Table Runner Project
The genesis of my "Table Runner Project" came with seeing a Japanese screen painting in The Met in New York which is called “Tagasode." The screen only displayed beautifully patterned clothing hung over a rack. In Classical Japanese love poetry the phrase Tagasode (“Whose Sleeves?”) refers to an absent woman whose beautiful robes evoke memories of their owner, inviting the viewer to speculate on the possible owner of the clothing. I had been collecting exotic clothing for years and embarked on this project using pieces from my collection. Each quilt is different and represents a person who has either left her home by choice (such as green card holders and other immigrants) or has been displaced from their home by war, famine and other drastic circumstances. The quilts celebrate the beauty of that person and their culture, was well as the relationship I build with her through the process of making this covering for a table where we will sit together to tell our stories.