On the Making of "Being & Becoming" (2023)

The tale of Being & Becoming (2023) is less straightforward than all my other art pieces. Usually, I have an idea from the beginning of how an art quilt piece is going to go, and the result is often close to what I had originally envisioned. However, that was not the case with Being & Becoming.

I had initially intended to make a modern art quilt based on a wall I saw on a television show we were watching. I bought the blue fabrics I wanted and designed and built the quilt top. However, it didn’t speak to me. I felt it was too plain and any quilting I planned on adding just didn’t sit well with me.

Background wall on a television show I saw that I recreated with fabric (2020)

At the design board with the original design for a modern art quilt top. (2020)

As I often do in those moments where I need clarity, I meditated on it. I began to see colorful concentric circles juxtaposed upon the straight lines of the blue fabrics. I tried to shake those images out of my mind because they seemed to contrast too much with my original direction. Yet the images remained, and so I let them play out. Like any good artist, rather than try to control the work, I instead followed the path the art was taking me on.

The art quilt called for bright beads and bling. I thought, Ah, this is a political piece about identity! It’s about allowing people to be themselves and how important it is to celebrate the brightness of their beings, even against the seemingly tolerant blue background. And for several months as I created the beaded mandalas, I thought that was the direction the art piece was taking me.

Beading “Spring” during 2021 for what later became part of “Being & Becoming” (2023)

Adding colorful threads and ribbons to the base stitched mandala of “Fall” during 2021 for what later became part of “Being & Becoming” (2023)

Then suddenly during its development, the vision shifted. Recurring images (they were more like feelings) of the Buddha began to appear whenever I touched the fabric. At first I thought maybe I was being called to make even more beaded mandalas. However, whenever I sat down to make them, I intuitively felt it was not the right direction to go. So, I sat on the art piece for several months and let the vision unfold in my mind.

The four mandalas patiently awaiting my awareness between 2020-2023 for what they were later to become.

One day, in a moment of inner peace and clarity, I recalled Plato’s Timaeus. I pulled the dialogue from the bookshelf and quickly read it through, reminding myself of its message. I found the Thich Nhat Hanh quote that feels to me like a companion to Timaeus, despite the cultural and temporal differences. And in that moment, I knew what this piece had been wanting to become the whole time: an art piece about each and every one of us, about individuals and humanity and about our connection to ourselves, each other, and the Universe.