Weavers of Dreams

"Weavers of Dreams" was created for the "The White Mulberry Project: A Silk Road Runs Through It" an interdisciplinary project presented in 2023 at Serena Kovalosky’s Eco-Garden in upstate New York. Kovalosky received a Rural & Traditional Arts Fellowship for the project.

The work incorporates foraged materials from the white mulberry trees that made a surprising appearance in the artist's backyard during a rewilding effort in 2022. This sculpture explores the white mulberry tree's link to the silk industry, as its leaves are the sole food source of the Bombyx mori silk moth. The economic history of Whitehall, NY where the artist grew up and has returned to create an Eco-Garden, is linked to the history of the silk industry: the town's Champlain Silk Mills operated from the late 1800s to mid-1900s. Kovalosky's grandparents immigrated to Whitehall for a job at the mill and a chance at The American Dream. White mulberry trees were brought to the Northeast to establish a sericulture business of raising silkworms to support the silk mills in the region.

This sculpture honors the silk moth. In the wild, silkworms would weave their cocoons on the branches of the mulberry trees. But after 4,000 years of selective breeding for the silk industry, the Bombyx mori silk moth is no longer able to live in the wild - and can no longer see or fly. Silkworms weave their cocoons in little square chambers of cardboard or bamboo, most often in factories.

Read about the creative process:

Visit the Story-Box for The White Mulberry Project: A Silk Road Runs Through It: https://artfulvagabond.com/category/mulberry-story-box/