Fresh from Maria’s wonderful mind – even before it is ironed and smoothed – comes “Warrior Woman On Pink Horse,” something unlike anything she’s ever done before. She took a stodgy linen and took a magic marker to it, a juxtaposition between the old and the new. She took a linen associated with domesticity and pre-feminist life and put a modern warrior woman on a pink horse right into the middle of it.

Since she returned from Gee’s Bend, Maria has been on fire, she just cranked out a new quilt , also unlike anything she has done before. The Gee’s Bend experience seems to have liberated her in some ways, opened her up to new ways of thinking about life, art and fabric. How exciting to see, this trip was one of the best things she could possibly have done, she connected to the quilters in Alabama so powerfully that it opened many doors in her mind.

These women, all from outsider cultures (Maria, too) were able to speak to one another in the most creative and exciting ways.

Maria loves this “”Warrior Woman” piece, she isn’t sure if she wants to sell it, or even what it is called. I expect it is the first of many. What a gift to see this remarkable human being and wonderful artist open up in this way, and keep on learning and growing.  I am lucky to be able to see it.