Earth, Air, And Water Series
Global Alert, Arctic Melt
46.5” h x 37” w
Kona cotton, silk shantung; thickened dye and textile paint, painted through Thermofax screens; fusing
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This piece shows us the melting of our Arctic sea ice. Today’s activism reveals the relationship between racial, economic, and climate justice.
Will we act in time to save the air, water, earth, and life of our planet?
Marine Alert: Abalone Collapse
31” h x 35” w
silk broadcloth, silk organza, silk charmeuse, kona cotton; cotton vintage ‘doilies’. Ice dyeing, print through Thermofax screens with textile paint; fusing. Quilted by Angie Woolman
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Marine scientists are working to save the endangered white abalone. Their fragile eco-system is dependent on a healthy relationship and balance with its potential predators and its food supply. This has been disrupted by the rising temperature of the ocean and its consequences. An abundant kelp forest of food has been decimated by a proliferation of purple sea urchins.
Although the environment depicted is beautiful in silk, if you look carefully, the central shell is layered above a background on which purple sea urchins devour and overwhelm the abalone’s food source: kelp. We humans are responsible for the imbalance.
41 1/2” h x 40 1/2” w
silk broadcloth, hand-dyed wool and cotton, torn pieces of plastic; deconstructed screen printing, batik, dye painting, Fabrico markers, hand and machine stitching. Machine quilted by Angie Woolman
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Whether you see the variations in these panels as two aspects of an ocean, a sea, coral reefs, or tidal pools, recognize that “the choice is ours” — to allow pollution of our eco-systems, or to support global water restoration through cooperative efforts.
The Choice is Ours
Gimme Shelter
18” h x 14” w
silk shantung, batik, dye painting, textile paint through Thermofax screens
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This piece was originally my visual abstraction of a trail at the Marconi Conference Center overlooking Tomales Bay, with curved bay trees overhanging the walkway.
They mostly obscure the view of the water, but there are openings in which light is seen gleaming on blue. The area gives shelter to numerous wild animals with low vegetation.
I titled this piece because of its color reference to fire and the need for so many of our California residents to seek shelter from fire danger.
22” h x 36” w
cotton sateen, linen, silk; hand dyeing, thickened dye through screens, textile paint, fusing, machine stitching, hand stitching.
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Where once clear, sharp-edged buildings stood, they have now crumbled from the shaking of the earth. There is clear movement downward , floating irregular shards, fear about what will be found underneath. The boundaries of reality are blurred. Is it an earthquake or the rolling tremors of war?
Tremblor
This Annual Race to the West
18” h x 24” w
hand-dyed and commercial fabrics, monoprinting and fusing
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This landscape faces west across the valley from the Grand Teton National Park of Wyoming, redder, less craggy with less drama: beautiful on its own.
The changing climate has affected this spectacular area. Because of steady warming, precipitation that once fell as snow now increasingly comes as rain. With snowpack decreasing and temperatures and evaporation increasing, future conditions are expected to be drier, stressing vegetation and increasing the risk of wildfires.
What will the tourism industry and those cities dependent on tourism look like in the future with a warming world? It’s scary. The good news? They have begun to introduce a wide range of sustainability measures: the use of solar and other renewable energy; reduction of water usage; protection of the forests. Mountainous areas around the world are reducing their carbon footprint and asking their luxury users to do the same.
This Annual Race to the West
Downward, landforms plunge,
not parallel, yet side by side.
Some are hugged by low-growing manzanita;
others reach up expectantly in pine and fir cloaks.
Upward, California Oak watch,
laughing in the wild, rare north wind.
All are visited by snow and frost.
Are those shivers through the Bay trees?
Throughout, there is a clarity to the air,
that only cold and a low solstice sun can bring.
The light will end earliest today;
clouds and blue rush, pressured by this annual race to the West.
Ileana Soto
December 20, 1999
Renewal: Sun, Wind, Earth, Water! Exploring Alternative Energies
60” h x 72” w
commercial cottons, pieced, alternative energy websites printed in the plain color octagons
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Renewal was accepted into Crafting a Better Planet, an exhibit juried by Nancy Crow in 2008. It was sponsored by the International Quilt Museum, located in Lincoln, NE. The exhibit was one of the first in the museum’s new, green building. It houses one of the largest quilt collections in the world.