love Spiral at Sacred Threads

2011-07-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

I have the utmost admiration and love for the wonderful organizers of the Sacred Threads show. Lisa Ellis and Christine Adams and their committee (darling Vivian, Annabelle, Carol, Bunny, Barbara, and oh dear my memory loses the rest but I SEE your faces) bring respect, reverence, love and joy to the efficiency and organization that both hung and struck this magnificent display of fine art. You gals are awesome. The show in the words of a generation: Epic.

Tear down has brought me a sadness in the last two shows. But not this time knowing that the show will go on. Instead I rolled up my sleeves and Travis and I powered through the tear down. We were assisted in key moments by Patrick, the facilities manager, whom I saw hovering on the edges respectfully but still wondering if I could help Travis handle the steel beams and the plywood ceilings. Travis assured him I am solid. I am, but I am still limited in my physique so I am grateful that Patrick lent his muscles for a few moments saving me from who knows what.

There are always a few moments before the strike when I take myself through the spiral walking in love once more. Feeling the hearts of those who created the panels and savoring the peace inside, taking a few more photos as this will not be the same ever again. Travis, a professional photographer, will share some of his photos with the blog once he is back from his long journey driving across the country. This quiet is then followed by the relentless pacing as panels are removed, spiral taken down bolt by bolt by screw by turnbuckle by ladders by lighting retrieved and sweat and a few bumps on the head and more sweat and the heat and cicada serenade outside in the trailer for the repacking of precious cargo carefully rolled and wrapped to protect form the dirt of the road and this run on sentence could tell you of the pacing as we do not stop until it is finished. My plane created the deadline and I was grateful to have a ride to the airport from Annabelle with a little time to spare leaving Travis in the broiling heat of the parking lot strapping the steel beams to the top of the trailer, a last event before he hit the road, happy to be on his away in solitude once again.

I love the way a show transforms a space, the definition of installation, the magic this dance of construction created for all of those who would come to experience art. For the White Room of the Walking in Love Spiral to have found a place nestled in the middle of so many generously open and exquisite art pieces was a rare gift. Thank you Sacred Threads and all the artists and sponsors who who made it happen.

Sacred Threads Sponsors: eQuilter.com , Giving Back Technology, LLC , Jinny Beyer Studio and Emma Soderquist

Bridget Carson, Walking In Love Artist

2011-07-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

Bridget Carson

Friends, family or lovers, we all share protection, warmth and affection within the encircling embrace of love.

Bridget was the first person I ran in to after the Highland Gallery confirmed their desire to see an installation built. I went to the grocery store and there she was in the baking aisle. There I was in the baking aisle. What can I say?

We spoke about the notion of a 1 foot by eight foot panel all in white. I sketched it in my notebook and showed her the first rough concept. Bridget stroked her chin thoughtfully and said she was intrigued. She is a trained fine artist. I wish it was possible to capture in a photo the embrace she rendered in thread. From one side a man, from the other, a woman. When the Hyampom School children went through the installation they were particularly taken with this panel. A unique contribution. This is one of those panels you simply must see in person to appreciate the delicacy.

Walking in Love on the Fourth of July

2011-07-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

The buzz of cicadas and the heat create a trance. Sitting out on the lawn outside Arlington National Cemetery with ten thousand others waiting for 4th of July fireworks to begin over the Washington Monument is surreal. Children arrive by the bus load, making their way down in single file lines to the lawn in the front of the slope gently moving towards the Potomac. Groups of friends spread picnic blankets celebrating the day with salads, cupcakes and laughter. Families meet other families and play cards waiting for the late afternoon heat to give way to nightfall. A few drops of rain begin to fall and I wonder if the deluge proceeded by huge winds which left downed tree limbs all over the Mall the day before will happen again as I wait for the fireworks to begin. The Lincoln Memorial rises out the the treetops with Washington right on top. I am not exactly in a direct line of sight down the Mall so the Capitol building is slightly to the right. It is an amazing sight, the grandeur of the Capitol of the Unites States. I heard the voices of many languages in my wanderings around the heart of DC. It touches me that others from far away come here and join us in the enjoyment of art, music, culture, parades, pomp and circumstance. I noticed here and there the red and yellow robes of the Tibetan monks beginning to appear in preparation for the Dalai Lama to arrive. They begin a many day gathering (Kalachakra) for world peace. Meanwhile helicopters circle low overhead every fifteen minutes as we wait to see the moment when the day yields to dusk and the monuments are illuminated. Here and there along the tree line off in the far distant city and suburbs the blooms of firework flowers begin to erupt. At one point the entire tree line supports the colorful display of our way of acknowledging this important date.

My day was a full immersion into the life at the heart of this city. I heard the Air Force Band rehearsing The Battle Hymn of the Republic with Jo Dee Messina for the evenings performance at the base of the Washington obelisk. A multicultural festival filled much of the mall. Sponsored by the Smithsonian, I was able to wander a 'village' recreated to take me to the country of Columbia and savor the richness of art, music and food. Taking a few steps I moved to Rhythm and Blues and a few steps more into a journey to Africa. What joy! Sobering reminders at the Holocaust Museum and lessons on looking for propaganda. I have to admit to a few odd thoughts of my own as I studied these lessons and wondered how or if Love could be spread in so widespread a manner as to 'take over' our lives.

One of my favorite things encountered after hearing a stirring reenactment of Thomas Jefferson and companions speaking the words from our Declaration of Independence on the steps of the National Archives was the tunnel of light connecting the east and west galleries of the National Museum. For me it is remembering. I wrote a message of love to the soldiers serving overseas adding my few words to the many of all who had walked through the security search in order to find a place to picnic while waiting to see the fireworks from the vantage point of the base of the Washington Monument.

When darkness fell and blooms finally appeared over the Obelisk I was reminded of a gigantic sparkler going off over and over in many colors, shapes and forms. Hearts, smiley faces, golden and white glow held suspended by a magical technology I do not understand. Radiating again and again ephemeral light. Light that many are drawn to see, experience, celebrate and delight in. Light that causes friends, families, lovers and troops high up in the tower behind me to stop everything else in their lives in order to give full attention. Ahhhh.

What about love?

2011-07-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

After the long push to get the Walking in Love Installation to the Sacred Threads show I am taking a break. I suspect New York City can be considered a break. Hmmm. So much of everything that worries and cares melts away absorbed by unceasing inundation of sight, sound, motion. I think the best smells in the world exist here wafting out of the small cafes tucked underneath apartments stacked on top of each other. Walk a few more steps and the worst smells in the world are sure to be encountered before too long. People sitting on their front stoops escaping the heat of the apartments late in the day, a dinner enjoyed with friends walking by, life exists in such varied forms in this world, from wilderness to the exact opposite. Somewhere in the midst of all this exploration from one village to the next a young woman, tall and slender, walked by. Her face I no longer remember, except the large dark sunglasses. A busy intersection, people racing along following the 'walk now' symbols and jay walking wildly in all directions. I stood for a moment deciding which way to go, happily stopped in my tracks by her stark white tee shirt with jet black writing. A simple font style, nothing elaborate. No other imagery. Fluidly walking by, a motion absorbed into the crowds and disappearing before I could even fully register the details of this person...left with the message of her clothing...so perfectly appropriate reminder...simple words to comtemplate...what meaning to make of this idea:
Love Is My Religion

Joann Hereford,Walking In Love Artist

2011-07-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Joann Hereford

Panel Name: Love Allows…

I started sewing quilt tops six years ago for my aunt’s church fundraising group in Texas. I began making raffle and auction quilts for the Hawkins Bar Volunteer Department four years ago after I joined the Log Cabin Quilt Guild in Hayfork.

Up to this panel my quilt tops and quilts have been utilitarian – meant to be used as a warm bedcovering. Some have been original designs, others based on patterns right out of magazines and books.

I think love is comfort, love is freedom, love is joy and happiness and love is fun. When walking in love I’d be on a path – real or imagined. The center block is a 1930’s block called “Paths to Happiness.” Below it is “Woodland Path” and at the top is “Starry Path.” If you love and are loved, love allows you to follow or make paths…down to earth paths as well as paths to the stars or paths in any old direction.

…and the butterflies???…they’re just fun.

Joann is just plain fun too. And talk about 'get 'er done', that's Joann! Enthusiastic, straightforward, creativity in abundance. Gotta love her!

Travis Boland, Walking in Love Artist

2011-07-02T06:55:00.000-07:00

"He's a knight in shining armor," Fran said of Travis when I saw her into the airport to leave DC and Travis circled around in his truck. I have said he is an angel. Others on site while we built the installation commented on how kind he is. Without being asked he went around the entire exhibit hall and made sure the rods set up to support all of the art pieces for the Sacred Threads were properly secured. He said soothing words to me on more than one occasion during the build. My patience was worn thin by the time change and my own concern about how it would go. Travis often reminded me of the mission statement, "a joyful process". He operates in a humble manner with speed, efficiency, brilliant competence, humor and a calm and cheerful demeanor. Travis drove the trailer full of the Walking in Love spiral across the country while being chased by water spouts, lightening and heavy rain, stopping only to sleep in his truck when he was too tired to continue. He arrived in the wee hours of the morning and unhitched the trailer, came to our hotel, took a shower, ate some food and then hopped in to the truck again to take Fran and I to begin to set up the show. This after sleeping at a rest stop in Maryland when weather prevented him from making it all the way to DC as hoped. Then after the build was completed he took the time to carefully appreciate all of the quilt art work, taking his artistic ability with a camera and capturing imagery honoring all of the artists. He really is one of the genuine "Nice Guys" in this world. Travis is the best.

My own walk in love

2011-07-01T06:32:00.000-07:00

The past months have been a bullet train. Zooming from idea to an installation show traveling across the country has me marveling at the way life continues to surprise and change everything. Making fabric panels holding the concept/feeling of love is an ongoing invitation and exercise to me. I made another panel yesterday. The last one before the show travels to Sacred Threads. So good to place myself in the creative ways of fabric. To allow the rest that comes when I dive in to deep create. Subtle joy while following the next right step in Process Quilting . I am, it turns out, a Modern Quilt Guild kind of gal. Who knew that this is a phenomenon occurring in the next generation of women taking up quilting. I have thought I am a bit of a strange quilter. But no. We are everywhere! I teach process quilting. The last two days I have had the great pleasure of using this technique to lead a workshop in making a panel in a day. Huh? Two days for a panel in a day? Well, the total number of hours was one day. I had to take care of some extreme car troubles that interrupted my time to do the workshop in one day. I mean, living out in the wilderness where there is no cell service and little traffic is not the place to let car troubles go neglected. I had my car die five miles from my home. That means get out of the car and hitchhike. There is no other way. Period.

When friends call me to ask how I am doing I can feel to my core the richness of a new panel and the ways in which taking care of everyday troubles are all becoming the place I choose to walk in love. Human dramas erupt around the installation. Invitation to walk in love. Not so simple things either. The very great temptation to let my own reactivity fly out of control. But somehow I find the way to respond rather than react, and I credit the exercise of making a panel with assisting me to respond in love.

