Stitched Intent is currently on display in the Mitchell Gallery at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale campus. The show will run until November 6, just in time for voting. Masks are required and social distancing will be enforced. Museum hours: Tuesday-Friday: 10am-4pm, Saturday: 1pm-4pm. Carbondale is about 6 hours south of Chicago, 1.5 hours east of St. Louis and only 4 hours north of Memphis. Looking for a road trip? Stop by and leave me a note.

I love a dark passionate red, don’t you?

SIC-C is my alma mater. I studied design there and started my life with my husband in the surrounding countryside. We farmed tomatoes and peppers and squash on our 10 acre plot. We designed and built a passive solar home, studied organic farming, and tried to live off the land. We were very poor. But the optimism we had for a better future was never stronger. In those days the topics of solar energy, organic food, conservation and environmental protection were getting some traction. The EPA passed laws protecting our land and air and water. The White House had solar panels on its roof. Education was still affordable. And people started thinking that spraying pesticides and herbicides was not really the best idea for our health.

The space in this gallery is wonderful. Each piece has its own environment.

Things have changed. My show reflects some of the angst I feel about how things are going.

I Watch Too Much TV News will play on a loop while the show is up. 14.5 feet of media madness in one little box. Take a seat and rest awhile. — *I Watch Too Much TV News* will play on a loop while the show is up. 14.5 feet of media madness in one little box. Take a seat and rest awhile.

Galleries are better when there are people in them. I’m hoping that at least some take the time to see the show. The museum staff has been very helpful by posting a comprehensive online version on their Facebook page. But nothing beats being up close and personal to works created with fabric and stitch. These works have intentional meanings. These works left pin marks on my fingers. These works call for action.

Do you feel optimistic? click here to tell me how.

I packed up 26 pieces for a solo show at my alma mater, Southern Illinois University, this past week.

And then dropped them off.

Southern Illinois University Gallery in Carbondale, Illinois will exhibit Stitched Intent beginning in September. — Southern Illinois University Gallery in Carbondale, Illinois will exhibit *Stitched Intent* beginning in September.

The gallery was empty, the University was just opening for the Fall semester. I saw no students, no bustle, no gathering tide of excitement. Just some locked buildings with the promise of education within.

The show will go on. Some students will trickle in, social distancing will be a prime directive. Social media will be used to promote the show. And yet it seems a void—a fancy storage place for the work.

We are living history right now. People will ask us ten years from now what it was like to live during this void. Empty movie theaters, vacant museums, void concert venues, disabled restaurants, echoing university lecture halls, day care centers without children’s voices and on and on and on. Our president has declared victory. But I see risk and a profound challenge ahead.

It is artists we look to when searching for answers to questions that can’t be voiced. It is the artist who must translate the unspoken. Musicians, painters, dancers, quilters, embroiderers, actors and writers are all stepping up to fill the void. There is a force that propels them to translate, transfer and transport our minds.

I chop up old work to create new work. I think it is a way to renew my sense of beginnings. I can let go of expectations. Throw away the idea of permanency. Sometimes the process begets failure, other times it opens new pathways in my thinking. I think that could be the silver lining in this challenging time. We will all have to see with new eyes. We’ll need new leaders and new ways of communicating with each other.