Still Untitled Novena companion

I've read recently that the human mind forms memories by collecting bits and pieces of information, that it assembles like a jigsaw puzzle to make a complete memory. The mind doesn't have all the pieces of the puzzle, however, so it invents reasonable things to fill in the empty spaces and make a complete picture, much like the way an eye functions to fill in the blind spot. I wanted to symbolize this in my 'Tree of Life' (hmm...I may have just named the piece?), thinking about my family and friends and the people in my life. It occurs to me that we 'know' people in the same way, in bits and pieces, and we imagine the rest to create the whole of the person as we believe them to be.

In 'Tree of Life', I've collected pieces around the base of tree. They are hidden under the snow, waiting to be uncovered and discovered, to be assembled to create an impression of the people we 'know' in life, assembled into an impression of how they 'know' us.

Novena: A Self-portrait

In January of this year, I went outside after a heavy snow to take pictures, my adult version of "playing in the snow". Remembering what it was like to play in the snow as a child, I amused myself by falling backward off our deck into the snow to make a snow angel, something I hadn't done since I was a kid. Doing it made me giggle like a little girl, and I loved the angel...I took her picture and showed it to everyone, calling it a self-portrait.

At the same time, I was musing over an aspect of my personality that I'm not particularly proud of, and had the thought that I'd invite God into my meditations about this troublesome trait, via a novena. In the Catholic religion, in which I was raised but haven't actively practiced since I was a child, a novena is a series of nine straight days of prayers for a special purpose. I thought that during these same nine days, I would work on a fiber art rendering of my snow angel. She was stitched on white silk, using silk and cashmere threads and embellished with beads. I like that the angel itself is a 'negative space', and the beaded snowflakes surrounding her could also be stars in the heavens, which is also a suitable setting for my angel.

During those nine days working on Novena: A Self-portrait, I conceived of a companion piece, that I began shortly after completing Novena but had set aside until just recently. Using a similar background and materials, I'm stitching a tree in winter. I've always been fascinated with the beauty of the architecture of trees, and how apparent the branching structure is in winter. I love when snow accumulates on the tops of branches after a fresh snow. In conception as a companion piece to Novena, where Novena is a representation of myself, the tree is a representation of family and friends, and of all the people one comes into contact with during a lifetime, and how we are all interconnected.