Remembering: The Springboard For Design

The February Take It Further challenge was announced a few hours ago and for some reason, the theme, remembering, is not a difficult one for me to work with. Perhaps this theme is easy because I do family genealogy. Perhaps remembering is easy because I was raised in a family where we would solidify and celebrate who-we-are by examining both our past and our future. Then again, perhaps this theme is easy for me simply because I enjoy memories and recollections.

For me, looking backwards from a distance softens life’s edges and blurs life’s timelines. When I reflect on my life, I know that I am relying both on the reality of life and my perception of life. We are, indeed, a product of our experiences and so my TIF challenge will convey my reflections and recollections in a generalized abstract manner, not with specific life events. To take a time-trip back to specific places or people I have known, I have photographs and scrapbook albums to remember with.

Like many people, my recollections are filled with peaks and valleys, achievements and failures. Where these events converge, there I am. My recollections have many wonderous moments of excitement and opportunity. My recollections also include times of living on-the-treadmill as part of that rat-race I no longer run. Ho hums and ye haws are both in my life, just as laughter and tears have been.

But who-I-am and what I remember are mostly filled with memories of my childhood, my young adult days, my parenting to three great boys, and the strong passions in both vocation and avocation. These major eras in my life have filled my memory-lane with happiness and a richness that paints-out like a super rainbow of vivid colors. For me, my recollections are a treasure trove, like that pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. Truly, I have been blessed……

To convey my experiences of reflection and of remembering, I decided to design something that would illustrate how my life is divided into different segments that occur with time as I have aged.  I also wanted to show how those segments converge. After all, those are the experiences that help define who-we-are.

To illustrate those segments of life, my mind’s eye saw the images of tiny gems and the shining stars in the infinite world beyond our universe.  

So, okay. Here we go: Gemstones and stars. And somewhere in-between  is my little spot in my little world. 

I decided on a geometric block and thought how a rough gemstone would be cut into facets to show the depth and beauty of the gem. So, I chose to create a block that is divided into gemlike facets and also shows star blades. Thinking further with the gemstone and star images, I noted that both gem facets and stars are interrelated within their worlds. Facets converge or intersect and stars attain their position within their solar system by forces of physics and chemistry. I appreciate how these images are life-forms with interrelational properties.  Distant stars appear to be beyond our own world yet there they are, visually attainable as they twinkle in the light years of our immeasurable past.

So there it is, my springboard for design. My thought process. My analysis. And with the help of my morning java, this is how my very left-brain can think quasi right-brained.  Art is extremely difficult for a geek like me. But by examining my thoughts on remembering, then analyzing them to think abstractly through relationships, I can create. It’s a geekist’s point of view. By allowing my mind’s eye to conjure up a few images, I found the springboard for a design.

My block design, Life Facets, was created by using EQ so after I had my block design, I rotated the block to create a 4-block piece, then selected a fabric palette. Filled in color-wheel fashion, I hope this design, Life Facets, will convey my interpretation on our February TIF theme, remembering. And if nothing else, I’ve had fun with my e-fabrics and just written the beginning of my dissertation…..