The Walking in Love Spiral is alive. It is constantly changing. This third showing does not include Katie's panel. It is not the same without it and I did miss it while hanging the show. But I felt good about why it did not travel to Herndon, Virginia and the Sacred threads show. The panel had a different sacred mission. The spark of the idea to retire Katie's panel from the show and offer it to my sister-in-law Debbie came to me when my dad and I traveled together to visit my brother Phil. I wrote about Katie's panel in one of the first blogs. Her sudden death at age 26 propelled me even further in to this project. Katie was an extremely gifted artist and I felt her nudging when I made the panel to honor her life. The first months after losing a daughter is such a tender time, as if there is ever a time when it is not tender to lose a child. I brought the panel to Debbie. Her tears, the tenderness of placing the panel around her shoulders...I can no longer say that this is a simple art installation. It is dynamic. Alive. Growing with three new artists giving me panels to take to Sacred Threads even as one panel leaves. The show is never the same twice. No day in life is ever the same twice either. The invitation always exist to choose how I bring myself to this day. To any and every thing that arises in this day. Truly not always easy to come from the place of love, nor is this done perfectly. But I learn how to recognize the feeling of love in myself. Simply put, love is where rigidity is softened. Where grace lets me say a kind word instead of a sharp retort. I am not perfect in this. No way. But this walking in love installation has become a very interesting teacher. Who knew? I did not when I started out and followed the flash to make this happen. But I am grateful that life is anything but dull and we are a long way from love growing cold.

Corky LeTellier, Walking In Love Artist

2011-06-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

Corky LeTellier

Statement: I have been working in fabric since taking a Parks and Recreation beginning

quilting class in San Francisco in order to learn how to make a baby quilt for my firstborn.

After many years of being a traditional quilter, I have started branching out into embellishment

and original design and it has taken hold of me. This was an opportunity to celebrate the vast

wonderment of Trinity County in a new way and I chose to portray the nature all around us.

We live in a beautiful place and need to be grateful each and every day for the mountains,

the lakes, the trees. I feel so very blessed - walking in love to me is being outside.

Corky was one of the first people to give me an enthusiastic "yes!" when I asked her to make a panel for the installation. I saw her in Weaverville at a community concert given mid december 2010. Truthfully, her yes was the encouragement I needed to know this project would actually turn from a dream to reality. Thank you Corky! I have seen her quilting work every year at the Trinity County Fair. Last year she entered a marvelous and large dragon of her own design. I have felt Corky to be a kindred spirit in the realm of art quilting. It is a great pleasure to have her panel hang in the Walking in Love installation.

Feedback for the Walking In Love Installation

2011-06-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

" I felt filled up with love."

"I want to make a panel!"

"The porcelain piece is an interesting addition. I had to hear how it sounds so I used my program to move it!"

"I came out of the walk a better person than when I entered it."

"Love the copper work."

"Great lighting!"

Over and over again visitors to the installation found me and raved over their experience in the spiral and all the people who made this happen. They were touched, amazed, in awe. Awe was a frequently used word. One woman decided that Awe is the word form of the fullness of love, something she experienced as she stood in the center of the spiral! I have to say it is gratifying when complete strangers to this work and anyone involved are profoundly moved. It validates the premise that art made while holding the feeling of love has the ability to impact the lives of those who experience it. It also validates the premise that my own personal experiences that led to this work are but one way in which love can be understood. Others who did not have my experience added their own deeply held and personal understanding and it all worked together.

The Sacred Threads show is arranged in general categories: spirituality, joy, inspiration, peace/brotherhood, grief and healing. Our installation was placed in between grief and joy. I overheard one woman say that to walk through the quilts depicting grief and then wander into the white room was relief. In my own personal life I know that the death of my mother, a woman who was my best friend, mentor, heroine, might have been intolerable had it not been balanced by the sure feeling of her transformation into that peaceful energetically riveting crystalline light. I have not been a person who sought visions. It took me some time to have the courage to share this experience with others. At this particular show the people who found me wanted to know more. There is a hunger I think we experience as humans to understand something about what comes after this physical existence. I am by no means an expert on this. But I do know that when each of us has the courage to share those encounters with the mystical aspects of life we enrich everyone. Our culture, even the culture of our most sacred religious institutions, often disallow or downplay the more intangible aspects of touching the spiritual. I have found that the head knowledge aspect of learning with regard to spirituality is quite common. And yet we are so much more than only our brains. There are other cultures which view the heart as the seat of the 'brain'. I feel that the intangible is known intuitively through the heart, not the head.

The spiral work will grow. Several people asked how they can get involved. Lisa Ellis and Christine Adams set up a station outside the exhibition hall where guests were invited to write their prayers, hopes, dreams onto strips of white silk which were then tied to a potted palm tree. Lisa had the idea that these white strips could be a panel, the Sacred Threads panel. I say a big "YES!" to this. How wonderful to take these heartfelt thoughts/prayers/feelings and add them to the ever expanding Walking In Love Spiral.

Rachel Rickard, Walking in Love Artist

2011-06-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

When Rachel and Jacob moved to Hyampom last summer with their baby Alora we met outside the post office. The post office is the one place where everyone in town is bound to come sooner or later since we have no mail delivery to homes. It wasn't long before Rachel and my daughter Sydney became friends. Not too much later they both made their first quilt projects, panels for the Walking in Love Installation.

Rachel is gentle, deep, humorous and a homesteader in the making. She takes on many different aspects of gardening, preserving foods and holistic health. Their home is filled with music and friends.

Rachel Rickard

This is my first fiber arts experience! My vision for this project was to capture the lightness and beauty of love. My quest led me to creating a 3 part mixed art piece. My inspiration, being a mother to my baby daughter Alora, who radiates pure love and joy from every fiber of her being! This project opened me up to the depths of a mothers love, as a mother but also as a child of the miraculously bountiful earth!"

News from the Artist Reception for Sacred Threads June 25, 2011

2011-06-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

Walking in Love is but one part of the entire show of Sacred Threads, an exhibition hall full of the amazing vitality that makes up our shared human experience all depicted through fiber. Celebrating our frailties, our strengths and joy, the quilts here radiate astonishing stories. Vikki Pignatelli founded this show and trusted it to the care of Lisa Ellis and Christine Adams and their faithful and talented committee who have successfully opened the first showing in Herdon, Virginia. How wonderful to Meet Vikki and hear first hand why she created this venue. A quilter who was accustomed to her work being judged, nevertheless Vikki was stung when a judge commented unfavorably on a quilt which was more spiritual in its nature. Vikki took something that did not work and turned it into a show that offers viewers a breadth and depth of the human condition that I have never seen anywhere else. Vikki and her husband Denny came out to Herdon to pass the baton of Sacred Threads into the good hands of others who also care about showing the world art infused with the deepest feelings of life in this body.

The women I met, the stories they have to tell, encourage me to keep expressing all that I might otherwise bottle up inside. The Walking In Love Installation sits in the center of this jewel of a show. It was quite satisfying to hear complete strangers respond to the power of the art that was made holding the feeling of love. Two women who met in the center of the spiral spoke of how they were so surprisingly affected that they committed to speak with each other in a few months to talk about how Walking in Love has impacted their own fiber art pieces and how they create.

One lesson I came away with: if you have any desire to express yourself, do it. Peg, one of the artists, told me that she takes more risks now in her life. The risk to expose who you are and what you have experienced enriches everyone. What you have to share is important to us all. No quilt is too small, no emotion too trivial. However, I will tell you that when you dare to touch on, even dive deeply into, those topics which "polite and dignified" society (whatever that is) keep as taboo then you help all of us open up our hearts to a fuller and richer life. I met women who have been dealt so many difficult things in life. Betrayal, cancer, the death of multiple children, a childhood filled with the aftermath of a parent who suffered atrocities, addictions and more. These difficulties were transformed into stunningly surprising fiber art. The artists found healing for themselves while gifting the rest of us with brilliant fiber art to contemplate.

Themes of joy celebrating natural beauty, the way light illuminates stained glass in a cathedral, ephemeral beauty of a time when beloved children walked wooded paths, women's retreats to replenish the wells. These quilts remind me to look around and take stock of all that is good and true and beautiful. Life is for living and nothing is to be pushed aside or hidden away. Great invigoration exists when we open up to acceptance that it is all good and worth sharing. Sharing it, whatever it is, makes life better.

I learned all of this over the course of a three hour reception in which artists walked around visiting with each other and a delicious Italian dinner party afterwards. Friendships were forged, hearts shared, encouragement found.

Faye McGough, Walking in Love Artist

2011-06-24T06:39:00.000-07:00

I have known Faye through our local quilters guild, the Log Cabin Quilters, for many years now. Faye is an extremely productive quilter as well as a soap maker and the creator of many assorted crafts. I suppose her years of raising seven children and working full time as a nurse have something to do with her ability to multitask and get things done! I sure hope the lucky relatives who receive her quilts are grateful for her design and color sense. Her quilts are treasures as is her company. Faye is always ready to laugh at the absurdities in life.

"When I hear the word love, I immediately think "family", hence the funky family tree. It holds my 7 living children, 21 grandchildren, and 3 great-grands. At the foot of our tree you will find 2 children from heaven. Look up and down the trunk and you will see my message."

Faye McGough aka grammy

Working in a one foot by eight foot format can create some design challenges. When viewed from a distance her family tree is reminiscent of a giant sequoia or a redwood and not at all funky.

Frances Sherman, human or angel?

2011-06-23T05:59:00.000-07:00

When Frannie told me she would be my adopted mother five years ago and I accepted neither one of us knew the roads we would travel together. Never did I guess we would share a bunk bed in Fortuna, California at Dixie McBride's Quilter's Escape. I had the top bunk. This is when Fran learned that I like to carry little rocks in my pockets. Ummm...because one rolled out of my pocket and fell onto her in the bunk down below. NO harm....just surprise.

I had known Fran for many years before she decided to adopt me so I guess we both had some inkling that we cared for one another. Yet most people know that once you commit to a decision things happen. We have walked each other through many things in the last five years. Illness, personal difficulties, all the dramas that most human lives have. There have been joyful laughter filled times playing canasta crammed in the tiny cabin we share with our other friends when we travel as a pack to escape everyday life and quilt with abandon.

When I offered an art quilt retreat series at my place Frannie amazed everyone in her joyful leap from meticulous traditional quilter into full bloom as the fine artist she is. What I experienced was her unwavering support of me in my own metamorphosis as a teacher. In fact Fran has been the most steadfast mother anyone could ever want.

These last few days as we waited expectantly for Travis to arrive with our trailer in his cross country journey, as we have run into technical difficulties with our copper room build, Fran has never faultered in her generosity, calm, humor and ability to let my stressed terseness roll off her back. Isn't it true that a mother is usually the one that children go to with their meltdowns? It is a measure of the grace with which Fran lives life that she loves deeply, hugely, solidly from the depths and forgets the less than perfect. I am blessed to have a mother that I can talk to in less than perfect and sometimes brusque ways and she loves with warmth anyway.

You would laugh to see Fran and I butt heads. I mean this quite literally. I have heard it said that what bothers me most about another is often a mirror back in to myself. When Fran and I put our foreheads against one another and push it is truly amusing. My goats do this. I suspect it has to do with establishing dominance. Something about testing who is the alpha. You would never know Fran is in her 8th decade of life when we butt heads. I have to tell you that I must push pretty darn hard in order to take the lead form this competent leader among women. Anyone witnessing this from the outside might think our process to be a little harsh. But we both know that this is the surface, not the deep down depths of our love for one another. For the two of us walking in love can be and often is walking in friction. Friction creates smoothness out of roughness just as iron sharpens iron.

