Portfolio
- All Works
- Penny Rugs
- COVID-19 Masks
- Jewelry
- Public Art
- Social Justice
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WINTER TREE Large scale knit/crocheted effort to appease my winter doldrums and bring color and light to passersby during all the seasons! -
WINTER TREE -- DETAIL Large scale knit/crocheted effort to appease my winter doldrums and bring color and light to passersby during all the seasons! -
WINTER TREE -- DETAIL Large scale knit/crocheted effort to appease my winter doldrums and bring color and light to passersby during all the seasons! -
CAUTION AHEAD A crocheted telephone pole wrap to warn large vehicles to slow down as they pass…in a friendly way! -
CAUTION AHEAD -- DETAIL A crocheted telephone pole wrap to warn large vehicles to slow down as they pass…in a friendly way! -
CAUTION AHEAD A crocheted telephone pole wrap to warn large vehicles to slow down as they pass…in a friendly way! -
penny rug ART MASK -- DETAIL In our new reality of Covid-19, mask-making seems a necessity…this one harks back to the many pennyrugs I have made. -
penny rug ART MASK In our new reality of Covid-19, mask-making seems a necessity…this one harks back to the many pennyrugs I have made. -
penny rug ART MASK -- DETAIL In our new reality of Covid-19, mask-making seems a necessity…this one harks back to the many pennyrugs I have made. -
BLACK LIVES MATTER ART MASK With the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, a felt mask alluding to both the violence in the streets and our hope for the future seemed appropriate. -
BLACK LIVES MATTER ART MASK -- DETAIL With the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, a felt mask alluding to both the violence in the streets and our hope for the future seemed appropriate. -
BLACK LIVES MATTER ART MASK -- DETAIL With the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, a felt mask alluding to both the violence in the streets and our hope for the future seemed appropriate. -
GLOBAL WARMING An environmental disaster awaits us all if we don't act on global warming. -
ENDANGERED A hamsa based statement on the many animals now endangered around the world. -
IMMIGRATION The time has come to embrace those who come to America with a dream for a better life…America = immigrants. -
IDA MAENamed for my half-Cajun mother-in-law, Ida Mae Andrus Bullen from Lafayette, Louisiana. It contains her collection of vintage bakelite charms. -
SACRED EYEThe felt piece that spoke to me most spiritually while making…contains a photo of the original Oddfellows building in the Historic Pullman District. -
NAUGHTY SQUIRRELSOur neighborhood is full of squirrel and while I love them, not everyone does! -
NEW ORLEANSA visual walk through the many quarters of New Orleans in felt, with highlights of each neighborhood interpreted. -
I LUV SKULLSI do! One of several felt skull themed penny rugs created over the years. -
ANNIE LIRAMade especially for my friend Annie, to honor the occasion of her 70th Birthday. -
I LUV SKULLS, III do! One of several felt skull themed penny rugs created over the years. -
THE JOURNEYFelted penny rug showing the journey of adult and baby turtles through their lily pond; features hand-sawn copper turtles, roving, beads, natural stones, embroidery. -
TURTLE JOURNEYAn interactive felt piece with the ability to change the journey of the hand-sawn copper turtles by moving the watery squares around! -
NECKLACE IUsing natural stones, glass blown beads, silver fittings, ceramic pieces and African glass trade beads I have created necklaces, bracelets and earrings. -
NECKLACE IIUsing natural stones, glass blown beads, silver fittings, ceramic pieces and African glass trade beads I have created necklaces, bracelets and earrings. -
NECKLACE IIIUsing natural stones, glass blown beads, silver fittings, ceramic pieces and African glass trade beads I have created necklaces, bracelets and earrings. -
HAMSA PEACE PROJECTA year-long effort to document a fraction of 2017 terrorist acts across the globe, with a positive message countering the hate and violence. -
HAMSA PEACE PROJECT -- DETAILA year-long effort to document a fraction of 2017 terrorist acts across the globe, with a positive message countering the hate and violence. -
HAMSA PEACE PROJECT -- DETAILA year-long effort to document a fraction of 2017 terrorist acts across the globe, with a positive message countering the hate and violence. -
NOT FORGOTTEN -- INSTALLATIONNot Forgotten: Native American Women. The installation of the work. -
NOT FORGOTTEN -- SQUIRRELNot Forgotten: Native American Women. A reading squirrel to accompany the work. -
NOT FORGOTTEN -- FRONT VIEWNot Forgotten: Native American Women. Front view. -
NOT FORGOTTEN -- SIDE VIEWNot Forgotten: Native American Women. Side view. -
SILVER JEWELRYThis piece is a large silver pendant with numerous cabochon stones, peace doves and flower rosettes, in the shape of a skull. -
COPPER BEAR JEWELRYMy favorite copper piece as it has numerous bear fetishes with turquoise on stamped copper, linked by hand-made copper rings. -
