A Better World
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| Listen to the Leaves 30" X 50" |
In the fall of 2018, I was invited to submit a piece of artwork to be considered for a very special art quilt exhibit called, A Better World. Susan Brubaker Knapp and Lyric Kinard, both highly regarded art quilters, developed the concept for this collection and curated this show. My art quilt, Listen to the Leaves, was accepted and included in this prestigious exhibit.
The premise for the exhibit was to create artwork which celebrates the life of an individual who has made a positive impact in our world. A Hero. This might be a family member, a local community advocate, or a widely know person who has contributed to making our world a better place.
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| Listen to the Leaves -detail |
It was difficult for me to select someone; there have been so many wonderful people in my life who have influenced me in positive ways. I pondered and contemplated my choice. It wasn't until January of 2019 when the revered poet Mary Oliver died and my internet feed blew up with tributes and celebrations for her work. So many people were grieving her death and sharing her poems online. I'm not very well-schooled in poetry and I was unfamiliar with her work but I immediately began reading her poems and became enchanted. Her body of work is tremendous and beautiful and staggering.
The exhibit debuted at the International Quilt Festival in Houston in October.
Here I stand with Susan Brubaker Knapp (left) and Lyric Kinard at the exhibit.
This art quilt was made in tribute to Mary Oliver.
Mary Oliver’s words spill over me and catch me unaware.
It is her insistence on observation, on patience,
and on empathy that we shall practice every single day.
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.”
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
- Mary Oliver
…..and so, it is my hope for you, to listen to the leaves,
“Pay Attention”, “Be Astonished”
and know that “You are Enough”.
Beautiful, Libby! You are amazing and we are ll so proud of you.
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