After attending the Patchwork Expo in Mexico City Friday and Saturday, I joined a group of enthusiastic quilters for a canal cruise, and a visit to Frida Kahlo’s ‘Blue House’ Museum.
You may recall that I visited her house a year ago, and I was struck by the intimacy of her childhood home, which she later shared with her husband Diego Rivera.
The line to get into the museum stretches down the block, and it is fascinating to see so many young people waiting patiently, to see this very private space…now opened to thousands of people who respectfully file through her kitchen, her bedrooms, and her studio.
In her studio you can see her paintbrushes, her glass bottles full of paint pigments, and her wheelchair before her easel. Through the window is a garden and fountain, with the ever-present Cobalt Blue walls in the background.
I wanted to share this image with you, because I had the same feeling here, as I had when I visited Hemingway’s house in Cuba. If you believe that Time is the 4th dimension, then perhaps it is whispers from the past that touch your heart when you visit these creative spaces of prolific artists.
In Frida’s case, despite her serious medical condition, her passion for her art was the overriding influence. When she was bedridden, she had a day bed that was rigged for an easel, with a mirror so she could paint her famous self-portraits. Her clothes, her hair, her jewelry, even her prosthetic leg in later life, were all an expression of her creative vision and passion for Life.
This is why we are drawn to make things, to play with color and textures, and to sometimes bare our heart and soul in a work of art that strangers might view some day. Like Frida, we share a piece of our soul as a gift to our viewers, and we release it to the world as we release our children to the world as they grow up.
My friends in Mexico remarked that when they want Frida Kahlo fabric, they know they can always find it at eQuilter. Alexander Henry has reprinted many of these favorite fabrics again and again over the years, and we always stock them in depth for our Frida Fans… you know who you are! *smile*
If you are thinking about joining me on the Polar Bear Tour in November, I urge you to make a deposit to hold your place by March 15th. They are holding this tour open for my group, but will open it to the general public March 15 so I can’t guarantee you will get a spot on the Polar Rover if you wait much longer. Payment plans are available! We already have a nice group of eQuilter friends signed up, and I can’t wait to share some hot cocoa with you out on the frozen tundra!
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