Evolving Art

One of the things I admire about my friend, Beth, is that she's never intimidated by a big project.  I work on such a small scale most of the time that 18" x 24" seems mammoth; forget anything bigger.  When Beth showed me the beginning of her latest quilting endeavor I was floored... so was the project, literally, taking up more than her kitchen floor.

Beth had become interested in pixel design quilts after seeing ones of the President.  She considered the design idea but then figured with more than a few out there, she ought to do someone different but still someone inspiring to her.  For Beth there is no one who symbolizes her philosophy of life more than Charles Darwin.

It was hard to gain perspective on the pixel patterned face even when I stood on tiptoe on her kitchen chair, but it was still impressive.  When she sent me the photo of the quilt hanging off her deck I couldn't believe how crystal clear Darwin's image came through.  Sometimes you have to stand far back to gain enough perspective to see the whole even if from a distance the whole looks relatively tiny.

Life is like that.  Good design is like that. They require perspective, a word which might be defined as the creative version of Einstein's fourth dimension of space + time.

I marvel at the idea and all the time and effort involved in sewing together all those small squares, having artistic faith that in the end they will all form what was once inside someone's head.  While I do the same concept, creating sculptural pieces formed out of flat Russian filigree, I can still see the shape as a whole without having to stand on furniture.

There is a faith required of creative endeavors that the whole will come together, a faith unlike that required by most religions for it is a faith in a technical process coupled with one's own imagination.  Fortunately, humanity has proven imagination to be infinite.