Paula Straw

Symbiosis 2022 32” x 27.5” Art Quilt NFS paulastraw13@gmail.com

On a sunny autumn day, my husband and I were bicycling along a country road. We stopped to admire a well tended vineyard. The twisted branches were ready for harvest and the leaves and fruit were a glorious blaze of color.

Inspiration swirled around me.

I learned that a grapevine begins as a robust root stalk. With grafting, meticulous tending and pruning, the vines organize and focus on the energy needed to flower and produce grapes. The fall harvest is followed by a dormant winter. Come the spring, if the grapevine is left unattended it will grow into unruly branches and fruiting is poor. To be mutually beneficial, the grapevine and the human rely on each other symbiotically.

Metaphorically, this is my lesson: how to be in relationship with my archetypes.

For this quilt, The Child, The Student, The Artist, The Storyteller, The Saboteur and The Prostitute were the commanding voices and watchful eyes. Their attributes are depicted in the words of the root system. Ah, and do not overlook the magic of the Raven.