Tuesday, October 14, 2008

knowledge

I am an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on the way.
~Carl Sandburg

(corner detail)
Yesterday was spent expressing myself in thread...
truthfully a visceral girl at heart...
My creative process is obtained through intuition rather than from reasoning or observation.

(corner detail)

I declare that I am uncomplicated and not profoundly full of intention when I produce art however there is a soul that comes out of me during the creative process that baffles me at times.

(reads: Tree Of Knowledge)

I was raised in an ethnically mixed house hold, my home life resembled the United Nations on any given day.
My father’s family: Native American Indian (Tigua) / Basque. My mother’s: Japanese / Irish.

Culinary delights from around the world were found in our kitchen along with global wisdom from the elders of the household. Spiritual belief was wide open for debate, since more often then not the person sitting across from you at the dinner table did not have the same views on faith as you did.

(world wide book text was used in the bottom most layer and then reviled after free motion stitching completed by way of heat.)

It’s no wonder that I feel eminent affection for all religious convictions and I live my life in alliance to these beliefs.

My Deep rooted fascination to the tree of life and the tree of knowledge must have some connection to the fact that it’s present in most religions.

If you were to take a deeper look at this piece you would see that I used book text from many different lands to represent this aspect.

(side detail I tied threads around the rim of the piece to hold down the cloth.)

I used stained vintage silk for my top most layer. Then with free motion sewing I created the imagery and words with thread. Heat was also used to alter the tree. lastly I embellished with pearls.

This piece is 14 inches by 12 inches. Please click on any of these image to view full size.

(fresh water pearl flower detail.)

WONDERS
(Tree of Knowledge)
(Full View)

“Wonder rather than doubt is the root of knowledge”
~Abraham Joshua Heschel



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8 comments:

Alisa Burke said...

Ruth- this is so beautiful! I love it!! Can't wait to see you next week!!

Judy Wise said...

What a beautiful piece. I hold similar religious views as you - I respect all religions that have love and a reverance for life at their center. I think what we each yearn for is similar but with different paths toward it.

martha brown said...

Oh, Ruth, this is fabulous! Your attention to detail is unbelievable! I wish that I was coming to ArtFiberFest. I miss you! Have fun!

Kristen Robinson said...

this is an amazing and lyrical post full of beauty your words and artwork marry creating an artistic feast. Fox kristen

Mary Stanley said...

What a beautiful tree...and I love the image of the Tree of Knowledge..your stitching is magical!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful!! just as your work always is.

Kirsten said...

I love how you describe your work as intuitive and visceral, with your soul coming through.

Do you think it's possible for metalwork to have that sort of spontaneous visceral quality to it? I can find it in fiberarts, but seems harder to come by in metal.

Ruth Rae said...

oh my!
Kristen! your metalwork SCREAMS soul all over it! it takes every part of your body to bring forth the life that you covey in all of your metalwork... I think your just confused by the easiness that one can bring forth those quality's in fiber.

Its so sad that we can not see the beauty in our own work that others see... but if we could see it I wounder if we would still create they way we do?

I really do think that so much of the creative nature is the challenge that keeps us going!