Stardust Mothers – Now at DAR Museum
Whenever people see this piece, they have lots of questions about my process, so I thought I’d share the story with some images.
I lost my mother in November 2023. On my last day in Houston at the Quilt Festival, I got the call that she tested positive for Covid. That was Friday…I flew back Saturday….she was gone late Tuesday night. She had a long slow decline and was near the end (before Covid took her), so I had a lot of time to prepare.
Me & Mom, circa 1968.
During the last year of her life, I thought a lot about the generations of women in my family. I made this piece initially for Sacred Threads in 2022, and was honored that it hung at the entrance to the show. This was the last time Sacred Threads was displayed in Herndon VA, near Dulles Airport. (Suburb of Wash DC)
A few years before, my daughter and I took a trip to Sweden, which is where my maternal grandmother’s parents came from in the 19th century. I discovered that many traditions handed down from Grandma to my mother, to me and then my daughter, were from Sweden. It got me thinking about how many traditions and habits and values have been passed down through multiple generations, and we no longer can trace their origin. Only, in this case, so many things that clearly were passed down through the generations of women.
Grandma Merle
So I began to think about the ancestors, the matriarchs, who protected each other, their daughters, their homes and their land, and ultimately the Earth. This image came to me so clearly – of generations of women, disappearing into the mists of time, embracing each other and the Earth. I wanted to express diversity, but I also wanted to include my great-grandmother who immigrated to the US from Sweden. (she is in the upper left corner.)
I started with a piece of blank white muslin, and began to sketch out the placement of the faces, and the planet. I used Inktense blocks and a fabric gel medium to paint the faces. It was the first time I had ever done this. I have many years of portrait painting and figure painting in my past, but to sketch these faces freehand on a piece of muslin (yes, from my imagination) was an exciting challenge.
Then I used patterned batiks to add the hair.
As I added the the figures around the globe, the piece began to take shape.
I added the Earth, keeping in mind that all the faces should be turned towards, and illuminated by the globe.
I added an ombre hand-dye under the Earth – using complementary colors to contrast with the cool colors of the planet. Then used a speckled batik that was carefully hand cut to create the roots that grew organically out of the women, to surround and support the globe.
I worked on more facial color details, then stitched the faces with blue thread, to tie the women to the Earth – to show the colors of the planet reflecting back on their faces.
“Stardust Mothers” is now hanging in the DAR Museum in Washington DC, through 12-31-24, as part of the Sewn in America exhibit. My piece represents contemporary craftivism.
If you visit the exhibit, look for the companion book. I have an essay on Art & Activism in the book.
My “Stardust Mothers” is hanging next to another contemporary artist – Dr Carolyn Mazloomi’s piece “Playdate”, depicting a black child and a white child playing.
Our artist statements are together also. Appropriate, as we have become friends also.
Many thanks to curator Alden O’Brien for inviting me to participate in this fascinating exhibit.
Alden O’Brien, DAR curator (seated), Susan Holmes (Endangered Species Coalition) and Luana Rubin.
I do hope you can go visit my “Stardust Mothers” at the DAR Museum in Washington DC this year! (Daughters of the American Revolution, 2 blocks SW of the White House.)
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