There were many issues to be addressed this last day of our build for the Sacred Threads show and Fran, who came to Washington DC to be love, support and a person who climbed a ladder to hold up the plywood ceiling, was everything I could hope for and more in a mother. Thank you Frannie. I love you.

Inside the hall we begin to make room to Walk in Love

2011-06-22T04:26:00.000-07:00

Ceiling

Our plan did not go forward quite as rapidly as we had hoped. We allowed three days to build and hang the show. It became apparent on the morning of day three that this would not be real. John and I had a very good conversation about walking in love instead of stressing in love which we both had indulged in a little bit. We reminded ourselves that this project was about process and how we worked together was very important. Now please understand that everyone on board is quite adept at creating finished product. There was no doubt this would occur. But we also knew that we were creating a prototype. Wikipedia dictionary defines prototype as follows: A first or preliminary model of something, esp. a machine, from which other forms are developed or copied. Of course! This explains why there were things we did not anticipate. Like the fact that the ceiling of the hall was nine feet 6 inches and we needed more space than that. Oops. We were not able to install the lighting in this first build. No room. I can't say that I was happy to accept that we would tear down the installation and then need to rebuild it again to finish the work. I don't imagine anyone else involved was too thrilled. But no-one complained. In fact people were good natured about it. "This is a prototype," became a mantra. The structure took four days to build. Many people helped, including those who had come to the artist reception we had scheduled for day 4. A party went on outside the hall! We ate well. Everyone got to witness our build and look at the panels as they awaited hanging on the many tables. I noticed one man moved to tears, to his enormous surprise, simply looking at one panel on a table. Frannie worked all of one day making white curtains to serve as walls. I know that everyone was grateful when Christina showed up one night with a dinner of the most delicious pasta I had tasted. Yum for the garlic!

Inevitable challenges to Walking In Love

2011-06-21T04:16:00.000-07:00

Building the structure for the panels all the way across the country without the many people who helped to make it happen in Hyampom is much slower. Once again a big THANK YOU to all you Trinitarians who made the first full build happen. Some areas of the build continue to have challenging issues and yet Travis keeps his attitude good natured and reminds me to do the same. Frannie lets me know when I am forgetting our mission statement:

The Walking In Love Installation Organization is dedicated to the collaborative creation and exhibition of art that introduces artists and the public to a creative and joyful process infused with love.

I do believe I was tested about how to be in that place yesterday. The reality of the time shortened by travel delays, building with fewer skilled people than I had hoped to have with us, all of it added up to a difficult day for me personally. I have to say that Travis and Frannie both know how to keep their cool and just keep on.

And, I simply would not be accurate in describing what happened if I left out the wonderful help from Cindy Stevens who shuttled me around when I needed the few things I forgot to pack and jumped right in taking care of the many little things needing to be done. Thank you to Sohail and Victor who offered their muscles to Travis when we needed them. The Sacred Threads people, Lisa, Barbara, calmly went about constructing their labyrinth of poles and curtains for the art that has arrived from around the country.

Today is for finishing the build and hanging our panels. This promises to be a sumptuous show.

Play Hard, Work Hard

2011-06-20T05:16:00.000-07:00

Can one day expand to be experienced as a week? I think so. Life is rich. A quiet morning soaking in the Mansion on O Street, thoroughly enjoying the soft couch looking out over tree lined O Street, a squirrel visits on a slim limb, snatching a seed blossom and nibbling it. I can't help but think that if this creature can exist in an urban place and find food, live a life, be beautiful, then how dare I worry? A simpler way of saying things is that I am filled with Gratitude for all life offers. To be able to live in Washington DC in a fabulous place for a few days truly fills the well. After writing and taking care of the refinement of the Walking In Love artist statement book that will accompany the exhibit I began to, literally, pace the street waiting for Travis to arrive. Wisdom in the form of Ross who cares for the valet service of the Mansion was nurturing to my mounting anticipation of the work to begin. Ross celebrates 'Walking' to receive his High School diploma twenty years after he left school. A great example to his children, congratulations Ross! I met his friends Jeannie and Steve on their way in to the Mansion to jam with the o street band. Wonderful people. Expectancy fulfilled as Travis turns the corner and finally arrives! Oh boy did he have adventures. Heavy rain in the middle of the country followed him in the form of water spouts, lightening storms and high winds. But he made it safely and so did our installation! Woo hoo!

Travis went straight to the shower and then to feast at the most fabulous brunch at the Mansion you could ever imagine. Rooms of food. One entire room dedicated to desserts. Hundreds of desserts. Cakes, scones, cookies, cheeses, fruits, and even bags of candy (nearly took one of my favorite Sugar Babies) after delicious fresh asparagus, figs, beets, snap peas (my choices) and, just about anything else you could imagine. Omelets made to order, smoked and fresh salmon and on and on. Three rooms. FULL. YUM! Fran and Travis and I ate then prepared to drive to Herndon to begin to set up Walking In Love. No time to waste.

Unloading the trailer in humid heat and drops of rain is the counterpoint to the luxury of the Mansion. We hustled to complete the initial structure build so we would be out of the way today when the rest of the crew shows up to create the surrounding show. The wonderful show organizers, Lisa Ellis, Christine Adams and Barbara Hollinger, met us, gave us the tour and then got out of our way. I had a few minutes of stressful fidgets before Travis and Fran set me straight. Hey! This is fun! Travis and the trailer survived thousands of miles of travel and here we are, creating the Walking In Love spiral for the east coast! Cool! actually, drippy sweaty hot, but good work.

Back to the Mansion and dinner. Travis and I blew off steam by walking to the Mall and the obelisk also known as the Washington Memorial. What a thrill it is to be there at night. Fully lit, it sits on a knoll looking one direction to the Lincoln Memorial and another to the Capitol. Truly a magnificent place. We cruised by the White House, dark for the night, before power walking back to O Street and deep sleep. Today we begin our ceiling and spiral installation. Serious rain outside.

Notes from the Road

2011-06-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

My sister Jennifer and her two boys drove me from the wilds of the North State (does the rest of California know that those of us living past Mendocino have a different name for our state?) to the airport in San Francisco. Jen and her family live nearby so I had a day with them and was also able to visit my son who lives in Santo Cruz. The delight of the journey begins.

I flew out of the new terminal two at SFO. It is a step in to a new age. Gorgeous, technologically driven and yet the priceless art SFO is famous for was present in an extensive collection of gorgeously crafted silver from many eras. I flew Virgin America. From the moment I stepped in to the plane softly lit with purple and pink I felt transported to some magical place. Huh? Air travel with some glamour? Yes. This was a different ride. It is quite wonderful to have a screen in front of me with menu selections that I can enter at any time and have brought to me. As many times as I wish. No waiting for the cart to travel down the aisle. This airline is doing many things in a different way. I enjoyed traveling with them.

Washington DC. A must visit place. As americans we travel all over the earth. I hope those who love to travel also come here. This city is simply magnificent. I have been gifted to a stay at an unbelievably wonderful and stunningly unique place near Dupont Circle. It is called The Mansion on O Street. Many Thanks to Ted Spero and H for your generosity. You have truly created a one of a kind experience. My life is greatly enriched because of you. To Karen for offering this connection: I love you!

My dear adopted mother Frannie has traveled here with me. We have been waiting for Travis to arrive with the show. He is currently 30 miles away from us. A few days behind schedule. But all is safe and good. He has adventures to share from his drive across the country. While waiting for Travis yesterday Fran and I decided to sightsee. We toured the National Galleries, east and west, soaking up, inhaling, feeling so much marvellous art. Highlights include the tunnel of moving lights which connect the two galleries. Whoever thought this installation up was inspired. We walked the moving sidewalk three times and each time found it a thrill. I could not help but bounce myself with a light run back and forth on the sidewalk and leap off the end. Lunch by the waterfall installation came as close to the rapids of the south fork of the Trinity River as I will ever know in an urban environment. I could put my face up close and imagine I was near the steep falls I love to visit every summer, the drops of water popping, the motion rapid and white. Once again I am thrilled by the power of art to create a change in emotions, feelings, sensation. Then of course the visiting Capitoline Venus in the rotunda, oh her lips! How can hard marble appear so soft? It is her first time out of Rome. Gabriel Metsu created an opportunity for my time travel in to another place. Walking through the intimate rooms filled with his quite ordinary and yet sweet everyday life images grabbed from a time so long ago filled me with the sensation of being in another world. Nam June Paik offered a retreat, an opportunity to embrace stillness, reflection. Frannie had a vision while in the tower with this installation of the Walking In Love spiral filling the space. Of course we had to sit and watch the gentle motion of a Calder swirling over all. Huge chunks of metal in graceful air ballet. I am inspired by the visions these artists possess. And then there was the "5 plates of steel and two rods" sculpture standing in exquisite balance below the Calder. I soaked up to full saturation a dizzying array of magnificent art. YUMMY!

A trip across the mall to the National Museum of the American Indian created an interesting balance point to the galleries. The most beautiful circle executed in stone and copper sits at the bottom of the rotunda at the center of this gorgeous building. I sat on the highly polished stone bench leaning up against the rough hewn stone back gazing up at the four directions created within the skylight in the ceiling. Max, a young boy from Tennessee asked me what I was doing. He then quizzed me about why I am in DC. He closed his eyes when I described the Walking In Love spiral and then asked enough questions to fill his imagination with a vision. He smiled with amazement and said he would love to see it. Was he an angel? I do not know. He brought me encouragement. I stood in the center of the circle while children ran around, adoring parents took endless photos of them in their delight. Of all the moving experiences created within this museum I was most enthralled with a wall full of arrowheads mounted in a flowing manner. I can't do it justice with words. It moved, like water, through various sizes, shapes, all arranged as water motion, yet rendered with rough stone crafted from hundreds to thousands of years ago out of many types of rock. Fran and I ate lunch by the 'river' created next to the cafe which serves foods of indiginous people. It was fabulous!

Just when we thought we were too exhausted to go any further we wandered through the Botanical Gardens. I felt the call to float across the lawns, my butterfly wings delighted by the blue globe thistles, orchids, water gardens and green. Frannie refused to wade in the fountain though her dogs were barking furiously. "It's just not dignified,"she told me. I wonder if we could all do with a tiny bit less dignity and a little more fun? She tells me that she stood in the fountain in her dream last night. I am so glad!

The Thrill of it all

2011-06-19T05:45:00.000-07:00

Can't help it.
Fire and metal are a huge draw for me.
How many photos
of these bits and pieces
can tell
the fascinating story of copper and steel
taking shape
to become a room?
The perfect contrast
to the delicacy
of white on white panels,
is this grimy, sweaty, dirty,
hot and
potentially dangerous work.
I will admit that
the sharp contrast
between the white work
and the metal work
had me
in a little bit
(correct me if I under exaggerate my response)
of stress
around
how the
'marriage'
would ultimately
come about.
These gracious guys
accepted the need
to clean the metal
once all the fabrication had been completed and before it would come in contact with the white work.

