Happy New Year!

I'm impatient for this coming year! I have so much to look forward to!

• Showing 2 pieces in the Philadelphia Fiber Arts Show at Da Vinci Art Alliance
• Being in a 3-person show at Stratasphere with artists Colleen McCubbin Stepanic and Erin Castellan in March
• teaching 3 classes at Fleisher this next session(they're all running! Fantastic!)
• taking 4 classes at Tyler this semester(2 Studios, an art ed, and Human Development)
• Making the Easter linens for the Cathedral...

So here are the sketches I did to brainstorm for the Easter linens. First I was thinking about quilt patterns, as we were thinking about doing a shibori dyeing workshop with the congregration and then using the dyed fabric to make a quilt top for the frontal. They definitely wanted something that would reflect and integrate the community.

Then, at the Christmas Eve service the bishop said that when we cup our hands for communion we are in effect creating a manger to receive Christ. This reminded me of how important the gestures of our hands are in prayer. We fold our hands, we cup our hands, we shake hands in peace, we raise them in prayer. So I thought about taking photographs of the hands of the members of the congregation in various gestures of prayer, printing them on fabric (since I'm taking a digital printing on fabric class!), and piecing them together for the altar cloth/frontal and other linens. If time allows maybe I'll stitch in some text along the lines of "alleluia, the Lord is risen, he is risen indeed, alleluia!" I'm really excited about this project. It's wonderful to make something, not just because I have a cool idea or I want to make something to sell, but to make something that will be used for a specific purpose. Something that holds both aesthetic value and functionality. Art was what brought me to this specific church, because they have an artist-in-residency program, frequent exhibitions in the church, and they value art as a way to enhance worship. Art flourished throughout Western history because of the patronage of the Church, and I'm glad that the tradition is continued- that art and faith can still go hand in hand.

I hope if anyone is reading this won't be turned off or think I'm a holy roller. My life is a diverse blend of influences and interests, and faith is one facet. To acknowledge it is to live fully-and that is what I want-- to live fully.

Have a rich and full year of joyful life in 2010!