The Gate

I AM the Gate

Perhaps you remember The Gates, an art installation in New York City that drew a lot of attention from all over the world.  You can read more about it here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gates

At the time The Gates was (were?) in New York, I was part of a quilting arts forum at About.com.  We had a year-long challenge called ArtImage Challenge, where once a month someone would post an image of art, famous or not, and we were challenged to make a quilted item inspired by that piece of art.

I was also during that time period, creating some pieces that were based on the “I AM” statements of Jesus.  In case you’re not familiar with the context of this phrase, permit me to digress a bit.  When God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses was, to put it mildly, reluctant.  He finally asked God, “Who shall I tell them has sent me?”  And God’s answer was, “Tell them I AM has sent you.” (You can find this in the book of Exodus.)

Fast forward to Jesus.  He made several self-descriptive statements, using the phrase, “I AM”.  (There are seven of them in the book of John:  I AM the bread of life (6:35); I AM the light of the world (8:12); I AM the gate (10:7,9); I AM the good shepherd (10:11); I AM the resurrection and the life (115); I AM the way, the truth, and the life (14:6); I AM the vine (15:5).  By making these statements, he was in fact telling his hearers that he was the God of Moses.

I AM the Gate is based on John 10:7, “I tell you the truth:  I am the gate for the sheep.”  The area beyond the gate represents our heavenly home.  Since the challenge needed some orange, I chose to put it in the sun and its rays.  I ran across a piece of fabric which I had painted a couple of years previously, with blue and orange and some salt effects, so I used that as far as it would go in the sky.  Techniques used are machine piecing, machine raw-edge appliqué, thread painting, machine quilting, fabric painting for the orange fabric in the sky.  I only had a little sample of the hand painted sky fabric, but wish I had had more of it.  It is a small (22.25 x 28.75) quilt.

At a later date, I’ll blog about some of my other I AM quilts, and other challenges I’ve done.  Do you like quilt challenges?  For me they can give a spark of inspiration, where I might have trouble coming up with an idea for a quilt.   Peace.