Elizabeth Dorn Zwiener
"Intersections: The Twelve of Us"
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| (Photos by Patrick Fraser) |
Many creative women came before me. Women lovingly stitching patchwork quilts to keep their children warm on a cold night. Women teaching daughters how to embroider and cross stitch. Women guiding my own hands as I clumsily learned how to stitch with needle and thread and navigate a sewing machine when I was young. I stand on their backs. As with much of the work that women do, my art can only exist because of the work they have done.
The pieces I have stitched together in these intersecting seams were gifts from family, friends and flea markets, the handwork of eleven women: Three intricate silk quilts; a utilitarian patchwork quilt dated 1866; a turn of the century crazy quilt; a painstakingly stitched tablecloth; handmade lace; lovingly embroidered linens. Once vibrant and pristine, now mostly in tatters from use and age, these stitches from years and lives past are too precious to dismiss.
The work that these women have created hold stories, secrets, and beauty. New life is breathed into these artifacts as old becomes new. Together, our work spans 152 years.
I created this piece in honor of the women who came before me, and I offer it to the women who are still to come, who will create into future generations.