NECKLACE IVUsing natural stones, glass blown beads, silver fittings, ceramic pieces and African glass trade beads I have created necklaces, bracelets and earrings. -
NO DAPL -- FRONTWater is Life – a felted banner used in numerous protests over many years -one-side showing buffalo with a sacred white buffalo along a river; the reverse shows an encampment alongside the river. -
NO DAPL -- BACKWater is Life – a felted banner used in numerous protests over many years -one-side showing buffalo with a sacred white buffalo along a river; the reverse shows an encampment alongside the river. -
WINTER SNOWFLAKESCrocheted snowflakes with winter activities to celebrate the season. -
WINTER SNOWFLAKESCrocheted snowflakes with winter activities to celebrate the season. -
WINTER SNOWFLAKESCrocheted snowflakes with winter activities to celebrate the season. -
BRIDGES CONNECT, WALLS DIVIDE, STAND TOGETHER -- FRONTFelted banner in protest of President Trump's project to build more walls between us and Mexico; reverse shows people of all colors standing together to RESIST HATE! -
BRIDGES CONNECT, WALLS DIVIDE, STAND TOGETHER -- BACKFelted banner in protest of President Trump's project to build more walls between us and Mexico; reverse shows people of all colors standing together to RESIST HATE! -
GARAGE DOORI painted my garage door to look like a giant penny rug. -
SUFFRAGETTE VOTE! SASHESA message to get out the vote once more; a privilege that too many Americans take for granted. VOTE NOVEMBER 3!
About my art
Penny Rugs
My hands have held needle and thread since I was about 7 years old. Since that time, I've used variations on those materials to create many different things. I've knit, crocheted, beaded, sewn, quilted, embroidered…about 10 years ago I became fascinated with the 18th/19th C. art of the simple penny rug. Made of cast-off pieces of cloth and sewn with circle upon circle, their charm laid in their combinations of colors and materials, with simple stitching. I love looking for new ways to interpret materials, colors, and subject matter in my interpretive pennyrugs.
COVID-19
After making a number of utilitarian masks for family and friends, I decided to make several as art objects. Not meant to be worn but acting as a symbol of a time of hardship around the world, but more beautiful than useful, I have so far created two. One is an homage to my love of pennyrugs and its message layes in it use of colors, beading and embroidery. The other mask reflects the mood of the country and its racial upheaval right now…a statement on Black Lives Matter; its message is in its symbolism.
Jewelry
Over the years I have often turned my beads and metalworking into jewelry pieces. Using natural stones, glass blown beads, silver fittings, ceramic pieces and African glass trade beads I have created necklaces, bracelets and earrings. After taking metalworking, I found I enjoyed working with silver and copper and some of those pieces ended up not as jewelry, but as embellishments on my pennyrugs!
Public Art
Two years ago I decided to pick up my knitting needles again, after 30 years. After a few small projects to remember how to knit and purl, I embarked on my first public art project, my Winter Tree. Since winter is a very depressing time for me I decided I would decorate the tree in front of my house in beautiful colors to look at all winter. I started with circles of browns and growing up through greens, then multiple colors to finally end in a rainbow of colors at the top,I covered the tree as high as I could reach with a ladder. I enjoy seeing it every day and it seems to be enjoyed by passersby as well. I added a rope of different flowers and some extra leaves towards the top for those dull winter days when my tree has lost its real leaves.
My second public art piece covers the telephone pole in the alley behind my house. It is called Caution Ahead and is a crocheted piece with added lettering, people, and other embellishments. I started this one because the sanitation workers kept hitting the original pole with their huge trucks until it needed to be replaced. Hopefully, this will be a humorous reminder to BE CAREFUL!Not Forgotten: Native American Women
Violence to women of color is a well-known problem in our society today. For Native American women it is a crisis. Four out of five Native women are affected by violence today. This project hopes to shine a light on this grievous women's issue, in the hope that all women of all colors will come together to support and protect each other.
Social Justice
My social justice creativity began with making felt protest banners for marches. The two shown in this gallery were carried in many marches. In 2016 I began the Hamsa Peace Project. Knowing the atrocities we heard about on the news were the tip of the ice burg, I began an investigation into terrorist acts across the world that would occupy me for a year. The resulting artwork encompassed acts of terrorism over 1 year, in 32 countries. Arranged by month, each felt hamsa is embroidered with an interpretation of an event and the reverse side is embroidered with a countering positive message. Other smaller artworks have addressed immigration, global warming, and endangered species.