Category: Art Quilts

Ralph and I met at in about 1970 or 71 in Alaska, when I worked at Mt. McKinley National Park (now called Denali Nat’l Park). We were both 20, and had dreams of adventure and passion. We stayed in touch through letters and visits until about 1975, in and out of each others lives as friends and lovers.

I have saved about a dozen letters from him for all these years. Something about him, our friend/lover relationship, how it just slowed and stopped, with no ending, remained a very fond and positive memory. By 1975, the letter writing just faded away, and I learned recently, it was around the time he met his now wife, and I met my, now husband.

I re-read his letters, when we moved in 2003, and they were so wonderful–from Utah, Washington, Oregon, Egypt and Morocco. It’s not that they were love letters, not at all, just letters telling of his boring jobs, or exciting adventures. Both mundane and thrilling. We were both in our twenties, I was a flight attendant flying the world, living in the San Francisco area, he a sometime student and traveler. His letters eloquently described those eventful and fearless times. Ralph’s letters chronicle a precious chapter of my life.

Partway through the process of creating these quilts, I googled ‘Ralph Lowe.’ There were very few entries, but one from Southern California listed his age (the same as mine) and just seemed like it might be right. After I got the courage I called and left a message. Three or four days later, Ralph called. He, too, had fond memories of me, was also happily married (him 27 years to my 29 year marriage.)

He’s a high school English teacher in private boarding school in Southern California and continues to write beautifully.

As Ralph wrote me, in 2006 “We’ve all changed tremendously, but the letters don’t. 

Here’s what Ralph wrote in an email, about the “Ralph’s Letters” quilts: From: Ralph
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 8:21 AM
To: Jane LaFazio
“The quilts are lovely things and a real testament to a complicated, redolent and every once in a while, glorious days. I thank you for preserving us and for seeing the sublime in the seemingly mundane, I applauded your obvious talent and vision and thank you again for keeping a significant part of my youth alive. They are soft, feminine and fiercely protective at the very same time. Thank you for holding on to us. 
Love, Ralph“

Lesley Riley interviewed me about “Ralph’s Letters” in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine 

  Measures 11 inches x 14 inches

Measures 11.5 inches x 7 inches. $175.

Measures 13 inches x 9 inches (unframed)  

Framed to 18 x 16 inches 

Influenced by a recent trip to Ireland in 2008, I’ve blended and mended my memories of the beauty and variety of the luscious rich green hills and meadows, the kindness and wit of the people with the tragic history of the country. While visiting Ireland, I saw bogs for the first time. The bogs are dark, mossy, mud-like areas that preserve, beneath the surface, more than 2,000 years of Ireland’s history in the form of mummified plants, animals and people.

Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing,
There is a field. I’ll meet you there.
Rumi

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Basilica San Marco is a visual memoir of my first trip to Venice, Italy in 2010. Inspired by Saint Mark’s Cathedral and its interior lined in shimmering gold glass mosaic tiles,  I imagined the medieval congregation costumed in rich jewel-toned brocade. The grand, glorious sculptured horses of San Marco that grace the front of the cathedral in Saint Mark’s Square. The textures and shapes of the Moorish windows and stunning architecture. Ah, Venice. One of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen.

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Eucalyptus pods and leaves fractured by cutting into bits, chunks, and squares. In this case, reassembled and overlaid with circles to become nearly whole again if only in memory. A Zen meditation and tribute to the giant, regal, scented Eucalyptus tree with its colors of taupe, celadon and plum.  

I’m a native California, and, to me, the scent and multi-colors of the ubiquitous Eucalyptus trees are endlessly fascinating and beautiful. Early in my career as an artist I created a large watercolor painting of just the trunk of a 100 year-old Eucalyptus, and framed it in real Eucalyptus pods, because I wanted to retain the scent along with the image.  

I started this quilt with no vision of the completed piece. It started with a single rectangle of hand-made felt (wet-felted by me), cut into squares, and hand stitched individually. The meditative process of stitching is so enjoyable; I don’t need to know or think about the end result.  I made more pieces of felt, cut them into oddly shaped squares and stitched away. Eventually, I arranged all the little squares onto a larger piece (of hand-dyed batting) and hand stitched them together and back it with a large piece of 100% wool felt.

The title and meaning of the piece Zen Eucalyptus came to me while stitching the individual squares together. Zen circles became a consistent design element in the squares of felt, the colors are reminiscent of the Eucalyptus trees than line the streets in a nearby neighborhood and, part of this quilt is made from pieces of  quilt I created in 2005, with images of Eucalyptus leaves and pods.

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Rusty forgotten gears, mysterious machine parts. Perhaps an ancient instructional manual with text no longer legible…. taking on the appearance of an illuminated manuscript. How did the parts fit together? What part did they play in the making of something? How much time has passed since they were used? How is the space between ages marked? Materials: Hand-printed cotton, vintage linens, rusted cotton, printed and stained teabags, hand-made merino wool felt and lace. (All imagery is based on my original drawings and photographs from a nearby 110 year old winery.)

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