Diane Savona

If you haven't come across Diane Savona’s work before, you are in for a real treat!

I find her totally inspirational. The generosity with which she shares her thoughts, techniques and motivations is very rare and completely admirable.

The best place to start looking at her work is on her own website with blog, videos and gallery. In her own words:

“… most of you know that during this pandemic, my art faltered a bit enough that I was able to clean out my entire studio. Well, the mess is back: scraps everywhere, all horizontal surfaces covered, dishes and laundry piling up. Art is happening! (Picture dancing little emojis here) …” www.dianesavonaart.com

BEWARE: you may well lose hours of your life here, but crumbs, is it worth it!

Hurricane, New Orleans

46”h x 32”w

Based on a map of the Chalmette section of New Orleans. There are actual keys embedded under the cloth. Other sections have discharged images of keys and locks.

How do we learn history? Textbooks give us dates and leaders; students memorize facts for the test, but few people have a deep understanding of how our ancestors lived.

As a child I felt that lessons of wars and nations had little bearing on my family history. It was like studying weather patterns, gusting far above, knowing that my peasant grandparents had survived in thatched huts in Poland. What was their story? My art is created with that question in mind.

The objects I use are collected at my equivalent of archaeological digs: garage and estate sales. In my Passaic neighborhood, there are still large numbers of first and second generation immigrants from Eastern Europe. At these sales I hear the language and find the tools of my grandparents. There, I unearth items that were once commonly used in the domestic sphere –pincushions, darning eggs, crochet hooks – but are now almost extinct. I exhume forgotten embroidery and mending, and present them as petrified specimens.

My textile works are art and archaeology. They are the stories of past generations. By deconstructing past artifacts and preserving them in an archaeological presentation, I hope to change viewer perception of our textile heritage.’

Hiroshima 2012 86”h x 38”w

During a month in Hiroshima, I spent many days 'beachcombing' the river edges at low tide. I found ceramic shards, electronic bits...and glass fused by the blast 70 years ago. ( I checked with the museum: it is permissible to take these items). This map shows a section of the city nearest to the blast epicenter, with the rivers forming long black verticals, crossed by connecting white bridges.