I love rocks. All kinds of rocks. Boulders, skipping rocks, round, smooth rocks you can roll in your hand. I like jagged rocks with a bit of sparkle to them. Quartz crystal. Mica.
Anyway, we were driving in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, when I made my husband stop the car so I could take a picture of some rocks. Not just any rocks. These were layers of rock and soil where the road had been cut into the mountain. It was so cool. I wanted a photo so I could take my time looking at it.
As soon as I was back in the studio, my wall began filling up with horizontal strips of fabric in grays, browns, and black. As I auditioned them I knew I didn’t want to make an exact representation of what I had seen. I work in abstracts, and most recently I had been working in black and white. The timing was great, as I had been sewing very narrow lines and shapes in black and white that curved organically. Those lines and shapes became the bones of my next quilt, “Serenity 1: Oasis.”
While I was designing the quilt, a SAQA call for entry caught my eye and my imagination. The title of the show was, “Oasis,” and they wanted artwork that inspired a sense of peace and tranquility. It could be a retreat or resting place for the artist. It could be whatever felt like an oasis. So I wrote the deadline on my calendar and made sure my quilt met the size requirements and other specifications.
My quilt was juried in (yay!!!) and traveled to quilt shows and exhibitions all over the country! I felt like I had sent a piece of my heart out into world.
Update 2020: Serenity 1: Oasis returned safely and in 2020 sold to a collector in Southern California. Here it is hanging in this lovely Manhattan Beach home.
Sharon Casey 