2011-06-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

Participating with, watching, staying out of the way, getting in the way, all of these things happened for me while the build of the copper room that would house the white on white panels took place. Men, Many men (and a woman or two), with strength and brains, skills and practical know-how made the design John envisioned work. We were not people who have all worked together before, though many of us have overlapped on projects of all sorts in the years we have lived here. I do not know that any barn-raisings have occurred in this community in recent years, but I have seen many of these people build a barbeque pit for the hall. I watched the Petanque court come to life at the same time our show was born. I do not mean to be sexist about who did the work of copper polishing, grinding, welding and construction. It is a simple fact that this was largely the realm of the men. I am not a stranger to this way. I worked as an engineer for a dozen years in a male dominated field before I chose to work from the home to raise my two children. Prototype development was what I loved to do. Here was an amazing chance to play once again. I am so very grateful for these volunteers and how they worked together in very elegant and harmonious ways through snafu and delight until the room was built. Charley, John, Evan, Tony, Jean-Pierre, Ebbe, Travis, James, Larry, Phil, Dad, Neil, Sydney, Karen, Fran and Susan Thank You from my heart.

Hyampom Community Hall

2011-06-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

Our community hall is a special place. In our village, yes some people call us one of the last true villages, the hall serves as the place where everything happens. Weddings, memorial services, art and music festivals, school performances, church, town meetings, dances, yoga and fitness classes, countless potlucks meals and more. Being able to build the Walking In Love installation at the hall of my little community has been sweet. We took over the hall for six days. Others who use the hall graciously shared the space with this project. People from the community came and went, at times joining in with helping out, checking with the progress of the build.

This hall, even if not this exact structure, has been an integral part of the life of this community. In the days before electricity and phone connections the hall was THE place everyone gathered to talk about community events, share a meal and then play music and dance until dawn before returning to the work demanded by homesteading. In this day of e-mail, easy auto travel, television and pandora the hall still offers our small wilderness village all of the things it always has. When the Bee Eaters came to offer their particular form of magic music to us this past January the hall buzzed with life and drew many to share the special event. We ate a potluck meal first, per tradition. As our build progressed different people brought food, tea, music and encouragement.

Packing the Trailer

2011-06-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

A gorgeous summer day blooms. Who could know what the weather would do this day? Rain and cold one day then heat the next. Lessons in "it is what it is". A phrase which pops up with increasing frequency in my world. From many different people. In many different situations. Well, what it is today, is a day to pack the trailer for the drive across the country to Sacred Threads. Punch lists, inventory, fix it kits, carefully packed white panels, tools, ladders. I am so very grateful to be able to send everything in one package. I do understand it is one of those 'all the eggs in one basket' situation but Travis Boland is someone who is able to do what he says he will do. One of those people that show up, take care of business, work in a solution oriented way and knowledgeable about how to deal with a wide variety of situations. I am grateful for the way life brought him into the Walking in Love world.

Friends tell me I am brave. Huh. Not feeling that this morning. There is this feeling of excitement standing at one edge of this giant country and preparing to go across to the other edge. And debut an art installation. OK, I can be a bit of a drama queen now and then. But it is a truth that nerves do accompany brave acts. I know about myself that I feel fear and do things anyway. I just want to see how it all turns out. Life is so varied and interesting. To do the same thing over and over again is not my cup of tea. While this is the third time the Walking In Love Installation will be shown, it will not be the same show again. Panels have left. New panels will be hung. Different people will help to set it up. The feeling of this next show will be affected by the town it is in. It will also carry with it the hearts of people from Trinity County, the good will of so many wonderful people. My dentist told me he is happy to see Trinity County become known for something besides agricultural products, which is a euphemism for the cannabis cultivation which this region is world renowned for.

I get to meet new people and see how lovely life is away from my wilderness home in Trinity County California.

Tony Kendrew, Walking in Love Artist

2011-06-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

Friends would stop by and comment, "Oh, so this is what making an art installation looks like." Maybe once a piece is finished in a gallery and the whole is witnessed the details disappear in light of the finished glory. So easy for those seeing the final product to be unaware of all it takes to make some ideas come to life. It is quite humbling for me to find out that so many people will just show up and volunteer their time to an idea. I have learned that I live in a community with extraordinary people. Tony Kendrew was the first one at the hall waiting with the key the morning we were to build. He has been in the midst of many of his own projects. He just recorded a CD to go with a book of poetry he wrote ( have not convinced him to make a poetry panel yet). He was working on a brand new petanque court in the front of our community hall. The grand opening games were the same day as our installation showing. But there was Tony, day after day showing up to offer his help with so much of what happened. Talented, quiet, funny and so generous to many within this small town. Thank you Tony for your steadfast way of showing up until the work was finished. It would not have happened so gracefully without you.

John Ritz Walking In Love Artist

2011-06-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

The past few months have flown by. It is hard to remember that in January the Walking In Love installation had yet to be fabricated or shown. Only the idea for a spiral structure existed in my mind. Thank goodness John's name popped in to my head when I was wondering how the spiral could be made. I am so very grateful he decided to tackle not only the first simple spiral we attached to the ceiling of the Highland Gallery, but also decided to design and then build the second round, the copper room to house the white on white panels. It was a very great pleasure to watch John work with his son Evan, a young man my son Eric went to school with when they were children. John and Evan took the lead of engineering the installation structure and created something wonderful.

John Ritz

I've worked with metal for 35 years. As a welder, metal fabricator, blacksmith and sculptor. I'm also a bass player, and as such it is my role to provide for the other musicians the solid rhythmic foundation and melodic support without which the song may not exist. One definition of Love is: To actively support the spiritual growth of another. My role in "Walking in Love" is to provide the physical support for the other artist’s efforts so that others may experience the Love that went into their creations.

THANK YOU JOHN AND EVAN!

From May Pole to Building: Walking In Love

2011-05-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

The journey from a fundraising party to a vision made real has consumed me this last month. I never knew time could expand to the point where each day was so full it could feel like a week! May 1st we played with our friends. May 18- 23 we worked together. So many people to make this art installation happen, to make the panels, to raise the funds, to build the structure, to ship it across the country. People I am now deeply in love with. People who show up in so many ways. Provision that comes from some places I did not know existed. As I work on this project I begin to learn that walking in love is a way to be in relationship to life. All of life. From the mundane to the complex. This project has challenged me at every level of my being. When I saw what we created TOGETHER, what it is possible to create together with all of our gifts, talents, flaws and quirks, I walked the spiral in amazement and gratitude that such beauty is possible. I hope, if you are able to, you will join us making in the Walking In Love Installation grow and travel. I send enormous thanks to all who are part of this. We can be so proud of ourselves.

Prototype Walking In Love room build a success

2011-05-23T07:37:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been full to the point of overflowing and exhausted to the point of collapse at the same time? The last five days have been such an amazing journey. The Hyampom Prototype Walking In Love Installation room build was completed on sunday morning at around 11:30 AM. The first person to walk through was a nearly blind man who reports that he could feel tremendous peace and a light headedness.

I am in awe at the generosity of so many who worked so hard for the last five days to make this happen. I know people want to see this process on the blog and I will begin to get the photos onto this blog to show you. As some of you know it takes time to go through photos, select the best ones, manage the image size and resolution and then post them. Today, however, I must return to the Hyampom Community Hall and begin to take down the show that lasted only one day. Tomorrow the hall will be in use for the weekly "Food for Folks" meal and we need to be out of there by the end of today.

The room is gorgeous. It has exceeded any expectations I have had about how this project would turn out. While there is still much to figure out before we ship this out in two weeks, I am confident the finished project will be a jewel that everyone can be proud of. I am grateful for all the support that continues to pour in from so many to make the Walking In Love Installation a beautiful process. Thank you.

Building In Love

2011-05-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

It is very exciting to begin to build our very own room for the Walking In Love Installation in Hyampom, California. This can be seen for two days only May 21 and May 22, 2011 at our sweet Community Hall. In the middle of the wilderness, from the middle of nowhere, emerges this beautiful three dimensional art installation. I was asked recently what an art installation is. One definition: Installation art describes an artistic genre of site-specific, three-dimensional works designed to transform the perception of a space.

How does Walking In Love Installation transform the perception of a space? A good question. I suspect the answer is that it is different for every person that visits the installation. How can an art piece be universal? It's the eye of the beholder thing.

I have also been asked recently about my own beliefs around love. I was actually surprised by the question. Maybe it was the way the question was put to me. Something about a yes or no answer in which neither answer was really satisfactory. I think there was a question behind the question but there was not opportunity to have a conversation. I mean, can a conversation about love be handled by one yes or no question? I didn't think so.

When I was asked the question I felt like the person asking it was using my answer about love in order to categorize the entire Walking In Love Installation. After thinking about the question (which I am deliberately leaving out of this blog), I have decided that my thoughts about love are only mine. They do not reflect that of the other artists who are participating in this installation. I do not require anyone to hold the concept/feeling of love in the same way I do. How could I? Mine is only one tiny speck of all that is possible.

I have been slowly giving room to all of the artists who have participated in the Walking In Love Installation so far. They write their statements and I print them with permission. Their statements reflect their views. When I print my statement that will represent my views. The Installation, well, my hope is that the Walking In Love Installation will change the perception of the space it is in and that space will be transformed by all of the concepts/feelings of love that went in to the panels by the collective group of artists who have participated so far.

The Installation continues to grow, to expand, to be open to more panels and to your financial support. Traveling an art installation does take a bit in the way of shipping costs. I am so pleased to announce that the costs of building the room have been paid for by the generous contributions of my itty bitty adopted home town of Hyampom and by very generous people within this close knit supportive community of Trinity County California. There are also those other wonderful people from all over who have lent their help...so we are a go! This Installation is being birthed in the next three days and then we will travel it to Herndon, Virginia outside Washington DC for it's first debut outside of Trinity County at Sacred Threads.

MANY THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO ARE MAKING THIS HAPPEN!!!

Walking In Love Family Fun Day a Success!

2011-05-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

I am thoroughly spent. I am spent in the very good work of putting on a fundraising event for the Walking In Love Installation. This event went so far beyond all I could imagine. The incredible good people who showed up in the dozens to help set up and prep for the party, the wonderful community who came to play petanque, jump around the deliciously fun cake walk, sunlit pastel ribbons flying in the fresh spring air of a May Pole dance, eating Patsy's fried chicken and spring salad greens, enjoying the happy music of James, Serena, Jacob and Sha'om all in the serenity of a lovely place...I am so very grateful for the beautiful connections and creative healthy play we participated in. I am pleased to say that we raised one tenth of the funding we need to travel the show to Sacred Threads. I call our event successful because it was rich and full and fun! Smile filled faces and generous people are sending this Walking In Love Installation to Sacred Threads. This is something to be very proud of. I am proud of all of us who are making this happen! Thank You!

If anyone is interested in budget the board of directors of Walking In Love Installation can make this info available by request. If anyone is interested in donating to our construction and shipping costs please look at the DONATE page to the right. Thank You!

