10 years ago the Gold King Mine spill released approximately three million gallons of toxic wastewater into the Animas River, turning the water yellow-orange and affecting Durango and other communities downstream. The incident highlighted the dangers of abandoned mines, and the issue of poisoned water supplies.
My friends in Durango begged me to make a quilt about the toxins that independent scientists were finding in the water, that were not being reported fully to the public. (One of those friends has been subsequently fighting a rare cancer.) I stitched the names of the toxic chemicals and elements into the quilt, while they read me the water report over the phone.
7 months later that quilt “Rocky Mountain Poison” was part of an exhibit at the United Nations in Geneva, on World Water Day. At the opening reception the cultural attache approached me, took my hand, and said “You have to keep making this kind of art with a message”.
I took that as my marching orders, and have been making textile art with a message ever since.
A few years later I made the 2nd piece above – “Stardust Mothers” – about the generations of women who protect and support each other and the planet. This piece has traveled to Sacred Threads, France, Birmingham UK, the DAR Museum in Washington DC last year, and the Kyoto Quilt Museum this year.
This Friday July 18, I will be at the opening reception for the SAQA “Balance” exhibit in Durango Colorado. It will be from 4-6 pm at the Durango Arts Center, 802 East 2nd Ave.
My “Stardust Mothers” is hanging in this show. I felt like it was important to be at this opening in Durango, where my activist artist ‘career’ first began. The ‘Balance’ exhibit will travel to several other venues in the next 2 years.
In 2017 we introduced our “Love Your Mother” panel, which has been taken to many climate marches by our customers…and myself. It was the inspiration for the Love Your Mother challenge, contest and exhibit…which premiered in Houston, then traveled to Chicago and Mexico City.
The ripple effects of these textile messages continue to reverberate today.
Perhaps you will make a quilt with a message some time soon.
Sharing our passion for fabric,
Luana
Subscribe to my artist website.
www.luanarubin.com
Travel/Lecture Dates:
July 18 – SAQA “Balance” opening reception in Durango, CO
July 27 – Aug 6 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK
Sept 12 – SAQA “Camouflage” reception – Arizona Sonora Desert Museum – Tucson AZ
Oct 9-12 – Houston Quilt Festival – Soul Stories
Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study
Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture
