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May 21, 2020  /  art at home

Garden of Delight

by Beleszove Wildish Josivu Foldlanya

Right from the moment I saw this piece of needlework, crumpled up in the bottom of a cardboard box at a Free-sale, I fell in love with it; irrationally, deeply in love.

All the women in my family created beautiful needlework—needlepoint, embroidery, crewel, tatting lace, Swedish embroidery; their art, unsigned and never recognized as such, brightened our walls, pillowcase edges and even hand towels. Anonymous was a woman for sure. So when I saw this lusciously colored, caringly executed crewel work discarded, unstretched, unmatted and unframed, by someone who failed to appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship that went into it, I scooped it up. I lucked out and also found a square frame, with a faded and water-stained mat at the same free sale.

Once home, I lovingly stretched the piece over the cardboard backing that came with the frame and masking taped the hell out of it. I re-painted the frame with some black acrylic, and a $1.50 jar of antique brass paint as gilding. I splurged $16 on a professionally cut, black, suede-like mat to show honor and respect to the piece.

Now, it hangs as an imaginal heirloom on my bedroom wall, blooming with the sunlight, gilded mat like a sundial marking the passing of time. Almost a year later, I’m still not bored of staring at it. I’m drawn in by the colors—corals and pinks and golds and oranges; it reminds me of the patterns on my grandmother’s lawn chair cushions from the ‘60s. These colors, offset by the black and gold framing, givingit a polished appearance even though it was rescued from a free pile, all coalesce to endear it to me even more.

Underneath the immediate upliftment I experience from the color and pattern is the subtle but ever-present reality that for the past two years, I’ve had a wall to call my own to hang an artwork on; that I’ve been safe (enough) to relax on my bed and look at this piece which brings me so much pleasure. My grandmother and mother are dead now, and I am estranged from the rest of my family—I, like this artwork, have been discarded by people who couldn’t appreciate the love and beauty in me.

When I became homeless, I couldn’t take much with me, least of all, large pieces of art. So this wool-threaded artwork is also a security blanket: a sign that, for now, I still have a roof over my head and a wall to hang a picture. That is in jeopardy once again, but I’ll spare you the details; for now I just want to be absorbed in this sunset colored woolen garden of delight.

—Beleszove Wildish Josivu Foldlanya

Three large and five small flowers in predominantly red and orange colors are embroidered on tan fabric, with a gold and black frame.
Crewelwork embroidery, artist and date unknown.

Beleszove Wildish Josivu Foldlanya is a copper thread in the Web of Life and serves all Life; her experiences living with invisibile disabilities and as a formerly homeless person have only deepened her capacity for compassion, justice and being a force for good for Gaia and all living beings.

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