Renewal requires organization amid chaos. After the destruction of what was and the stillness of incubation, comes the beginning of something new. That something new requires a Big Dream.
Big Dreams give us a blue print for what we may become. The path there doesn’t always lead us to the exact dream, but it’s shaped and fueled by the dream.
Without a Big Dream, we remain only seeds. Filled with potential. Maybe even sparked with life. But directionless and unfocused we won’t grow into much.
So Dream a Big Dream, then grow like crazy.
- Materials: Hand-dyed cotton, cotton-polyester thread.
- Series: Renewal
- Size: 29 inches x 32 inches (74 cm x 81 cm)
- Completed: 2023
- Current location: Private Collection
My Thoughts on the Work
As I work on this series, I’ve been thinking about what Renewal means to me. There are so many parts to renewing. There’s the chaos that comes with tearing down the old. There’s stillness and grief as the old truly falls away. There’s the bubbly first motion of energy returning to one’s core. There’s the momentum that builds as Renewal really takes root.
And, there’s the dreams and ideas that spark your fire and carry you through the many challenges. It really takes a Big Dream to give shape to the new form you’re building when you embark on a Renewal. That’s what I wanted to focus on for this work…and that’s part of what I needed to think about for this series.
I felt as if my series was languishing. The Transformation series I did a year ago seemed to come together so much easier. But, I was just transforming – my art practice, my work habits, my skillset. This year, I’m working with Renewal. That feels like a much bigger process. And, I didn’t begin with a Big Dream, so even though the energy was there to begin, I had no clarity on how to use it.
Big Dream gave me the direction I needed to focus more clearly. We’ll see how the rest of the series shapes up. Will it live up to it’s potential?