May Day Celebration Today

2011-05-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

I continue to be amazed at how much love and support pours in to the Walking In Love Installation. Today we have a Trinity County party day to play games, eat good homemade cake, and have a delightful home grown fundraiser to build our 'gallery room' and send the artwork of over thirty Trinity County (and beyond) artists to the Sacred Threads venue in Herdon, Virginia (outside Washington DC) June 22 until July 4th this summer.

I am deeply grateful for all of the wonderful people who have contributed to making the installation and this party an astonishing experience.

ASTONISHING!

If you are able to join us please do! We'll have a great time walking in love, cake, softball, Patsy's chicken dinner, croquet, music, and more. I'll post some pictures of the day. Thank you everyone for your love and art!

Karen Renaudin: Walking In Love Artist

2011-04-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

Karen Renaudin is a sparkly, bubbly personality. Her enthusiasm for the Walking In Love Installation began immediately when asked she me to tell her more. Karen said, "I could see what you were describing and the idea for a panel came right away." Most of the panels have been by fabric artists. Karen's panel is made of porcelain. It is a stunning piece and adds so much to Walking In Love.

Karen's says:

Many heart felt thanks to our loving leader and visionary Lisa for this beautiful and powerful expression of love and for inviting us all to share in this walk together. Seeing each person’s vision for “Walking in Love” and hearing their personal journeys has been so endearing and enlightening. We’ve been walking and sharing and experiencing the beauty that love brings into our lives and it has been a deeply moving and wonderful experience. It’s a reminder that love lives in and around each of us, and we have a choice to consciously turn our attentions toward a more loving existence. I hope this beautiful expression of love touches many hearts.

This project is extremely timely in my life, and has given me a great opportunity to express many recently stimulated feelings about our souls, and what I imagine a pure white soul life and love might look like. Inspired by a desire to capture the beauty of love and our higher selves, I’ve used porcelain tiles and alpaca fiber to represent a lightness of being, graceful, moving, playful, giving, inviting, lyrical, a soul dancing in love.

Karen has moved from being one of the artists to contributing greatly to all of the behind the scenes aspects of organizing a show that moves as well as fundraising. Karen has a talent for thinking big and has taken the lead in approaching well known personalities asking for their support for the Walking In Love Installation. I am grateful she has given generous donation of time and talents to seeing this work grow and travel.

Walking In Love on Two Tracks

2011-04-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

The Walking In Love Installation now has a Board of Directors. We are operating as a non profit under the wings of Leading From Within. The Board made an important decision on friday April 15th. We have been using Kickstarter and a budget that has left some who know me well gasping. Those lovely gasping people spoke up and the Board had a great conversation clarifying what this Installation is about.

Walking In Love Installation Mission Statement

The Walking In Love Installation Organization is dedicated to the collaborative creation and exhibition of art that introduces artists and the public to a creative and joyful process infused with love.

I would also add my own words to that good statement: the process is transformational in a very good way.

We also spoke about the excellent opportunity to deliver this gorgeous show to Herdon, Virginia, outside Washington DC. The decision was made to see this show go there. A commitment. And a very bare bones budget. The Kickstarter budget is our highest hope for a professional Museum Quality one of a kind traveling art installation. We still support this vision. Dream big. And start where you are at. We think we can deliver this show to Sacred Threads for just under $10,000. Still a goodly number. But pared to the bone. Thank you to those who are contributing already. You help make this real.

We are on our way there. Artists continue to tell me they are making a panel almost every day. If you are one of them please send me a sign up sheet! The excitement for this installation is still alive even though we had to take it down from the Highland Art Center. That was a sad day. The happy news is that the show will be given a test run in its first incarnation of the traveling version.

I am so very pleased to announce that this test run will happen in my incredibly wonderful, supportive, generous and loving adopted home town of Hyampom, California. May 21 and 22nd only.

A few weeks in advance of this at a date to be announced shortly we will have a local fundraising event with live music, a live auction of interesting creative items and Games. Petanque, Bacci ball, Croquet and perhaps some softball. Thank you to those who have already stepped up to help organize and publicize this event and those who have offered river trips and hand made textile art and to the musicians who will play. I am grateful for your enthusiastic generosity of skills, time, materials and love. We are happily open to any who wish to join us.

So we are running on two tracks now. The think globally and act locally are those two tracks. It feels great to know this wonder, The Walking In Love Installation, will be experienced by many more people. THANK YOU!

Why do we walk in love?

2011-04-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

It is easy to lose sight of why any of us are involved in this Walking In Love Installation. The tremendous effort to create a structure of organization to assist a growing endeavor is completely different than creating white panels. It continues to amaze me that I can live in the middle of the wilderness, quite literally, and yet because of the internet the team is able to connect with Kickstarter and the 'world' and ask for help moving this Installation from the Wilderness to Washington DC. I want to see this installation near Washington DC for the very basic reason that walking in love at our capitol seems to be a good thing. Do you agree?

I love to create because it brings me good personally. When I am working with the raw materials of a new panel I feel as if I am at the very center of who I am. The thrill of resting in ideas of love and watching a new creation arise is a dance unlike any other. While I am gaining skill creating something new in the ether world (a blogspot, a Kickstarter site), for me it is the time to create in the real world that is most meaningful. It is the growing connections with others creating that is astonishing.

I suspect, actually more than suspect, I know others feel this way too. I had a phone call from a dear friend wanting to talk about how she was creating her panel in white. When I first invited her to create a panel she was quite pleasant and supportive of this work but said she was too busy with other work to take time to make a panel. I accept this. Not everyone is called to make a panel. I also watched this same woman walk the spiral. If anyone felt the deepest meaning that this Walking In Love Installation offers it was this woman who shall remain nameless at the moment. Her genuine rapture, the tears, her gasps, the attention I saw her give to each panel top to bottom was the thanks I receive for following the vision in the first place. But when she came to me later and told me more detail of how profoundly she was moved in her heart once she entered the room housing the installation I understood that taking the internal feeling and making something tangible with it can create good in this world.

Now when Dear Friend tells me how she feels creating a panel I can nod my head in understanding. It is one thing to walk the spiral. A very good thing from the reports I hear. It is yet another thing to make a panel. To allow oneself to live with the concept/feeling of love for a longer time. To work the white fabric and dwell in ideas so dear to us all has a particular way of working on us.

I work on the Walking In Love Installation not to make money, though money is important to help the Installation move on to Washington DC, but because in my deepest being I am moved to live more fully in love. Will you join the growing team in whatever way you wish? Thank you.

The Walking In Love Installation Team

2011-04-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

When I said 'yes' to this idea at the beginning Neil and Angenett helped me see it would take more than myself to make the vision come to fulfillment. What I continue to be deeply grateful for and did not anticipate was how a magnificent TEAM would gather to make this dream come true. Talking about making the dream real started in the studio space I share with four others. Three of us gathered. We entered into the 'visioning state' trying to 'see' a completed art installation. Frannie and Angenett still hold the vision and have made panels and are still designing new panels. From that little meeting we went to see Yvonne at the Highland Art Center who 'saw' the exhibit as filling one room when I could only see a smaller version happen so rapidly. Immediately after leaving the Highland Art Center I went grocery shopping where I ran into Bridget. Her very unique and delightful curiosity about making a panel when she does not consider herself a quilter was encouragement to me. Bridget is a fine artist. That same night I went to a concert in Weaverville by the Community Band. I saw Corky there. Her eyes lit up when I described the all white panels and she decided it was what she needed to get herself back into quilting. Corky is a talented designer of one of a kind quilts. The encouragement of these people was enough to galvanize me into massive action.

I do lose the exact train of action after those initial meetings. My best memory: Quilters in Weaverville: the Mountain Village Quilters, made an angel panel. A birthday tea to celebrate Ruthie's 90th led to interest from artists in other mediums: Karen, Jean-Pierre and Christine, Susan. A meeting of the Log Cabin Quilter's Guild led Jo Ann and Faye making panels. Mary was board from the start. John joined as the metal sculptural artist from which all panels are hung. Blaine and Colleen lent their shop space to create the spirals shapes. Sydney and Rachel, first time quilters, made two stunning panels. Nick made four panels. I made panels and my family helped with some.

Yvonne made lovely art cards to send out announcing the fiber art show featuring our installation. Barbara wrote up a beautiful article for the Highland Art Center Newsletter. John and Evan put up the metal work with help from Liz and Bay. Susan, Angenett, Sydney, Karen and Jean-Pierre helped me label and hang the panels. Neil shot video footage opening night. Judy, Charlene, Mary and more made goodies to eat at the opening. Many Hyampomians (not sure wikipedia has this in the dictionary) came out to celebrate after a successful opening night.

When the opportunity to show our work to Sacred Threads came up two days after opening night a Hyampom Film Company suddenly materialized from out of the wilderness. With the footage Neil shot opening night and a few days later while Ruthie walked the spiral for the first time we decided to make a short video to showcase the work. Neil masterminded the sound engineering and voiceover work from Karen, Jean-Pierre, Neil and myself. Karen and I took this four minute piece and edited the video to fit to the sound. The result is what you see on this blog. Tony figured out how to upload this on to You Tube. The Sacred Threads committee gave an immediate YES. Jim drove me around Weaverville to get permission from those on the video (Sydney, Ruth, Cindy, Cindy, Ruth, Jan, Tony, Barbara, Karen, Christine, Jean-Pierre).

Uh-oh! Oh my! Now we have to figure out how to get this Installation across the country and make a room to show it inside. Oh, and raise the money to do this. Walking in Love Installation is growing up. Kim offered us an umbrella to be a non profit. A Board of Directors has been created, not surprisingly, out of the team of people who have so many talents in addition to their artistic ones. Financial Patrons and management, Publicity, Fundraising, Production are some of the now ongoing endeavors that have drawn talented help to see Walking in Love Installation go to Washington DC and beyond. When you see us on Kickstarter and see Lisa Brey & Walking In Love Team you know that everyone mentioned above (and probably more if my memory has little gaps and please correct me) is making this dream into a reality. How many of us are there now? I think I have lost count. But I hope everyone knows that this project would not be real without YOU. THANK YOU from the deepest part of my being! You are awesome.

Kickstarter Fundraising Drive is Launched!

2011-04-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

The Walking In Love Installation has been launched on a wonderful site called Kickstarter . This site helps projects of all kinds raise money. The way Kickstarter works is FAST. They recommend that funding is asked for in a 30 day cycle. This means that by May 6 we will know whether or not our Walking In Love Installation will go to Washington DC.

Life is full of surprises. I woke to four inches of snow. White world outside. The magnificence of frosted evergreens never ceases to enthrall me. It reminds me to return to the actual making of panels before the day to day aspects of life take over. But I do complete day to day work. I opened up my e-mails to see what has come up between yesterday and today and found that the first donation to the Kickstarter site has been made. An extremely generous Patron has lent their very solid backing and belief in our work. Thank you so much for your vote of confidence in what we are creating. The project has become a very giant 'we' full of people who are wonderful. There are wonderful people in abundance.

