I work on website updates almost every day, but somehow, I never get around to updating my own website. Although I am late in announcing, I am thrilled that my piece, EcoSarra, has been juried into the SAQA Global Exhibition StitchPunk.

The Call for Entry asked the artists to “reimagine a world through an alternate, extraordinary timeline. Imagine our bodies merged with our devices or a world shared with sentient robots or other life forms.

What would a refrigerator, a clock, or even a lawn mower look like if it ran on steam power?

What sort of people would live on the streets of a decaying metropolis, starkly divided between haves and have-nots, with police drones patrolling above and neon lights cutting through the thick, dirty air?

Will science and technology free us from mundane daily chores, or enslave us to a global corporate master?

The opportunities are endless. Artists are invited to explore the science fiction worlds of cyberpunk, steampunk, dieselpunk, biopunk, atompunk, clockpunk, nanopunk, and more!” (SAQA Global)

The title EcoSarra is a nod to Sarraceniaceae in my vision of Forest/Bio Punk.

EcoSarra

I gave up friends, family, and the outside world to create a future for my plants – my bioengineered family. The constant negative backlash over bioengineering forced me into my safe place, my world inside Green Lab. Along with my carnivorous babies, I grew, changed, and thrived as the outside world destroyed itself. My latest experiment, becoming a part of the chain, both absorbing carbon and creating my own form of oxygen may be the only way to survive the destruction. I look into the mirror and wonder if I will ever leave or want to leave. I become more and more like my babies every day. For now, we are safe inside Green Lab. Thankfully cockroaches did survive the disaster. Yum! Lunch!

Materials: Wire and mixed media armature, salvage army surplus, ice- dyed silk organza, various threads
Techniques: Armature building, assemblage, ice dying, hand-stitching

The first venues scheduled for the exhibition tour are:

New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, Massachusetts: April 30 - July 13, 2024
Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, United Kingdom: August 1 - December 31, 2024

More info will be available in the coming months on the SAQA website.

My 2023 SAQA Spotlight Auction piece, Stitch Study #1, is shipped and ready for the Toronto Conference. Now, I eagerly await joining it in Toronto in April.

The final piece is 6” x 8”. The Spotlight Auction will be an online event taking place during the 2023 SAQA Conference Pathways to Possibilities. The auction will be available on Handbid to a worldwide audience. All proceeds will help support SAQA programs.

Due to the small size of the artwork, here are a few more images highlighting the scale and detail of my hand stitching process.

Amanda Snavely

Blog

SAQA Global Exhibition StitchPunk

2023 SAQA Spotlight Auction