Circles Mark the Spot

On August 13th, I got a special invitation from my friend Chloe, the owner of Reading Frenzy--take the next 17 days and make a piece of art for the shop's upcoming 17th Anniversary Party. Here was the description she gave:

"Every anniversary is a time of reckoning and potential crossroads for me. I've also been thinking a lot about memory and spatial navigation (and how they're connected), documentation and artifacts, hence the theme: MAPS.

"Your assignment, should you accept it, is to create a work of art that maps something significant to you. This map could reference a place, real or imaginary, your past, present, or future, a state of mind, a dream, a fear, a to do list. Really anything you'd like as it has something to do with mapping." 

I've wanted to make something focusing on crop circles for several years now. The patterns are beautiful; the origins are mysterious. Also, a lot of crop circle manifest in England. A bit of digging and I found this site which catalogs recent crop circle activity.

As it happens, on July 26, the following crop circle was discovered near Avebury, Wiltshire, England:

What's so special about July 26? It's the day I went to Stonehenge. What's so special about Avebury, Wiltshire? It's about 25 miles north of Stonehenge. Which means that *I* was only 25 miles from this crop circle on the day it was first seen.

Let the art-making commence.

 E   L   I   Z   A

All of the fabrics and trims came from my stash, so I didn't have to buy anything new. I bought the silk plaid ribbon on a vacation to Vancouver, BC in 2010. The green transparent buttons were purchased in Oxford on July 21 at a cute little shop. I often buy sewing notions when I'm traveling since they are inexpensive and small. I rarely use them so soon after the trip.

Oxford, England

So if you're up for a First Thursday in Portland, swing by Reading Frenzy to see my work and other map-inspired pieces at the X (Marks the Spot) show. Or if you can't make it on Thursday, swing by anytime in September.