zenith

earth mineral plant acrylic painted organic cotton & linen collaged on wood panel

14.5 x 14.5 (cherry wood flush mount framed)

HYMN 
by Marie Howe

It began as an almost inaudible hum,


low and long for the solar winds


     and far dim galaxies,

a hymn growing louder, for the moon and the sun,


a song without words for the snow falling,


     for snow conceiving snow

conceiving rain, the rivers rushing without shame,


the hum turning again higher — into a riff of ridges


     peaks hard as consonants,

summits and praise for the rocky faults and crust and crevices


then down down to the roots and rocks and burrows


     the lakes’ skittery surfaces, wells, oceans, breaking

waves, the salt-deep: the warm bodies moving within it:


the cold deep: the deep underneath gleaming: some of us rising


     as the planet turned into dawn, some lying down

as it turned into dark; as each of us rested — another woke, standing


among the cast-off cartons and automobiles;


     we left the factories and stood in the parking lots,

left the subways and stood on sidewalks, in the bright offices,


in the cluttered yards, in the farmed fields,


     in the mud of the shanty towns, breaking into

harmonies we’d not known possible. finding the chords as we


found our true place singing in a million


     million keys the human hymn of praise for every

something else there is and ever was and will be:


     the song growing louder and rising.


          (Listen, I too believed it was a dream.)

Inspiration arrives in many forms — an inner or outer landscape, a poem that shifts my perspective, words and symbols deeply felt. Wherever the muse appears, working with natural dyes, earth minerals and textiles is a joy-making process.

Sewing is my first love, but collage opened a floodgate. It offers a freedom to experiment with shape and scale that sewing doesn’t readily allow. I love both: the clean closed seam and the raw cut edge — each a metaphor for life. Moving between them keeps my creative center alive.

The collages begin with natural dyed textiles. The hand dyed fabrics are then painted with pigments and oxides I hand-blend into plant-based acrylic, creating bespoke colors. I build up multiple layers to create desired opacity and depth of color on flax linen, organic cotton and/or hemp, then hand-cut the dried forms and collage them onto wooden panels using natural adhesives. A coat of plant-based varnish finishes the work — framed and ready to hang.

note: please hang away from direct exposure to harsh light (natural/artificial) as well as direct heat source and areas of high moisture.

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