Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Accepted!

I'm thrilled to announce that my piece entitled 
'Midway Atoll Disaster'
has been accepted into 
Birds in Stitches
that will debut at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the Visitor Center 
*see below for details and s showtiimes

I designed this piece specifically for this show. 
(detail) 
This piece is 30"W x 29"L
It has been machine quilted, painted, hand embroidery and has been hand lettered. Some of the materials I burned holes into and the edges.  Cheesecloth was used and quilted down extensively throughout. (and no, that material is NOT fun to work with! LOL) The text are lines from the poem 'The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner' as well as maps of the Atoll.  I also attached plastic straws, bottle caps, milk rings, and various plastic debris I picked up on just one 3 mile walk in my own neighborhood.  (believe me, I had more but couldn't include it all)

There are images of Layasan Albatross (adults and chicks) that were transferred onto silk and stitched down. The main image (bottom third near the right side)  is of one of over 2000 albatross chicks that died from starvation.  The chicks were fed regularly by the parents but they were fed on plastic refuse from the ocean. Since the birds were left where they were found you can clearly see what was in them, brightly colored plastic lighters, bottle caps, etc.  Given that the Midway Atoll is 2000 miles from the nearest continent this gives a crystal clear view of how our consumerism reaches it's deadly tentacles so far from our own suburban streets (that are swept clean of debris we habitually and carelessly toss out) .  
If you would like more information on this disaster please visit  This Site

I am so thrilled that this piece will be seen in a place where birds are so cared about!  

This is my favorite photo and he can be seen poking out of one of the holes I  burned near the middle.  
If you don't know much about Albatross, check out the wikipedia link.  They are incredible birds that spend 90% of their lives on the wing over the ocean (sometimes just inches over the water) gliding along four hours and hours at a time.  They are true masters of flight! 

Here's the info on the show.  

10 comments:

  1. Wow! We're completely blown away by this...You're amazingly talented and to have this in the visitors' centre of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a fantastic honour!

    Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh crap. just realized I put this on the wrong blog, sorry. DUH!

    @Fuzzy, THANKS! I'm sooo excited!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMC...A hearty congratulations! I am glad you posted it here 'in error' or I may have missed it. I remember reading about the albatross chicks starving because of human debris (I followed the Pete at Midway blog for a while). Your quilt is very meaningful and so cool that it will be at Cornell for so many to see! You follow Birdchick, don't you? I would let her have the link to your post, so more can learn about it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey, congrats, that really is great!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations and I'm glad you DID put it on this blog so we can share in this joy. Congratulations yet again and the back story is so sad regarding the poor birds getting plastic junk. Some stewards of the world we humans are. :-(((

    ReplyDelete
  6. this is really cool. mom likes fibery stuff art like this. WE LOVE BIRDIES!!!


    bonks and congratulations on being amazing

    ReplyDelete
  7. Concatualtions! We're very happy for you! It's very sad what's happening to the birdies though.

    ReplyDelete
  8. OMC !!!! That's amazing art work !!! Your woman Rocks !! and Concats to your woman...We love her work : )
    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congratulations!

    Beautiful work and Coleridge too!

    ReplyDelete

We love to hear from you xoxo!