Bombs and Missiles

My work employs found quilts and embroidery and "counterfeited" found linens. My quilts are mostly hand stitched, and the line between my stitching and the found stitchery is blurred. As for subject matter, my work has become more politically and historically engaged. I research found quilts and then repair, embellish, alter, and comment on the pattern's meaning.

I designed this pattern to mimic a found quilt of a fish or necktie variation. I pieced old linens to give the finished quilt a vintage feel. The embroidered bombs and missiles are all accurate to the many incendiary devices humans have been dropping on each other all over the world.

I create images that at first appear whimsical or vibrantly happy but on closer inspection are not quite so. I like how this subtext works against the innocuous medium of fabric and stitching. Found embroidery in this piece evokes chemical pollution and airborne poison from warfare, and the dire results of war are hidden in the landscape.