This is a homage to the quintessentialSupermom who juggles car pools, cooking, a job, kids, laundry and everything else a good chatelaine must deal with. Her embellishments reflect those various functions and perhaps her stressed expression reflect the difficulty
of it all.

Machine pieced and machine quilted
Commercial fabrics and Photo Images Computer Transferred to fabric

Tristan Robin Blakeman
New Haven, CT USA

Silent film legend Louise Brooks, known as the girl with the patent leather hair, has a cult following that grows over time. Films such as “Pandora’s Box” and Diary of a Lost Girl” hold up remarkably well; new generations of movie fans swoon over the clean, ultra-modern line of her body, and her seamless acting. While some silent film acting seems “corny” by contemporary standards, Louise Brooks transcends the decades.

She makes an inspiring icon, because her example is living proof that if you give your very best, time will be on your side—even when at the time everyone seems to be telling you no. For it is often forgotten that in the 1920s, Louise’s greatest roles received little attention. In fact, she abandoned acting altogether and had long considered herself a “failure” when new generations of film buffs began to proclaim her a major film goddess. She then lived out her life as an author and film historian. She makes a great role model for people with dreams that might seem to exceed their grasp.

I felt that Louse’s art deco-like appearance was particularly well suited to a quilt. She blends in perfectly with the black, white, gray and violet tones of the work. I chose to emphasize a sleek simplicity in the piecing, as I felt this was in keeping with the new modernity of the Jazz Age, and also spoke to the elegant simplicity of Louise Brooks herself. As her fans like to say, you never “catch” her acting, and she makes it all seem easy, but the genius is there. Genius or not, I hope this is a work that would have pleased her.

When I was a child, I was ostracized and bullied because I lived in an Irish neighborhood but was not Irish (though I looked the part), and because I was very intelligent, and therefore often the teacher’s pet. I had few friends and no siblings, and I was isolated at a time where everyone else was making those friendships and alliances that last through high school and beyond.

Mr Spock was my hero. He was different, and smart and obviously didn’t fit in with those around him, yet he was respected and befriended and even loved for who he was. He’d had the same ‘outsider’ childhood that I was living, and he’d risen above it to become a brilliant and caring man. He taught me that believing in yourself was hard work, but worth every minute of the effort, and that true friends were deserving of fierce loyalty and allegiance.

Now, years later, I still remember the comfort I gained from watching him move through a world that wasn’t quite his and enjoying it (even though he didn’t let it show). His simple elegance and calm demeanor gave me hope and purpose and direction when I felt lost – and I’ll be grateful forever.

Commercial, decorator and hand dyed fabrics. Appliqué, antique handkerchiefs thread, Angelina fibers, computer generated manipulated photo transfers, buttons, thread, ribbon, coin and shell embellishments. Free motion quilted.

This was definitely a challenge for me. At first I thought it would be relatively simple to choose a saint, bodisvats or icon. However, the more I thought about it, the more I begin to see that there were many different icons that have greatly influenced my life.

Finally I decided to define Icon as a famous person or thing, which represents a set of beliefs or way of life. With that in mind I began with the 1940’s, my birth era and thought about who or what was important to me at that time. It was a natural progression through the following decades. When I finished the list, I just could not decide who was the most important. Each icon was important to that time of my life. And so “A Generation of Icons” is my submission to the challenge.

This icon is called the Virgin of the Sign, because instead of holding the baby Jesus, the Virgin Mary has Christ in a circle on her heart. I have a favorite icon from Bulgaria, and I decided to make another like it, but with a slightly different motif. Both are the same size, 4-1/2" x 7". I also wanted to capture the light which is characteristic of icons -- the light should come from an inner source, not from anywhere outside the icon. I consider this a work in progress.

The Venus of Willendorf is the first goddess image
that I connected with. Made of limestone during the Paleolithic, 25,000 BCE. Thought to be a fertility figure and thus named "Venus". Hundreds of these have been found in Europe, they fit in the palm of your hand. I would love to hold one someday. And now She is so popular. An Icon! On T-shirts and fridge magnets everywhere.

So here she is in her shrine.

I chose Ganesha as an icon because he symbolizes the virtues of a human life: he is worshipped as a god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth. The latter does not mean wealth of money but rather wealth of virtues. He stands for overcoming obstacles and all kinds of difficulties everyone may face on the path of life in order to grow and fulfill destiny. The piece has been executed as a silk carving©, hand painted and hand stitched.