Have you heard of forest bathing? My mama got breast cancer the year she retired, and began foraging for mushrooms. Throughout her chemotherapy and radiation treatment, she'd go out hunting for morels and oysters, matsutake and chantrelles and spend days in wet lush PNW rainforests.
Now, she's cancer free. I don't think those two are unrelated. Forest bathing is a real thing, it's healing to be in nature. Look it up.
I have been brewing on this project for a long long time. I had started weaving right around when she got cancer, and told my mama about my idea, and she kept an eye out for driftwood while hunting for mushrooms.
These driftwoods floated from unknown locations to the shores of Whidbey Island, where my mama salvaged them and drove them 1200 miles to me.
They have been soaked and boiled, soaked again in baking soda and vinegar for two weeks, sanded down, sun bleached. For sure these pieces have been in a campfire once or twice in their former life.
I’ve woven and rewoven this piece a handful of times, incorporating a planter made of black clay local to Black Mountain in San Diego. After 3 years of collecting humming energy, I recently mounted this orchid (a gift to commemorate my very first market), airplant, and a mican that has survived 3 near life ending droughts.
You’ll have to pay me big money to take it away from me. Look, money is made up, but this is real magic. If I think about it any longer, the price will go up another tenfold, so get it while it’s still a good deal.
This art installation is a powerful totem of healing, resilience, and prosperity. 🐉 🐲
2.5 feet by 4 feet (ish)
