Broken but Beautiful
In the blog post of June 30th, I wrote about an event from my childhood. Now, 60 years later, I am going to use this story. If I could have glued the broken bowl back then with gold paint, I certainly would have. Whether my parents and grandparents would have
From inside the trash can
As quilters, we often cut out only our favorite parts of a fabric and throw the rest into the wastebasket. I used to save those leftovers as well, but they kept accumulating endlessly. In the past, piecing together such small scraps was considered the very essence of patchwork. Today, however,
Always Constructing!
Living in Niagara Falls, Ontario we have a saying…..there are three seasons….Summer, Winter and Construction! This is the norm. There are always old buildings being deconstructed to make way for a new construction. That is the tourist industry. Just like outdated buildings , I , as an artist have outdated
Artificial
I have a quilting colleague here in Florida who makes beautiful art from throwaway materials like plastic bags, fancy paper napkins, mesh from vegetables, etc. Her name is Ellen Schwark and she has inspired me to try using unconventional materials in my own art. For our Deconstruction theme, I decided
A Journey from Plant to Paper and Back Again
Not Quite Full Circle… The papyrus plant has such a fascinating history — it was once broken down and transformed into paper, a material that has carried human stories, poetry, and history for thousands of years. One only needs to visit a museum with an Egyptian collection to see yellowing
Deconstruction – many ways
My first thoughts on this topic turn to what is happening to our precious United States of America every minute of every day. But I digress. As deconstruction relates to quilting, I think of artist Paula Kovarik https://www.paulakovarik.com/ , who takes quilts that she previously made, cuts them into small
Deconstructing Everywhere
When this prompt was first revealed, I started seeing the term “deconstruction” being used in connection with fabric, not in the literal sense of tearing it apart or separating articles of clothing, but through various chemical applications. It was a bit of a mystery to me, and having no quilt
A Very Literal Deconstruction
The word ‘deconstruction’ immediately brings to mind the French philosopher Jacques Derrida and his critique of Western metaphysics. Influenced by his ideas, deconstructivist art challenges notions of unity, centrality, and binary hierarchies. It often reexamines marginalized or unconventional perspectives, favoring flexibility over rigid modes of thought. Over time, this approach
Opportunity
Overcoming old ways often means not only deconstruction, but to destroy what has been. This can be very disturbing, unsettling for most, as humans like consistency and routines. Even pets don’t like change, – just move a chair in your living room, and you’ll be punished by panicking eyes for
Plant Power
Plants are fascinating. they are the ultimate survivalists. They’ve endured every catastrophe this planet has thrown at them: mass extinctions, super volcanoes, splitting and drifting continents, atmospheric chaos. On a beautiful spring day, April 26, 1986, I spent time in my garden with my two toddler daughters. Then information about elevated
Deconstruct 5-7
Musing by Martha Ressler I am undecided, but I’m thinking about returning to a theme I’ve visited before: an old rusting truck frame at the end of my little dead end road. The gentleman who worked on cars died, and his widow has just left these, which had been used