Wings of Freedom: textile artwork by Ruth de Vos
We live in the hills, and I love them! I love that with every bend and turn, the view changes slightly. It’s like there are different layers in the landscape, and they are all moving at slightly different speeds to each other (if that sounds weird, I’m sorry - it makes sense in my head!). And then you also have the elevation changes - we can find that we are above the low-lying clouds when we leave home for the morning school run, and then travel through the clouds until they are above us. Maybe this is also why the bird flight intrigues me. Imagine exploring this beautiful topography without being bound by roads. If I already enjoy the perspectives of an earth-bound existence, how much more special would it be to fly?
When my husband and I stop at the end of the day to take some time to chat on the balcony before dinner, we get to watch the birds in action. Sometimes it’s a couple of hawks stalking. Or the black cockatoos raucously calling from one large mess-making tree to another. My favourites, though, are the magpies. Often at this time of day they swirl in flocks (?) of more than 10. From our perspective it looks like they are purely having fun, revelling in their ability to fly and play up in the air. (Maybe there’s actually something more to this activity - I’d love to know if there is!)
‘Wings of Freedom’ is a contemplation of their unique perspective—the way they glide effortlessly through the sky, witnessing the world from heights I can only imagine. In this piece, I seek to celebrate the beauty of the landscape, the freedom of flight, and the wonder that comes from seeing the world from a different vantage point.
This artwork came about rather spontaneously - while the idea behind it has mulled in my mind for quite a while, one day I just decided that ‘today is the day’, and had it drawn up and cut out within the week. I may or may not have stitched obsessively, first by hand, until RSI threatened, and then by machine (because gripping creative ideas will not wait for RSI to heal) until I had a completed quilt (and a mountainous backlog of housework and admin work).
