Convergence – for the Coalesce 2024 exhibition

“Convergence” (Copyright 2024 by Susan Brubaker Knapp) 21.25 x 31.5”
White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, interfacing, cotton batting,
cotton thread, cotton backing fabric. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted.

This is the new piece I made for the Coalesce 2024 exhibition that opened Jan. 5 with a wonderful poetry reading and display of the accompanying visual artworks. I created it in response to local poet Pam Baggett’s poem, “This Hunger,” which is about her experience with a barred owl, and her longing to be close to the owl so that she can “know the world before I’m gone.” 

Part of the crowd at the opening

Exhibition logo by Max Dowdle

Pam with Susan

I immediately connected with Pam’s words, since we hear barred owls often at our house, and their calls run shivers down my spine and make me feel connected to the divine every time I hear them.

My piece incorporates a barred owl and a representation of Pam entwined together in tree branches, with the full moon behind them.

I used a yin-yang formation of the branches to suggest opposite but connected forces, and oneness. Light and dark, expanding and contracting, peace and violence, life and death. The moon is mentioned in Pam’s poem, and is one of my favorite motifs, too. The bit of blood on the owl’s beak is a reference to a line in the poem about the raptor hunting and killing a field mouse. I used the same red color on the woman’s lips.

I added the crescent moon on the woman’s forehead to represents the divine feminine energy of the universe.

This piece is $1400, and is for sale through the Orange County Arts Commission. A portion of the sales price benefits this wonderful organization that provides exhibitions, studio space and classes to our community. https://artsorange.org

Coalesce 2024 is a project organized by Max and Morrow Dowdle. Max is a visual artist and Morrow is a poet!

WANT TO GO?
The Coalesce exhibition is open Jan. 5-28, 2024
Eno Arts Mill
437 Dimmocks Mill Road, Suite 17
Hillsborough, NC
Open Tuesday-Saturday; 12-5pm