Angenett Taft Walking In Love Installation Artist

2011-03-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

I first met Angenett Taft nearly ten years ago when I walked into the Quilt Show at the Trinity County Fair. To tell the truth I did not meet her but a quilt she had hanging. I had never seen someone use fabric to create a scene. Here was a shaft of sunlight piercing through a gorgeous old growth forest and it was all done in fiber. I fell in love with the work and the artist. Imagine my delight when a few weeks later I found myself in a Shasta College class for training Emergency Medical Technicians and there were Angenett and Jim Taft. I went up and introduced myself and perhaps scared them with my gushing about her quilt. All these years later and the Tafts have become dear friends. I have Angenett to thank for leading the way for me in her inventive use of design. Angenett taught me to use the long arm machine for quilting, inspiring me to try new ways to lay down thread. This is what Angenett Taft has to say about Walking In Love:

Our theme, "Walking in Love" continuously drove me back to the question, "Am I walking in love right now, these days, while I work on the panels and face many obstacles in doing them and in situations in my daily life?" So often I stopped myself to re-group, to re-calibrate toward the theme. I believe this refocusing had a profound positive impact on my panels and more so on my daily living.

I hope one day Angenett will share more of her story. She has been in the midst of a life altering course and is a role model to me for the grace with which she and Jim are navigating change.

Walking In Love has a Non-Profit Sponsor

2011-03-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

It is with great pleasure that I announce the Walking In Love Installation is now under the umbrella of the non-profit organization Leading From Within. It is possible to support this beautiful installation moving on to Washington D.C., our nation's capital, and receive a tax deduction with your contribution. If you are interested in supporting this work please click on DONATE for more information. Thank you for your enthusiasm for this project.

Highland Art Center, Weaverville California

2011-03-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

The Walking In Love Installation can be seen at the Highland Gallery until March 27th. This delightful gallery features astonishing work from many talented artists. The rich array of work runs from exquisite jewelry, artful clothing, fine photography, to watercolors, ceramics and so much more. It is a very great pleasure to work with Yvonne Pegoraro and Barbara Edwards. Their love for art and artists draws me to the gallery again and again.

Gratitude for Walking in Love Installation

2011-03-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

When I first stepped into saying "yes!" to this idea there was no way to see into the future and how beautiful the entire process would be. Maybe because the idea had been fomenting for several years when the time was ripe the flowering could unfold rather effortlessly. This is not to say that there has not been work involved. There is plenty. I think right now of a dear dear woman who wishes to remain anonymous. I sat next to her last night on a couch while she pulled out of a gorgeous silken purple bag a white strip measuring four inches by twelve inches and the tiniest crochet hook you could ever imagine. She pulled the ball of white thread out and began to take stitch after tiny stitch. "Only 91 inches to go" she said. I think "she is creating a valence for a window." She has her crochet work hanging inside doorways in her home. Instead she hmmms and ummms and then it begins to emerge that this is her third panel for the installation and it will be all crocheted lace. I am moved to this place of such gratitude. That she will sit in her home, in her life, and create a treasure to hang in the Walking in Love Installation is just one part. The deeper part is her decision to create this panel with dedication to the premise: hold the feeling/concept of love while working on the panel. And boy does she. In many ways I feel this anonymous woman is living at the core of the real reason this project strikes a chord with people. It is the invitation to walk in love in your own life in a way you might not have before. Maybe it is the permission to actually create and rest in love. I can't say exactly. I welcome your comments on this topic. Please use the click on the word comment below this blog and tell your story. I am so interested to understand how this project touches you.

I am grateful to know that this kind of work draws and moves and attracts people. I feel just a little bit overwhelmed at the support that exists. Particularly now that this installation will move to Sacred Threads outside of Washington DC in June. It takes a team. This work is not possible without the help of many. The video that will soon be released is a work of love from Neil Harvey (film, sound, voice), Karen Renaudin (editing and production, voice), Jean-Pierre Brandt (voice), myself and Tony Kendrew who uploaded the file in the late hours of the night. We would not be going to Sacred Threads without you. There are not enough thanks to express how moved I am to have watched all of you jump in and say "yes" yourselves to communicating this work, in love.

And to all who join to celebrate: you make life rich.

Readying for the next round, the move to Sacred Threads, I return to the white and I ready myself to create another panel. All of the curator parts of this work (and there is a lot) can wait for a moment. It is in the making of the panel that I rest.

Sacred Threads invites Walking In Love Installation

2011-03-16T00:04:00.000-07:00

It is a great pleasure to announce that the Walking In Love Installation will be included in the 2011 Sacred Threads Show. A very big Thank You to Karen Renaudin, Neil Harvey, Jean-Pierre Brandt and Tony Kendrew for making the Walking In Love Video so beautiful. Your love for this work is touching.

Jean-Pierre Brandt Walking in Love Installation Artist

2011-03-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

Jean-Pierre explains his panel.

Lisa, Jean-Pierre, Christine

Jean-Pierre and his wife Christine Hassler-Brandt are a unique couple. I am sure I won't say everything there is to say about them because they are so multi-dimensional. Christine paints, creates herbal remedies, massages and does body work, gardens, dances and teaches wellness courses. She assisted Jean-Pierre in his vision for a panel. Jean-Pierre came to the opening with a loaf of sourdough bread from one of his tri-weekly baking sessions. A jeweler, a painter, he had a wood sculpture showing at a gallery down the street from the Walking In Love Installation at the Highland which debuted his first attempt in fiber. The result is ephemeral beauty. Jean-Pierre says:

Here is a photo that to my eyes translate the emotional feeling I have with

my panel.It is about walking in love with my father during the last 2 weeks of his

life. Since the image reflect the vision of a dream I had 30 min before his

passing, I wanted the panel to be "dream like". Hazy and inviting to "see the

emotion". Working with fiber was challenging and fun and the perfect media for this

vision. A very big thank you to Christine for working with me on the making of our

panel and for seeing it as a walking in love invitation.

Christine says the little red tab at the bottom of the little 'dickie' was attached into a special place in the pants to secure it against movement. So many little unexpected serendipities happened while hanging the show. One of them was having a window behind this piece. The lighting was perfect.

Frances Sherman Walking in Love Installation Artist

2011-03-10T06:10:00.000-08:00

What can be said about this amazing woman? Mother to seven children, she still has room to 'adopt' others (myself included). Sensitive and caring, speaks her mind, makes astonishingly beautiful quilted landscapes and raises sheep and chickens and many varied things in between! Such a range of capabilities. Frannie says:

I think /feel love is a spiritual thing which one can feel in their inner being. It is a state of calm, pleasantness, fulfillment, receiving and giving, a feeling of completeness and wholeness of being. To me my panel is full of the love God has for me no matter where I am in my life or where my feelings are at the moment, good or bad. I know that no matter where I am He is with me, in me and around me. It is the agape love I portray in fabric in the hope that others will feel the peace in understanding we are all loved forever!

Fran outside the entrance to the show.

Frannie is one of those busy people that accomplishes much no matter what else is going on in her very busy life. At the opening she helped to guard the doorways reminding people to leave their food and drink outside! In addition to this she stayed up until midnight the night before the opening to help create a simple panel to frame a more complex one. I am sure grateful this woman is in my life .

Mary Murray Walking in Love Installation Artist

2011-03-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

I have known Mary for many years now. Her genuine kindness, sense of humor and generosity are just a few of the qualities I have grown to love in her. This is what Mary says about her participation in the Walking In Love Installation:

Love is a verb

Grandmother’s love lasts forever!

I used a grandmother’s tablecloth for my panel background, remembering Granny trusting my sister Anne and I to set the dining parlor table with “the Good dishes” for a large family- gathering dinner.

The buttons are symbolic of her button box that I loved as a child. Her treadle sewing machine was my first sewing experience at age ten.

On the back panel, I used crocheted pieces and silk fabric from my second grandmother’s wedding dress. This grandmother crocheted rugs from nylon hosiery scraps and today I still crochet rugs, but not from nylons.

My grandmothers loved us with their actions of comforting, hugging, giving, listening, teaching and praising. They taught Anne & I , plus all the cousins, the meaning of service to others.

How blessed I was to have grandmothers who acted out their love for me. I am responsible to pass on that love, so Grandmother’s love lasts Forever!

Opening Night

2011-03-06T08:40:00.000-08:00

Ohhhhh! What can I say about being surrounded with loving and lovely people, fabulous art and an atmosphere of such astonishing support? Bliss. I sincerely hope that all who attended felt some of the rapture that was present. It is actually not possible to capture either on film (which has been tried), or even in photographs, the experience of walking the spiral. It simply must be experienced. The show is in Weaverville, California at the Highland Art Center until March 27th. Because this installation is alive, lively, and growing, a challenge is issued: anyone who completes a panel before the show is taken down can hang it in this show. Many thanks to all who came and walked in love.

None of us who participated in this event could anticipate exactly what the spiral would be like before the final hanging. My daughter Sydney helped me all day yesterday and we worked until an hour before the opening. It was so gratifying to open the show and walk through leading the artists who created panels. The tears in the eyes, the justified pride, the ooohhs and ahhhs, the appreciation of the metal support as its own art piece, smiles, hugs...it was all so rich. As this month progresses I will be putting up photos of the artists, their work, and their statements.

Walking in Rain

2011-03-05T06:10:00.000-08:00

It might be that the opening night of Walking in Love is really about Walking in Rain. Some say that water holds whatever intention you send it. So I send love to the rain that is thundering down at this moment.

Walking In Love Better Than Imagined

2011-03-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

The Installation is coming together in ways that are beyond what I was able to imagine. Light, Shadow, the perfection of some designs next to others. All of this is what emerged once the panels came off the ground on their protective sheets and began to hang from the gorgeous metal work above. I have heard it said 'the sum of the parts is greater than the whole' and this installation, Walking In Love, is certainly proving that statement correct.

John and Evan met me at the gallery at 10 AM to slide the clips on. YES! The clips arrived at the last possible moment on wednesday evening. To my relief they work beautifully. John and Evan slid these clips around the hangers and then spent considerable time (meaning all day) finessing the threaded rod to create a professional appearance. First Evan sprayed the silver rod white to create an illusion of a floating spiral. It was good. Very good. But Liz had put the idea out there about using copper following a flash of insight and John had brought along a coil of small diameter copper rod he had serendipitously found at a salvage yard a few weeks earlier. Once John made a sample of the copper rod to cover the threaded rod the group decided to go ahead with the look of copper to float the spiral from the ceiling. Up and down the ladder multiple times per each of the twenty supports is the workout John did while the rest of us danced around him and the ladder on the ground with fabric. Except for my fastidiousness about not touching the white fabric with anything but just washed hands we all worked quite well and easily.

Angenett and Susan came to help hang the panels. First we worked to finish sewing tiny identifying labels onto each panel. Then began the actual decision about what would go where. Angenett and Susan both agreed that the more 'solid' pieces would fill the center. I so appreciate the decisive clarity with which Angenett works. Once the core was hung Angenett had to go on her way. Susan became the most indispensable help possible with her gifted intuitive way of seeing what was next. We were both surprised by the way the overhead lights played through the panels casting shadows onto the wall adding even more to the entire installation. Having noticed this the hanging of other panels to maximize these effects became fun. In addition there is a window on one side of the room. Certain panels were best seen in the direct light and were placed accordingly.

