"The Moon Rises Over Thundercloud" ( 9.5”W x 14.5”T total) was the first art quilt that I did that was inspired by a dream of mine. In the dream, a large, mystical thunderbird danced before the entrance to a magical mountain. Its feathers were tipped in a bright shining metal and brushed against the ground as the bird swayed. The sparks created by the bird were lightning bolts and the air crackled with electricity. I think that parts of the dream hailed from a TV show I had then recently seen, parts from an Smithsonian ethnographic movie from the turn of this century, and parts of the thunderbird legends of the American Southwest. No matter the source, the dream was powerful, and still vivid in my mind today.
The original finishing date for the piece was 1982. It then resided in my studio until 1997, completed but not exactly the way that I felt the image needed to be. As my interest in beadwork grew, the piece seemed to scream to me from the walls, “Me, too!Bead me! Me, too!” I am pleased with the present image as the addition of beading seems to add more of the mystical quality of the dream as I remember it.
DETAIL PHOTO is in the "Comments" section below.
You can see more of my art quilts at my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com