Postcards from the Dance Floor

Collecting rusty objects and plant matter (nails, beeswax, leaves, loose flower petals, grasses) I have marked repurposed textiles to reflect this place of peace and memory. The look of these pieces depends on the continual changing and eventually the breakdown of materials as they return to the earth. Some of the metal bits are sewn into the fabric to allow marks to slowly form as the textiles hang in the woods here at the Farley Center. Other items were bundled into fabric along with iron bits and left for days to effect natural changes. Some have been captured with beeswax gathered from the Center’s bee hives. We tend to think in terms of deterioration and diminishment when we see rusty and decomposing objects. But I love the changes that occur in the interaction of found items from the landscape and sustainable materials like textiles and beeswax. Discarded cloth, rusty scraps, decomposing plant matter are all beautiful and dance us a story of the rhythms of nature and the process of change to create beauty. Even as the materials are breaking down and deteriorating they are recreating.

The magic that is the Farley center with its open doors, co-op farms and natural burial ground draws me in to participate in being one with nature and using my love of textiles to honor this wonderful space. cynthiareynoldstextileartist.com