Susan left, remembering her darling patient dog in the car, Liz returned in time to hang the last two panels and help John with the copper rods. Exquisite timing. Yvonne came in and out gently offering welcome suggestions and insight. All of the panels are hung, a few touches to fine tune and a few copper covers are left to be placed onto the threaded rods. We worked from the opening at 10 to the closing at 5 and will return again on saturday morning to finish. It was a great day and I look forward to going back and seeing the entire Walking in Love with fresh eyes. Thank you everyone for your great work!

I have decided not to show any photos of the hung show just yet. At the gallery we covered the doorways with fabric to keep the installation closed to viewing. But the heart above is one detail of the stunning work that you will see opening night.

Excitement Mounting

2011-03-01T19:57:00.000-08:00

I drove an hour and a half to Weaverville this morning to meet with John Ritz and his son, Evan. They unloaded the spirals from the trailer John parked in front of the gallery. The spirals were created oversized on purpose to allow some wiggle room. Evan and John put them into the East Gallery in the Highland Art Center and then figured out where to cut the metal. We were so happy to have sunny and relatively warm weather to work outside. 50ish and no rain. Life is good.

When John drove the spirals from the shop in Anderson last week in to Weavervile the roads had been salted for ice. The salt spray discolored the metal. Today the spirals were cut, polished and sprayed with lacquer to protect the coating. These two men work well together with mutual respect and a quiet thoughtful approach. John had thought he would find the studs or joists in the ceiling. When I arrived they had not yet found any. Impossible! How is this true? The entire ceiling, it turns out, is wood, underneath the ceiling tiles. It was then quite easy to place the hangers anywhere to fit the curve of the spiral! The first spiral worked beautifully. About this time a friend, Bay, showed up and pitched right in to help install spiral number two. Angenett stopped by to see the progess and Liz, mom of the Ritz clan, stopped in and contributed a very good idea to the finishing touches. Yvonne Pegararo, the gallery manager and an artist herself, said she loves group collaboration. I do too. Everyone has something to contribute and the whole is so much better because of all who participate.

The only thing concerning me now is the delivery of the clips I ordered to hang the pieces from the beautiful metal. A little bit of a last minute thing with a very long delay on the delivery time. We are scheduled to put all the pieces onto the metal on thursday. UPS says the clips will be here late on wednesday. OH DEAR!

Walking in Lacy Winter Love

2011-02-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

The dance between the gorgeous white panels and the snow fall amazes me this week. Each day something new. A dusting of snow, a panel delivered. I continue to get phone calls from friends asking "how many panels?". The best answer at this point seems "don't count your chickens before they hatch." Every day brings a new report. A panel completed, a panel that did not quite make it. Twins birthed from an original idea, last minute enthusiasm and new panel created, hurdles to overcome and dedicated artists persisting in their quest. Take heart everyone. The show will be wonderful and you are making it happen. Thank you to all who are cheering from the sidelines too.

Metal Spiral Created

2011-02-22T10:11:00.000-08:00

I really wondered when I left the house at 7:30 in the morning yesterday if I would be able to make the trip to Anderson, California. It was snowing. I had the tiny Geo Metro and the road was icy. I only needed to get to Hayfork where Jim would give me a ride out of the mountains and into the flat land of the central valley of California. It is never a sure thing, the mountain weather, in spite of the confidence of weather reporters and satellite imagery. I very nearly cancelled my trip. Some little voice urged me on. I did make it out safely and Jim delivered me to Hudson Mechanical, Inc. owned by Blaine and Colleen Hudson. Blaine and Colleen very generously let Metal Artist John Ritz use their giant shop to work on the project. John is creating the metal spiral that all the art pieces will hang from for the Walking in Love Installation.

I wonder if there is anything (other than fabric) that is more thrilling than copper? I spent a fun two hours with John as he drafted a grid pattern onto the shop floor and then proceeded to bend one inch diameter copper tubing to fit to the spiral he had drawn within the grid. I marvel at how this whole project has worked. It has gone so well, not without troubles, but every step in perfect timing. Even the delivery of the copper hangers John will use to install the spirals into the ceiling at the Highland Gallery arrived as we worked on the spirals. Next week installation! Thank you John, Blaine and Colleen for your participation in the Walking in Love Installation.

Other good news of the day: the Long Arm Sewing Machine that was left in bits and pieces last week was returned to working order by one of our panel artists and overall mechanically talented, Nick. Frannie is off and running to finish her panels!

Milestone Day

2011-02-19T22:17:00.000-08:00

A delightful field trip to Weaverville today with Susan for the first round of collections for the Walking in Love Installation panels! Yvonne at the Highland Gallery made us welcome in the East Gallery as we collected and then labeled seven panels. Each of these panels is unique and wonderful. Love has so many facets. These panels are the beginning of the flow which will continue to pour in. A good thing the deadline has a little flex in it. Some artists are encountering difficulties which will hopefully be solved before the installation. The current plan is to install the show March 1 through 4. Opening night March 5th!

Dancing Hands

2011-02-18T17:32:00.000-08:00

Karen Renaudin, a ceramic artist living in Hyampom, California, allowed me to visit her in her studio home and film her creating a unique concept for the Walking in Love Installation. Karen's vision and enthusiasm for the project are heart warming and exciting. Her idea of hanging multitudes of thin tiles of porcelain in an undulating pattern will be stunning once realized. The combination of classical music and Karen's hands working the clay were enthralling. Her joy for living is infectious and I left her home feeling glad to be alive and participating in the project. Thank you Karen!

I love how serendipity works. A snow storm descended on us the last few days leaving behind a foot of snow. I got my little car stuck at the bottom of my road so my neighbor Phil drove me to Karen's house for the filming. Well, Phil being the curious person he is jumped right in and began to interview Karen asking great questions. It was a wonderful spontaneous event and I suspect the entire documentary of this Walking in Love Installation will be richer for this unplanned time. Thank you Phil!

Snow White

2011-02-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

Heavy snowfall for the last two days mesmerizes. What a way to stay in white.

Obstacles to Walking in Love

2011-02-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

How often do I set myself on a path determined to a certain end only to find I can't get there from here? Most of the time I have a certain amount of resilience, the ability to shift about a bit and make adjustments so I may continue on. The ripples in the pond are not so big. What do I do when a giant boulder has been put into the pond and the water is so turbulent that I forget everything except keeping my head above water so I can breath air? Little different story here.

This project presumes working on the art pieces, and for my part as the curator working on all the rest that goes with an installation as well, while holding the concept/feeling of love. John is helping with the metal work that will support all the art pieces. He reminded me a few days ago to return to the premise while working all aspects of the project. I infer from that the necessity to stop myself when I find I am veering off course from the intention of love. The goals, however, have a subtle way of trickling in to take precedence over the premise. After all, deadlines are looming and the Highland Art Gallery is waiting expectantly for this new birth. As are many. And birth it will. But not at the expense of friendships and harmonious gatherings with one another and inside of oneself.

It is important to me to support all of the many artists who are creating pieces for this project. To that end I have found myself helping to install a motor in a long arm sewing machine that decided it had had enough right in the middle of a panel Angenett is working on for the installation. Frannie is scheduled to use the machine after her and neither one is able to carry out their vision at this point, at least not in the initial way they conceived of it, until we fix this machine. The machine is not cooperating and the four of us who are working on it have set out again and again with the intention of love and have not been able to fix the machine. It is the 15th of February and the deadline is days away. Today we found such frustration come up that we walked away from the machine leaving screws, tools, parts and manuals just as they were while we've been working. It seemed best.

All of us have lives that are going on while we are working on Walking In Love. I don't know anyone who has been able to step completely away from their life and all of it's responsibilities to do this work. And some of us have some very stressful things going on. I know everyone committed to this project would like to complete their pieces and see the final installation, myself included. I also know that if I work on the Walking in Love Installation while I am in extreme anger or frustration or judgment then I am missing the point.

To everyone working on this project please remember to breathe. Those deep breaths really do help release tension. Breathe again and again until you are able to return to your life, to your art piece, to whatever you are doing from a place of calm, to your ideal of love. And breathe again and again if the first breath set did not help. It took me 45 minutes of breathing after feeling so frustrated working with the machine to release my tension over all the panels that will not be completed because of the machine being out of commission, of the impact on the whole. In the light of more clear vision I ask that if you are not able to do the piece the way you envision it fully then do something simple. Keep it simple and do it with renewed commitment to the premise: Walking in Love. I believe that the intention will come across whether the art is simple or complex. And if you can't make the dead line for this particular installation then know that this show will move on and you can join in later. Bringing yourself to love is the first and most important step, the cake. The art work is the frosting on that cake!

Walking in Love on a Frozen Path

2011-02-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

I am a lifelong sewer. Seamstress. Lover of fabric and what I can make with it. I spent much of my free time as a high school student behind a sewing machine in the middle of our family room making clothes. My three brothers and my sister did not complain. There I was in the middle of the room we all shared as a place to hang out, sewing. I do remember some complaints about the pins and needles occasionally found in the carpet. Since I was the only one who actually stepped on a needle and had it break off in my foot I guess there is a certain rightness to the way it all works.

As anyone who has sewn even a little bit knows, there are times when we need to unsew. We put something in upside down or inside out or backwards. As tempted as I am to keep on going in these situations and just leave things in, with clothing this simply gives you an unwearable or strange garment. I want to say that even mistakes need not deter someone from continuing on without 'fixing' is important. If Loss of Momentum to keep on when undoing would stop you in your tracks completely.

I think I loved to sit in the family room of the home I grew up in and sew because it kept me centered somehow. Grounded in the middle of where I lived, the people I lived with, the rushing about of seven people who were all going in several different directions themselves! The care of myself in a fundamental way: making my own clothes. But also I could use the machine to zoom through the making of clothes while my heart and mind could zone out, contemplate, kanoodle, wander, meditate. And my body could be still from all the activities I was engaged with.

Unsewing must be one of the banes of our life with needle and thread. And yet every single one of us have need of this at times no matter how skilled and gifted we are in our art and craft. As I sat down to write this I suddenly saw how my life is not unlike my sewing. In my life I act in ways that are upside down or backwards to what I know I want the outcomes to be. Many times the results, the consequences are not big. Often times when I go to someone with a wrong I think I have committed they don't even see it. But there are those times in life when a big undoing is needed. Necessary. Important. Vital. To leave A garment without a thorough redo when the sleeve was put in without the ability to put the arm through would render it useless. So too our lives at certain points invite us to examine what might need to be taken out, removed. In a garment a seam ripper is an invaluable tool. In life I find friends are there to help pull out threads and pull apart seams, quilting, put in wrong.

I had the opportunity to have dinner last night with friends. Women that I have sewn with for years. Women that are looking after one another. Women that are standing with one another while some of us are ripping out the seams of our lives and putting things back together correctly. How grateful I am to all of you who are working on this project. Walking in Love in your lives while you do everything you do in your life and are still finding time to support this art. Thank you.

I sing out encouragement to Frannie: You will get your panel done, machine or no machine!
To Angenett: All the love and care you give will come back to you multiplied! Happy Birthday!
To Susan: You are a role model to me in this project the way you are steadfastly giving the work of Walking in Love your full focus. Happy Birthday!
Mary: you live life in love so seamlessly you are a graceful dance to watch.
Karen: take courage to keep going in following your inner voice creatively.
Everyone: keep breathing. Those three slow deep breathes do return you to the depth of who you are.
To those on the sidelines cheering as we come near to the finish line: Thanks!!!!

