This Woven Woman is ‘Learning From the Child’ from my Oracle of Stillness series.
I am inspired to post this one, because I adore the Kindergardener from next door.
He drops by sometimes for little visits and it’s always a delight to have a chat with him.
It feels like it was only moments ago that he was a tiny babe in arms and now, he’s taking ski and snowboard lessons and painting the Northern Lights with alcohol ink and watercolors.
I love looking into his eyes and seeing the sparkle of discovery and the joy in mastering new things.
Every journey, no matter how long or short or why it’s happening, is fueled by Hope.
This Woven Woman from my mixed media series: Oracle of Stillness is “The Journey of Hope”
She is a celebration of courage, curiosity, resiliency and healing. May all your journeys be filled with grace and sweet surprises and may you enjoy the detours and not drift into the overwhelm or sorrows.
Ugh… the other night I had a horrible dream in which I got lost and couldn’t find my way home. I got more and more upset, and then, whew, a gentle guide showed up and reminded me that when a dream has gone wrong, for goodness sake, WAKE UP!
So, I did and I felt really comforted by going and gazing at this Woven Woman from my mixed media series: Oracle of Stillness. She is “The Guide Who is Just Where She is Needed”.
There are times when we are dreaming and also times when we are awake when we feel lost and distressed. Thank goodness for the Guides who show up to clear the path for us!
We have brought all the mixed media Woven Women tapestries of the “Oracle of Stillness” series home from #harcourthousegallery and our house feels like home again.
Not that it is easy to hang 50 tapestries in one small living room!
But it is lovely to be among all of them again.
My husband and I missed them when they were off in the gallery.
Today’s Woven Woman is “Sanctuary”.
I hope that your home is a sacred sanctuary that brings you healing, joy, respite, renewal and all good things.
Today is the final day of the exhibition of ‘Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos’ at Harcourt House Gallery in Edmonton, AB. If you are in YEG, do step over to the gallery, as they have done such an exquisite job of lighting the show that the Woven Women fairly dance on the walls.
I offer my most enormous gratitude to Darren Kooyman, Jacek Malec, Marija Nikolajev and the Board members of Harcourt House- it is such an honor to have been invited to exhibit at Harcourt House and I am eternally grateful for all the hard work that you have done to create and sustain such a wonderful centre for the arts in Edmonton!
The last Woven Woman that I wove for the series of the Oracle of Stillness is: “The Mysterious and the Magical Have a Way of Waiting Patiently to Reveal the Astonishing”.
She announced herself in a dream and I had to wake up to be sure to write down the correct words in the right order, as she was very clear that that was essential.
And, it was fascinating to feel that she was the final piece- the 50th one…. I knew that I would be weaving 50 Oracles of Stillness, and was intrigued by how that unfolded.
She was very clear about exactly what I needed to do to make her fully true and accurate to her raison d’etre.
There wasn’t enough room in the gallery for all 50 of the mixed media Woven Women Oracles of Stillness to be in the exhibition, but I will get all 50 of them uploaded here on: www.tottietalkscrafts.com
The questions: “What would happen if I did this? How can I make this/that work?” are, for me, the key to living a fascinating, intriguing life that is stuffed full of creativity.
This mixed media Woven Woman from my Oracle of Stillness series, is named: “Curiosity as a Healing Art”.
I wove her face and the narrow bands, made some lace, beaded her body, fused some glass and painted some images, and my husband welded her steel armature to embody these questions about living with curiosity and imagination and how they heal all manner of things in wholeness and harmony.
Today, I was talking to a dear friend about the incredibly difficult time that she is going through.
I told her about something that has been really helpful to me when I am in a crisis or challenge or other misery…. it’s a powerful, but simple way of getting through the suffering…
I quietly tell myself: One breath and then another, one step, then another and sometimes, count to 3 and repeat, then repeat again…..
This is the Woven Woman mixed media tapestry that I wove for my ‘Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos”, to illustrate and illuminate this healing practice:
“One breath and then another, one step, then another” is one of 50 Woven Women that I have created over many years for the Oracle of Stillness collection.
Not all 50 of the tapestries have made it into my solo show that is opening Oct 17 at Harcourt House Gallery in Edmonton (the collection is too big and the space can’t hold them all).
If you are in or near Edmonton on the 17th, please come to the opening- my beautiful husband and 2 of his close friends (they have been ‘The Jim Findlay Trio’ for 21 or so years) will be playing for the opening.
It’s going to be special!
I’ll be posting more photos of the pieces in the show as I can gather up the energy to do it (life with Lupus and Long Covid is a challenge and I have to manage my energy reserves-‘taint easy, but like they say: Tis what tis).
AND… I hope that, in these astonishingly unsettling times, the practice of
One breath and then another, one step, then another
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