The intrigue for me of the stitched rag rugs is the ability to use the rags like paint in gradations. The ideas for these rugs come from a wide variety of sources, including one of my daughter Phoebe's drawing at age 4 to Sol Lewitt's cube drawing. Some were derived from variations on quilt patterns as well as doodles from notebooks. The patterns seem to repeat themselves and be part of the ongoing visual language that thread through all the mediums I use. Below are some of the rugs and the drawings that informed them.

In 2010 I was given the opportunity by Carol Sauvion of Craft in America to show my collection of stitched and pile rugs made from recycled materials. In addition I showed scarves that were digitally printed with images from the rugs, drawings from dreams and collage work.

In 2015 another wonderful opportunity came my way to show the rugs, this time as part of Fiberlicious at The Los Angeles Municipal Gallery at Barnsdall Park.

For more information on art historian Max Raphael, please see the Max Raphael Project. He is the author of The Demands of Art, among other seminal works.

GAZA RUG

The face emerged, it was supposed to be a quick sketch for a demo for a group of teachers who wanted to see the sewn rug technique.The face was filled with such sorrow, confusion, empathy and bewilderment. As I worked on it I asked the questions,who is this? What face is it? And the words came to me. "Are we still human?", "This has to stop," and "Ceasefire". The anguish over the events of this atrocity has not allowed silence, how do we not speak out, impossible.