An Embarrassing Omission

There must have been a good reason, but I really don’t remember why I agreed to make a quilt for an exhibition+auction that some womens group was holding to support a worthwhile charity. Perhaps it was on my mind to make it at the time …. I do know (1) someone must have asked very nicely or compellingly (2) and at the time I was totally infatuated with the ceramic art retrospective exhibition we’d just seen of iconic Uruguayan painter and ceramicist Jose Gurvich. He did a lot of couples/Adam and Eve/lovers, and while I can’t remember why I chose a The Tree Of Life format, which is so different from inspirations before and since … I do know I started with this hand painted version, which I ditched, a good decision probably … anyway it is gone and not subject to reappraisal. (I think the snake’s pretty elegant, though)

Arbol de la Vida, version 1, painted background.

The Tree of Life, or Arbol de la Vida…. version two. I began a draft blog post at the time, 2005, and was diverted and it remained as a draft until today. At the time I felt I could become hooked on fusing, but I’ve not done much since, until recently. Whatever original deadline I was given, it was brought forward at the last minute by three days, so that the comfortably do-able became a frantic, last-minute miracle. Maybe that was why I resorted to the fusing – anyway that worked, though the quilt was not sold to my reserve price, and is in the back of a cupboard somewhere. Another thing I totally overlooked when compiling my illustrated catalogue a couple of years ago!

Arbol de la Vida, 2005, approx 1m x 1.25m. The Gurvich influence is plainly visible!

Tags: , ,

Leave a Reply

Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).

All images and text are © Alison Schwabe
Reproduction of any kind is expressly prohibited without written consent.

Translate »