Stitch Care Mend Fold Muse Reach Stress Wear Break Torn utilizes sharp pieces quilted together to create a cross shaped construction. Quilt patterns allude to traditional crafts, “women’s work,” and the home; and quilts tend to symbolize comfort, however the zigzag of sharp points and irregular edges that make up the pieces of this quilt prevent it from any associations with comfort or care. Rather, to lay under and conceptualize touching this quilt would be painful, a metaphor for the painful realities of women worldwide who are subjected to inequality, marginalization, abuse, and domestic violence. The individual quilt pieces could actually fit together perfectly, but, much like every day life, the best laid plans become disrupted and don’t quite fit together. The title, “Stitch Care Mend Fold Muse Reach Stress Wear Break Torn” is like the extended "to-do list" of everyday life.

Post-consumer recycled tin cans; aluminum rivets.

Dimensions: 6.5' H x 6.5' W x 4.5" D

Available for purchase or exhibition.

The cross shape is like a crucifix, referring the sacrifice that women often make to take care of a home and children, rather than develop their own skills or professional status. The cross shape is also the layout of a box or square that has unfolded, collapsed, or flattened. The allusion to a deconstructed box or pedestal shape makes Stitch Care Mend Fold Muse Reach Stress Wear Break Torn the final artwork in my series, "A Pedestal for a Woman to Stand On" .

Close-up images reveal the 3-dimensional quilt construction (taken while I was doing a Condition Report checking this artwork before an exhibition.) The quilt pieces are lifted and go in different directions.

Each piece in this quilt is fabricated from recycled tin cans. It would have been easier to assemble it flat, but the strength of the metal allows each piece to break away from one plane.