About “Web of Life”  Fiber Arts Mobile 

“Web of Life” is one of a series of mobile constructions of weavings.  In the series, natural objects used as symbols- seeds, dried plant materials, feathers, seashells, beads, stones, crystals- are woven, knotted, or netted into warp fibers of cotton or wool.

 

“Web of Life”  c  2004 was created in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the state of war that followed.  The origin of the work was a need to offer an alternative to war, to create peace by representing the oneness and continuity of life in recognition of the interdependence of all creatures and all systems of nature and society.  Creatures are represented symbolically by beads made by anonymous carvers, as well as found objects such as feathers, shells, and flower buds.  Stone and crystal represent The Earth, and on another level, psychological states of being.  Clear beads symbolize the mystery of existence prior and post physical existence.  The spiraling forms- inner and outer- represent the movement of life energy as it transforms itself through physical and metaphysical realms.

 

Additionally, and importantly, the mobile is a tribute to the continuity of the work of women with fibers to create clothing and fabrics in support of life.  “Web of Life” incorporates materials used by four generations of women of my family, including wool hand-spun by myself and thread from my mother’s, and embroidery thread from my mother-in-law’s workbaskets.  The warp fibers are crochet cotton from my grandmother, and the crochet lace was made by my great-grandmother Fanny Kean Leake Patton.   

 

-  M.F.L. Patton  c  2007