Woven jacquard using cotton, mohair, rayon, and polyester threads
70 x 54 x 1/4 inches
Providence mentors' home gardens
It started with me in the garden and with language. I was searching for a grounding space. Teachers and mentors welcomed me into their gardens to sketch and write. They shared their gardening process with me, stories of previous years’ blooms with loved ones.
This piece celebrates my practice of journaling in Chinese, annotating and revising characters I forgot in red. Layers of paper, drawings, and writing are collaged to record time spent in friends and mentors’ gardens—forming portals for play, study, and solace.
The woven structures explore how to translate qualities of letterpress through jacquard weaving, mimicking fibrous paper with luscious mohair. A figure emerges in and out of paper lines and writing, portals of vines, and is visited by a memory of past connection through a figure constructed of plants.
Woven jacquard using cotton, rayon, and polyester threads
70 x 54 x 1/4 inches
Woven jacquard using cotton, rayon, and polyester threads
70 x 54 x 1/4 inches
Woven jacquard using cotton, rayon, and polyester threads
13 x 9 inches
The framework of gridded Chinese writing paper is evocative of trellises, fences, and tiles with grassy overgrowth. Plants become a form of mark making just like an engraved line or calligraphy stroke. Warmth emanates from the ground with natural dyeing using marigolds, turmeric, and onion skins.
Woven jacquard using cotton, rayon, and polyester threads
13 x 9 inches
The weave initially reflects my translation of sketches into copperplate engraving, then expands to mimic watery calligraphy or dishu "earth writing"—a practice of ephemeral calligraphy on the ground using clear water as ink, practiced in China's public spaces.
Woven jacquard using cotton, rayon, and polyester threads
13 x 9 inches
Woven jacquard using cotton, rayon, and polyester threads
13 x 9 inches
Woven jacquard using cotton, rayon, and polyester threads
13 x 9 inches
These iterations reveal my sentiments while walking around, drawing and writing in a changing garden. The framework of gridded Chinese writing paper is evocative of trellises, fences, and tiles with grassy overgrowth. I considered the compositions as key frames for animation. The frames show a progression of the figure moving forward despite echoes of a lingering past, discovering new blooms, and kneeling in acceptance of grief.