At a time when I am fighting for my rights to equality, it is also time to fight for the well-being of my soul through making. I do not have to justify my craft as valid in the eyes of the art world. That war has already been fought and won by my sister craftivists.
My creativity is a way of living. It has been learned from wisdom passed from one woman to another in love from generation to generation. I have the power to create something from nothing and express my inner being.
The work I create comes from my life experiences of womanhood. I have borne and raised children, travelled down many life roads and collected a lifetime of experiences and meanings which inform the artworks I create. This is soul work which grows and changes as I become an explorer of worlds and peoples. I want to work as a maker to dispel the myths of female inferiority in all it’s forms and celebrate beauty, power and diversity.
I believe that the thunderous power of machines has thrashed the life out of the world and threatens handmade processes worldwide. It is time to resurrect the power of handmade by making art in response which is mindful and sustainable. The world has given the machine and the electronic gadget way too much power and this has lain waste to relationship,spirit and community.
Mass produced anything is the enemy of craft. Lessening the value of handmade things lessens the value of all things relatively. Contribution to consumerism isn’t the desired end goal of all my creative endeavours. My first loves are expression and communication.
Our identity as females is diverse and unique which can be manifested and expressed through the limitless continuum of handmade artworks. I create for myself and my public spaces.
Public space belongs to me. I am public.
It’s time to awaken the soul of the world with handmade beauty. As an artist I can use heart and hands to bring meaning back to the universe. I have the power to communicate the difficult, the unspoken and the inadequacy of the human condition and still make beautiful things.
In a crazy world, I believe I can see reality and still manage to dream.