Focus: Depression- An element of HOPE must be included into the design and be apparent to the viewer.

Media- mainly textiles

Size: From 12"x 12" to 36" x 36"

Shape: Any size that fits the size requirement (example: quilt, doll, purse or garment)

Host: Kathleen Duncan
itsgr82cre8@cox.net

Facade XI reflects the interaction of hurt feelings and negative thoughts with hope, confidence and faith. Hope and healing permeate this piece, overcoming the darkness. The piece is translucent, a collage of scrim on tulle with a silk organza backing. It is hand stitched with embroidery thread. Some ancient symbols are used in the stitching, connecting modern struggles with the eternal condition of mankind.

A world of its own, depression presents fragments, only to isolate us from our core of being. A courageous venture into the realm of shadows reveals the image of our soul. Depression is dealt with on its own terms by learning the language it speaks to tell us where our true self waits embalmed for resurrection.

This work was inspired by the angel fabric and the black with the naïve ghost images, displayed in the detail photo. The quilt is in two layers, very much like the double reality a person with depression faces. The outer shows planets in the dark, inhabited by ghosts, separated by fragmented walls. The inner layer is revealed by the aid of zippers, requiring a deliberate action to greet the celestial bearers of truth.

I frequently get frustrated when the world closes in on me. Internally, I feel so overwhelmed and agitated that I wish I could take a vacation from being me. Thankfully, I can escape ME and find peace, hope and solace in God.

" Choosing Joy" represents my many attempts to move through life's obstacles laden with sadness and into a true inner harmony.

The face on the quilt was created from a charcoal drawing that I did, which I then scanned into the computer, manipulated in Photoshop, and printed onto fabric. The quilt also includes screen printing on fabric.

I was trying to show the harsh way in which we view life when we are feeling depressed. A small photo of antidepressant medication is my ray of hope.

The figure reaching toward - what? - half in the light and half in the darkness. Is it reaching for the darkness above or for the light farther above? Just as the image emerged from the fabric, the figure emerges from blinding light into swirling dark. Which of the two is really more comforting?

Kanti Jocelyn

I wanted this quilt to represent the inability of the electrical charges in the neurons to jump the synapses in the brain, resulting in the malfunction that we know as depression.

I also wanted to represent how I feel when my thoughts seem so disconnected and thus I feel unable to fully express myself mentally, emotionally and verbally. But as can be seen in the quilt, some charges do connect and while I function at a lower level than I did before the onset of the illness, I am relieved to say, that I am not totally incapacitated and have been able to accomplish some very important life goals through the wonder of modern medicine.

Michele Koppelman
Warren, Rhode Island

Anxiety .. depression .. off balance .. on edge .. agitation. The darkness is breaking up, the light is making inroads. Now the darkness looms large .. soon all will be light except for a wisp of shadow.

Quilt represents the moment when I was emerging from my depression. I was scribbling in black on a large piece of paper with charcoal. I was going to cover the whole paper in black, but I couldn't do it. Little white spots where left uncolored. Then the spots began to get dotted with other colors of pastels. The inability to blacken the whole paper paralleled my inability to lose all hope in the world and in myself.

Materials: Commercial and hand-dyed cottons, batiks. Machine and hand pieced. Machine quilted.

Depression is a swirling mass of emotions, all negative and dark, surrounding me, choking me. The bright colours entering the heart of the dark mass represents the one thing that keeps me from going over the edge – Hope.

Ann Louise Mullard-Pugh
Las Vegas, Nevada

Living with someone who is chronically depressed can suck a loved one intothe void. Hang onto the threads so one can pull oneself out.

Sharie Myers

The image on the left represents the confusion and spiral maze of negative and dull emotions from which there appears to be no escape, as though a a webbing exits between you and life. There is a break in the web through which the path to color, life, joy can be found.

Depression is such a difficult thing to live with. It is something we don't understand and seem to have little patience or compassion for family or friends suffering from it. Sometimes one can function while depressed and sometimes we must hide in the dark, alone. This artwork represents the darkness and negativity of depression, while hope is represented by the positive image.

Louise Perrin
Wolfville, Nova Scotia Canada

The brilliant hues of the morning sun intrude and chase away the darkness of the night. The reflection of sky and land in the water makes it difficult to discern up from down. I am the boat, afloat within the sea of darkness, hoping for safe harbour in the new day that will come although still surrounded by the "gray" days of Seasonal Affective Disorder I live with. Often it is difficult to see the beauty of the new day while making our way through the dark we all have experienced. I have come to trust that eventually the sun will come up, light will enter, and I will see the world around me in a better light.

For this challenge I set myself the tasks of not using a pattern, using only fabrics on hand and doing the complete piece by machine. I ended up using my photos of high tide at sunrise in the harbour 5 minutes walk from my house as a guide, a LOT of poly/cottons I had that were the colours I wanted, and machine appliquéing and free-motion quilting the piece. The backing and binding are gray to signify the "gray" days I often live with, days of little getting done. All of this is different from how I have done my work in the past.

As a retired psychiatrist and depression sufferer I am no stranger to the darkness of of blue moods, but as a quilter I know how much color helps me wind my way through the blues. Sometimes things match up well, and sometimes they don't exactly, but there is always a way out if you follow your
passion.

Redefining events with a slightly different outlook. The top of the hourglass has a free motion embroidered version of Munch's "The Scream" . The bottom has a thumbs up for my way of coping with depression.quilting. The back of the quilt has a large appliquéd snowflake and is sometimes my reason for
depression in the middle of winter.

The two swirling confusions of color are how I see my
depression itself. Sometimes it feels much lighter,
sometimes quite heavy and oppressive. Surrounding
them are the routines and supports that keep them
contained (the regular quilting patterns). The net repeated shows the traps I go through over and
over and over to eventually climb out of the
depression.

The shining shards are my hope, even if broken and
small, that underlies it all. Fragile though. And
delicately held in place.

TO LIFE: Created after a year of illnesses in my life. The core of this piece is the Tree of Life that branches out of the center of the Star of David... Birds ,butterflies and petals are in bloom with a passion for life and rejuvenation. Cotton fabrics, cotton batting, applique, rayon and metallic threads, machine qulited.

MAGICAL TREE OF LIFE: This is part of a series of Trees of Life I have been involved with. My main objective is to have these trees radiate life, color and optimism. Cotton fabric, cotton batting, applique, rayon and metallic threads, machine quilted.

"Seems to be over"
20-1/2"W x 16-1/2" H

Linda Weiss-Malik
Phoeniz, Arizona

Emerging from the darkness into the light heralds an intensely personal rebirth.

This piece is quilted,raw edge appliquéd, and fused. It is comprised of hand dyed cottons, commercial cottons, beads, unprocessed raw silk fibers, reembroidered lace, sequins, metallic thread, cotton thread and cotton batting. It is machine pieced and quilted.

Julie Willis

Hand-dyed cotton, cotton lame, poly chiffon, crayoned Tyvek, crayoned fusible web, rayon and cotton threads, perle cotton, embroidery floss, beads. fused, machine and hand stitched, heat-distressed, hand beaded.

The process of melting back the outer layer of this quilt to see the bright places beneath it was very like my own spiritual journey. Only after a process of embracing and then peeling away the dark layers of my self-ness was i able to seek healing from God.