This Woven Woman mixed media weaving is “The Heart of the Rose” from my ‘Oracle of Stillness’ series of tapestries.
She is in honor of and a celebration of all those that we hold most dearly in our hearts and souls, to infinity and beyond.
I’m posting all the images from the Oracle of Stillness here on www.tottietalkscrafts.com
Filed under Dreams and dreamwork, Goddesses Goddess, lace making, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, mixed media weaving, Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos series of Woven Women mixed media weaving, tapestry, Teneriffe lace, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works
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.
I’m posting all the images from the Oracle of Stillness here on http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
Filed under lace making, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, mixed media weaving, Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos series of Woven Women mixed media weaving, personal stuff, Simple Little Things That Make Me Happy, tapestry, tatting, Teneriffe lace, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works
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
Yesterday was a peak experience for me.
I was invited by a group of 7 contemplative writers to join them at Harcourt House Gallery as they gathered to immerse themselves in ‘The Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos’ and then write about it.
I was feeling very sick and didn’t think I could make it, but I knew that I would regret it forever if I didn’t go.
And, oh my word! It was so powerful…. The energy in the gallery of kindness, respect, honesty, presence, integrity, healing and wholeness was like a tsunami of YES… this is the way the world should be!
I am in awe of the insights of this marvelous group of women sages and seers. To say that it was powerful is an understatement.
It was the perfect way to draw the exhibition to a close.
The show ends on Saturday November 22, so if you are in Edmonton, do step into the gallery- you can feel the magic of the writers circle still, I am sure.
By the way, I took one of my looms along to weave words as the other writers wrote. Magical.
Thank you to Marija Nikolajev and Theresa Belter for the photographs.
I’m posting all the images from the Oracle of Stillness here on www.tottietalkscrafts.com
Filed under Goddesses Goddess, lace making, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, mixed media weaving, Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos series of Woven Women mixed media weaving, personal stuff, tapestry, tatting, Teneriffe lace, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works
I love our 5 year old next door neighbour so much!
The doorbell just rang- He needed to tell us that he had shot his Nerf into the air and hit our roof and was sorry and could he have the nerf bullets back next spring when we clean the gutters?
And, he was freezing and could he please stay in the studio for awhile to warm up?
His Mum said ‘No… we can warm up at home’.
‘But I like it here’. (Aww)
We chatted a bit and then I gave our neighbor/friend back a plant that she had given me when it was tiny and it has now gotten too big for the shelf.
We laughed about trying to get rid of clutter, and the wee boy announced solemnly that Miss Noreen has a LOT OF CLUTTER.
Which I agreed to and then folded up with laughter as his Mum tried to shush his discussion of too much clutter and herd him out the door at the same time.
It was wonderful and I am still laughing. (But Mum, you SAID we have to get rid of our clutter!)
Which brings me to today’s mixed media Woven Woman from the Oracle of Stillness:
“The Songs of Motherhood: Love, Celebration, Laments, Loss, Learning, Essence” and how on earth did I forget to add “LAUGHTER” to her naming?
She hereby will be blessed with the addition of one of life’s greatest gifts: “LAUGHTER”.
And, of course, love… the best gift of all! ❤
Filed under lace making, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, mixed media weaving, Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos series of Woven Women mixed media weaving, personal stuff, Simple Little Things That Make Me Happy, tapestry, tatting, Teneriffe lace, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works
Sometimes, when our bodies are challenged, the best place to dance is in our dreams.
This mixed media Woven Woman tapestry, “The Dance” is part of the Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos series.
I twisted wire to make the armature for “The Dance” and freeform wove the beads to shape her into that moment of stillness that sparks the moment between the movements.
It is the Pause, Breathe, Begin Again that nurtures and heals.
I’m posting all the images from the Oracle of Stillness here to www.tottietalkscrafts.com
Filed under crochet, Dreams and dreamwork, Goddesses Goddess, lace making, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, mixed media weaving, Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos series of Woven Women mixed media weaving, personal stuff, Simple Little Things That Make Me Happy, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works
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.
The word, “ENOUGH” is a word of power….
It reminds us to be observant- it can signal a sense of contentment, of knowingness that this place, this time, this feeling is lovely and perfect in and of itself.
AND- It can also signal a sense of dismay, of knowing that this relationship, this place, this time, this feeling is totally wrong and must end.
Both ‘enough’s are turning point moments…. One tells us to bask in the perfection of the moment, and the other insists that action must be taken. Both are profoundly healing and life affirming.
We have to move into the ‘Still point’ in our hearts and minds to process each of the ‘enough’s and then
to remember that: This Too Shall Pass. Life moves in swirls, eddies and flow… this too shall pass….
Enough….
This Woven Woman mixed media weaving feels like one of the most important pieces in my “Oracle of Stillness-Weaving Coherence in the Chaos” series.
The ‘Oracle of Stillness’ exhibition is at the Harcourt House Gallery from Oct 17- Nov 22.
Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday of the year- Canadian Thanksgiving feels very much like a Harvest celebration, as we turn to face the oncoming winter (which has actually arrived for some of us already… shudder) and say heartfelt THANK YOU for all the amazing goodness and miracles that still, astonishingly, surround us!
So HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone here in Canada, and also I hope that there will be beauty and peace and harmony flowing out in unexpected and lovely ways all over this precious planet!
I was thinking about which of the Woven Women in my “Oracles of Stillness-Weaving Coherence in the Chaos” series of mixed media tapestries, wondering… which one says thank you most clearly, and I realized that ‘Webs of Connection’ pretty much says it all….
Each of the pieces in this series is a kind of blessing, a kind of healing and I hope that people will feel the loving intention that is woven into every stitch of them!
They are at Harcourt House gallery (opening Oct 17- everyone invited 🙂 )
Noreen Crone-Findlay, designer and author
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 