The world is filled with little houses this time of year. They are everywhere.
Christmas decorations and cards feature scenes of little houses in a village. You can purchase houses as decorations made of balsa, or metal, or plaster, some arriving already finished, some as projects to paint and embellish.
I get this. There is hardly any image as deeply a part of our emotional lives as our image of home. Good or bad. Longed for or escaped from. The structure itself has a powerful emotional pull.
Houses, especially child-like images of houses, have been a part of my artmaking since I began working in textiles.
I love the basic form: a rectangle with a triangle on top to connote a roof.
So It Will Not Break In Two - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses in a row
Sing the Songs That We Learned There - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses in a fairytale forest
Float Away in Dreams - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses that are deeply attached to their past
And All That’s Gone Before - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses that fly away
Sometimes They Fly Away - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses that partially reveal what’s inside
Sometimes you Can’t See In - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses that are solid, with the stories inside hidden
Every One Hass a Different Story - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
As an artmaker, I return to this image because it speaks to me of ideas that are important to me – home, memories and journey.
And I know that in this season, images of houses are presented under a veneer of sentiment that gives the images a ramped-up power to stir emotions of all kinds. Who would expect to be filled with nostalgia and wistful longing by looking at an array of little wooden shapes arranged as a village?
As your senses — and mine — are filled with images of homes this season, I send to you my hopes:
That the home where you are is the one where you want to be.
That the home that you came from is a memory that warms and strengthens you.
That, if your present and memories are filled with difficult emotions, you may find ways to bring peace and meaning into each day.
From my home to you… my best wishes.
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
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