Thursday, July 2, 2009

Symbolic Peace



This project started as a turquoise piece of fabric that turned into a symbol of religion that was totally unexpected. It took on a life of its own as I started assembling it. Each part has a specific meaning to me. The color represents peace, the universal symbol of Christianity is the fish represented in thread. The double crossed lines in raw silk threads symbolizing the cross. I made the background (top and bottom) to be the Sea of Galilee while the dotted strip is the calming of the sea by Jesus. I chose to use the three long beads as the 3 members of the Godhead. The silver beads is Jesus as the light of the world. I then decided to place the beads around the border as the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus was in the wilderness. I decided to place the heavily beaded bottom as the Seed of Abraham as Numerous as sands on the the shore. The cream back ground silk is the Shroud of Jesus placed around him after his crucifixion. Netting found on the quilt is to symbolize Jesus telling the apostles to be "fishers of men," with the 12 beads hanging in a row as the 12 disciples of Christ. Finally, I made this quilt in 6 days and on the 7th day I rested (with mild celebration). The quilt is machine quilted and all embellishments have been completed by hand. As I said, I did not intend for this to take on the life it did, but it means a lot to me as a symbol of my faith.

1 comment:

  1. The quilt is beautiful - even more so in person I might add - and I'm so glad I checked your post to read the full explanation of the symbolism. I love the symbolism you used. This is a very beautiful peace piece.

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