Afflatus

In 2015, I was invited to participate in the 2015 China International Patchwork Invitational Tournament and Patchwork Arts Show in Beijing. Despite language differences, the group of eight invited artists discovered we had much in common, including the moment when inspiration strikes us – Bing! – in the creation of our artwork, and thus we became the “Bing-Bing Sisters.”

The sisters agreed to make a special installation of art quilts to celebrate this international sisterhood, with the colors of the jewelry made by Jin Yuan Shan as a thematic influence.

Afflatus (divine inspiration) reflects the blank canvas with which quilt artists begin; here the empty squares of the transparent pojagi overlay, but beneath that, the artists’ hands begin the act of creating – represented by the petals of Jin Yuan Shan’s jewelry and blocks from the other sisters.

This installation was exhibited with all eight quilts when we reconvened in Beijing in 2018.

Inkjet-printed photo transfer, cheesecloth sculpted with PVA adhesive, machine-stitched with monofilament thread to hand-painted canvas, organza layer machine-pieced.

Spec: 59 "x28" cheesecloth, cotton, silk