A Walking in Love Panel is born!

2011-02-07T21:49:00.000-08:00

Today I had the delightful opportunity to witness a new panel being born right in Hayfork, California. The panel was birthed at 2:17 PM and weighs all of 1/2 pound with a pillowcase covering! This creative child comes out the wild experience Nick has had over the last three plus months. An accident put Nick into the home and care of his mother Angenett who is a quilter making a panel for Walking in Love. Who knows how this idea popped into Nick's creativity hopper, but I am so glad it did and that he followed through on the idea and finished! The very first panel to be completed for the Walking in Love Installation (as far as I know)!!

The panel is created from kerlix and timtex with a small amount of cotton fabric and some white seam binding and steam a seam. Kerlix is the rolled gauzy fabric Nick and Angenett have been using to dress the wounds for all these months. I say this is taking something difficult in life and finding at least one beautiful outcome. The panel is stunningly elegant.

Katie's Panel

2011-02-03T06:06:00.000-08:00

Returning to the San Francisco Bay Area to gather for my father's 80th birthday this last weekend was a wonderful opportunity to work the Walking in Love Installation. I brought the panel I began to honor the life of Katie who recently died. How sweet it was to sit quietly for an hour in the midst of all the running around and parties to celebrate my father and work on the panel. Katie's Mom and Dad helped to stuff the tubes that will weave in and out of the panel. Another brother and his wife sat and stuffed tubes. My father sat and stuffed a tube. This panel is infused with love for Katie. It also brought me to a quiet place in a race around weekend where I could have lost track of what is most important!

The People and the Panels!

2011-01-28T08:01:00.000-08:00

Gathering with the Log Cabin Quilter's Guild in Hayfork, California is a sweet reunion. I have quilted in their delightful company for many years. I consider these women my home group. Many of these women are creating panels for the Walking in Love Installation. It is so very difficult to photograph white on white so here are some of the ladies with various panels under construction.

Nature's White

2011-01-25T15:50:00.001-08:00

How Thoughts Scatter

2011-01-24T07:23:00.000-08:00

A flock of nut hatches flew through yesterday morning landing on the lawn to peck at things unseen by human eye. I open the door and they all scatter, taking flight in many directions.

A door opened in my understanding late last night after receiving news that is personally devastating to me, though not anything anyone else would even see. I watched my thoughts and emotions land around the news like those birds, all flutter and action, hopping here and there, pecking away at all of the nuance. Reeling. Where to allow my heart to land? Anger? Fear? Silliness? Tears of impotence. Accept the things I can not change?

A dear friend listened to me on the phone through the storm of emotion and as emotion began to subside asked me if there was some way to keep myself busy productively, gently suggesting hand work. All at once I returned to my senses and found even more profound meaning, for myself, in this Walking In Love Installation. All of those emotions fled and calm returned in an instant. Taking a panel, working on the binding, holding thoughts/concepts of love, I am once again centered and grateful.

Weaverville Quilt Retreat

2011-01-23T10:08:00.000-08:00

It was my very great pleasure to join with quilter's from Weaverville, Lewiston, Willow Creek, Redding and more yesterday in Weaverville, California. Sue Rhodes (and others!) from Textile Traditions played hostess to the gathering of over thirty quilters! The main event was a mystery quilt! The Fire Hall where they met was transformed into a cozy place with fabric, quilts hanging on the walls, an abundant table of delicious foods and of course the quilters who gathered.

I experience joy in these gatherings. Feeling the warm way long term friendships over and around sewing/quilting ends up creating delightful play, like the Beautiful Batty Quilters from Redding, Ca who had bat wing headbands and caprons (double duty aprons which turn in to capes!) which they modeled for us! Having a demonstration from Bridget Carson to create an apron from 1929 out of one yard of fabric satisfied my desire to have an apron of some kind. I think they are such a practical invention and have been wanting to make one!

A show and tell of comfort quilts reminds me of how generous quilters are with their time and materials, thinking about those who are in need. Seeing the different projects like the earthy forest colors using recycled pants one woman made encourages my creativity. Watching the brilliant way another woman solved a problem with miscutting her chosen project for the weekend and coming up with a new design is ingenuity and more in practice.

I worked on my Bargello panel. I have been at a particularly fussy part. It required concentration. Hearing all the wonderful story telling, joking, comments, getting up to eat delicious cookies it is no wonder I had more recuts, unsews than usual. Yet it was an afternoon that I wish could have lasted longer. The company of other quilters is a place of comfort for me, the ambiance so rich in shared love for fabric, create, and each other. I am grateful for their kind invitation to visit and share the Walking in Love Installation!

Surrender to Slow

2011-01-20T17:49:00.000-08:00

"How is your Bordeaux coming?" My daughter asks. "Do you mean Bargello?" "Oh, right, bordeaux is a chocolate?" If it were chocolate I was working with I think that I would have taken care of it in no time flat! Bargello, on the other hand, is like a slow motion dance. Particularly since I have decided to create a merging undulation. Many painstaking cuts, unsewing, resewing. But ever so slowly the pattern emerges and I find myself slowing down, no longer resisting the timing. I accept the need to cut yet another strip to make a new series of strips as I gently urge the fabrics to wave in more complexity than a single line of strips would do. The length of pieced top I can create is measured in inches every day as I work on the panel bit by bit fitting it in with my other work. I am encouraged by what is emerging!

I thought I would go crazy when I realized what I had committed to with this panel. I resisted the minute care each strip took in order to urge my design along. My dear friend sat in the room one day realizing for the first time how sometimes creating beautiful art is simply a matter of showing up and doing the next little repetitive thing. I now appreciate the way process quilting works in slow motion. My usual way is to move at a much faster pace. Easier piecing methods, fusing instead of sewing, long arm sewing machine help. But this Bargello pattern is the antidote to hurry, allowing me to take pleasure in the way that sometimes good things take a long time to develop!

Loving while Piecing

2011-01-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

The current panel I am working on is Bargello. I saw it in a quick idea that came across my mind. One sinuous line running through the long panel. Sketched it. Poof! The design is born. So easy. Have you made a Bargello quilt before? Many long straight lines to cut, to piece. Cutting the pieced units into strips. Piecing these together to create the undulations Bargello is known for. I attempt to hold the concept of love while I am working on this and I feel slow. Aware of how I want to zoom fast in whipping out this panel. Instead I am forced to patience. Seam by slow seam watching the movement of the strips slowly reveal the design I saw in an instant.

I wonder if love is this way. Someone enters our life. We feel the rush of recognition, attraction, knowing. The feelings that can flood our being. Whichever form of love: love interest, a friendship, a child, spiritual calling, the flood of lovely feeling does come. The slow patience necessary to continue to feed love is never far behind.

I know this particular panel will be beautiful. I have confidence based on other Bargello experience. It is not the rush of feeling kind of panel that some of the others I made were. This quilt piece balances the rapid results style. Reminding me that love is often about doing the next little thing. However mundane or ordinary it might be. Sew the next straight seam. Little by little loveliness is born.

Infusion of Joy

2011-01-14T06:46:00.000-08:00

Joy is the gathering of quilters to work on a project! Working on Walking in Love yesterday I met with Quilters in Hayfork and Weaverville, California. Seeing the panels they are working on is inspiring. Such creativity! Artistic beauty! It is always a joy to be in the wonderful sorority of quilters. Enthusiasm for the Walking in Love Installation, the vibrancy of other projects in the works ignites my imagination. A delightful day!

The panel I work on in honor of Katie surprises me! I decided to try creating some pierced areas. I did this to run some tubes in and around the front and back of the panels. The surprise, and I am continually surprised at how ideas bring far more than my limited view can foresee, is how light sparkled on the ground all over as it came through these holes I cut out! I am excited now to create a panel just to have these cutouts and not stuff them with anything!

What is Love when tragedy occurs?

2011-01-13T05:18:00.000-08:00

When the heart aches and breaks wide open...when a talented and gorgeous young woman has left us due to a tragic car crash...when no sense can be made...what is love? Rain pours down above almost in response to this question and I hope it can come as balm to those who grieve the loss of Katie, my brother and sister-in-laws daughter, who died yesterday. I hope that all the good thoughts of everyone around can allow the broken hearts to be carefully tended. I hope that Katie's two young children, Andrew and Brenna, will know the fullness of love even in epic loss. I hope that renewed forgiveness comes among all of us still here, to allow old wounds to be set aside....

I go to the white today, again. I go in honor of, in memory of Katie who courageously created such beautiful art, who lived life full on. I go and I hope that the thoughts of love that I hold, that all of us hold, can be made real and tangible to all who suffer great loss. I hope I can keep breathing and love will meet me in the art. How to live with the paradox of loss and believe that Katie is now pure light, as surely as my mother is pure light?

What is Love?

2011-01-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

I am interested in what everyone else thinks about love. How do you hold the concept or feeling of love? I wait to hear your comments. How has it been for you in while creating your panels?

I have made two panels so far for this Walking in Love Installation. Holding the idea of love has begun to be something I think about a lot. Right now I feel it as a conscious choice. A decision that is more than whatever my feeling state might try to dictate. It is also clear to me that love is not "when the right person is around" or "when I have this or that dream" but is something that exists now. Something I can breathe into and even open to. In fact, breathing has become a focus somehow related to finding and feeling love. Is it this simple?

What does love feel like? To me it is a relaxing of the tension in my body. It is an ease in my emotions when they try to travel the familiar pathways where I would search out something to have fear or anxiety about and find lightness instead. The places where my mind would get stuck wandering around in sticky situations are dissolved. For Now. Keep breathing!

The white of the fabric, the ways in which light shimmers on silk, how dense light gathers when I lay down a lot of thread, these enchant me. I am in love with the creation of a fiber piece evolving before my eyes. It is a delight to have an object to be in love with and I also feel the transformation inside as "in love" changes from having an object for my attention to simply a way of being with the joy that exists just because.

The Vision

2011-01-08T18:30:00.000-08:00

My mother died five years ago. I lived with her at the time of her death. Shirley was not a religious person nor was she given much to philosophizing so when I asked her "how is this for you?" (referring to dying) her response was characteristic. "I don't know, but I'll let you know when I know!" She spent her dying days living. Her home was open for visitors and pinochle players, a game she took up once hospice care was the new life. Friends from her many walks of life came often. Family surrounded her.

The night she left us I slept in her bed with her. My brothers had surrounded her with candles and we had bathed her and put rose oil on her body. Two hours before she stopped breathing I was surrounded in light. Unlike the light from a bulb or the sun, this light was shimmering with almost strand-like crystalline lines undulating and filling an area around four feet in diameter in a cylindrical sort of shape. I wasn't sure what to make of it.

I later spoke with a woman who had studied this phenomenon, She told me it was a textbook view of the life force. Some call it spirit. In any case I felt better for knowing that the incredibly beautiful vision was my mother, leaving her body. Indeed she let me know in the most elegant way I could ever imagine what dying was for her.

I have created many fiber art pieces in continued attempts to capture the image. Like many of the art pieces I end up creating I saw in a flash a three dimensional walk through piece. Conversation with two dear friends brought forth the idea of a group project. Walking In Love Installation was born!