It sounds like an oxymoron, but after I thought about my last work, I realized that even though it was inspired by a deeply personal need to prepare for the arrival of my son, it was in its foundation and execution a community arts project. Here is how it began:
In the Czech folk tales, right after a child is born, three old wise women called Sudicky appear. They tell bits and hints of the fate the child is to meet. I have always been fascinated by this concept. I looked at the dictionary for the possible origin of the folk tale Fate-tellers:
Moira is the name of a single goddess of fate in Greek mythology. Together the three goddesses were known as the Moirai. The Fates are:Clotho who is depicted with a spindle,
Lachesis depicted with a scroll or globe, and Atropos depicted with a pair of scales or shears.
I felt a need for Sudicky to come to me and my child and to talk about fate, destiny, life and death. I wasn't sure if any would show up spontaneously, and thus I decided to create a group of Sudicky by inviting my female friends, women that mattered in my life and family members to gather and "tell" wishes for my, then unborn, child. The Czech folk tales Sudicky are always depicted with a spindle, and
thus the telling was done with fabric, threads and needless, embroidery and sewing. Normally, when I facilitate community arts projects utilizing theatre arts, I am the artist and I am the "expert". However, I didn't know anything about sewing, embroidery, or quilt-making. I turned to the group for expertise. The wonderful magic of talent happened. Each and every woman claimed she didn't know how to sew or paint. Yet, sharing bits of information about how things are done, the common knowledge emerged and we were off to a great process of quilt-making. The afternoon was magical - we created an intensive atmosphere of sharing a common understanding - the female secret of carrying a child and looking after a child. Many members of this female community weren't present during the quilt-making in Toronto. I sent the squares to many distant places - Scotland, New York City, Montreal, and Quebec. We created a wonderful Good fortune quilt together. Please have a look at it:
If you would like to see pictures from the quilt making as well as each individual square that was created, please go to the picasa link below:
link to the pictures
https://picasaweb.google.com/Pavla.Uppal/GoodFortuneQuiltProject02?authkey=Gv1sRgCIqZ6JLn_rfZTg&feat=directlink
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