Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women's Suffrage

Therese May (from Japan Revisited) Every time I do a piece of art I learn something new about myself. The piece may be for a show or it may be a commission that I am doing with a specific person in mind, but the piece always reflects back to me something about me. If I am angry, then it would seem that the piece would logically reflect back in anger, but that isn’t really the way it works. I have found that creating art is more a process of discovery…something is revealed which I did not know before I started. Sometimes I am delighted by whatever evolves with my materials and forms; other times it’s about some psychological truth or just some whimsy that needs expressing. Sometimes I am recycling old ideas in a new order. I usually don’t enjoy repeating myself, and yet, the wonderful repetition of doing a small task over and over again is a sort of mesmerizing activity that allows my mind to wander to other things, while remaining grounded in the tactile quality of my fabric, paint, buttons and beads. Life is a journey of healing, and I have chosen this art form as a way of expressing and communicating what I know which can’t always be put into words.