Martha Dominquez-Diaz "Ex-voto"

At  the end of last year, Los puntadas del alma/Stitches of the Soul explored spirituality as a them for our quilts. I thought I would share a few of the quilts with you. I love how each woman in the group has her own distinctive style and while they support one another, they all stay true to themselves.

Martha is one of the most generous and caring people I have ever met. I also happen to love her style. She is learning that less is sometimes more. She loves to embellish.

Here is Martha's artist statement:

My faith is a vital part of my life. I believe in the apparitions of the Virgin and praying the rosary. I've survived many mishaps by meditating. Miracles can happen!

This Ex-voto is thanking the Virgin of Guadalupe for her intercession during my car accident; being able to walk again and take care of my two sons.

My fe es una parte vital de mi vida. Creo en las apariciones de la virgen Maria y en rezar el rosario. He sobrevivido, gracias a la meditacion. Milagros si occurren!

Este Ex-voto es: dando gracias a Nuestra senora de Guadalupe por su intercesion durante mi accidente automovistico; por poder caminar y por el cuidado de mis hijos.

Translation of quilt: "Am I, who am your mother, not here?

On october 19, 1995 I had an accident. Thank you Virgin of Guadalupe for the miracle of being able to walk and take care of my sons.

The Butterfly Project

I apologize for not posting. I spend my days interviewing, researching, and writing. I am trying to finish my book. When I'm not working on my book, then I try to find someway to be creative in a different way. With Las puntadas del alma/Stitches of the soul, my group at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, we are creating butterflies for the Holocaust Museum Houston. 

1,500,000 innocent children died during the Holocaust. In an effort to remember them, Holocaust Museum Houston is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies. The butterflies will eventually comprise a breath-taking exhibition, currently scheduled for Spring 2013, for all to remember.The project is based on this poem.

The Butterfly

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing
against a white stone...

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ’way up high.
It went away I’m sure
because it wished
to kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto.

Pavel Friedman, June 4, 1942

Born in Prague on January 7, 1921.
Deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp on April 26, 1942.
Died in Auschwitz on September 29, 1944.

More than 12,000 children under the age of 15 passed through the Terezin Concentration Camp between the years 1942-1944. More than 90 percent perished during the Holocaust. 

More than anything, I wanted to take the time to create something that took time to honor all those lost children. It's approx. 10 x 8 inches and took me about 30 hours to create.