Maria has gone to work, continuing her steady evolution of the humble potholder into a form of folk art now in demand all over the country and parts of the world. This evolution reflects her own brave, creative and continuing evolution as an artist. Maria, like the potholder, is humble and unpretentious. But her art continues to grow, like the potholder, and evolve, just like her life and her gentle and honest website. Maria has taken another leap forward with her Valentine’s Day Potholder series, now on sale at www.fullmoonfiberart.com – sold out already, I think. She has taken her scraps of discarded fiber and re-imagined them as a simple heart, as the rebirth and endurance of love. It was hard for her, she said, to make a potholder so simple in design, yet it seemed to me and to many others to strike the absolutely perfect chord. Sometimes, as Steve Jobs used to say, less is more when it comes to art and design.

Journeys of love and for me, an exquisite statement of the meaning of affection. My love for Maria only grows, day by day. We stand by one another, always, in trust and love. I might have to steal this potholder if she won’t sell it to me.