From focal point to fiber postcards

(Click on image to enlarge.)

It seems like ages ago when I made this piece. In truth, it was the first piece I finished in January 2004...only four years ago. I called it Last Light Before Vespers. It measured 35" x 40" and was made by applying chiffon backed with unpainted Wonder Under to a large piece of polyester. The design was first affixed to that polyester using heat-activated transfer paints. I pieced together several sheer, black chiffon scarves over the entire work and added the details in free motion embroidery using a variegated thread. At the time, it was an "important" piece. I needed it. I was about to have my first solo show. Sure, it wasn't a "big deal" in the art community...but it was a big deal to me. The show was at Spartanburg Day School...a beautiful, friendly, and wealthy private institution with a great art center. The school printed and mailed color invitations, hosted a reception with live music, and hired me to teach their upper school students for two weeks as an artist-in-residence. It was an enchanting experience. I will be forever grateful...and I knew I needed something "BIG" for the exhibition. All the other work was 21" x 17"...smaller. The art center was BIG. I needed a BIG focal piece. Last Lights at Vespers was it. It looked fantastic...right in the middle of the large wall. I also used the piece in my solo exhibition at the Sumter Museum of Art, in Blues Chapel, my installation. Yet, I won't need it for Blues Chapel in Pickens this coming summer. The piece is too old to submit for other venues. It is too big for many other opportunities. It's been collecting dust in the back room for over a year. The frame was damaged...but the blue linen liner and the gold inner liner might look great if cut down on another piece I'm currently stitching. So, it was time to remove it from the frame. It was time for it to find a new life...to become POSTCARDS...forty-five or so postcards and several ATCs. Funny, I like it better as postcards than I ever did as a whole work...despite all the memories!