“The Dark Lady with Cape”

DIMENSIONS: Approximately 29” tall.

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Interior wire armature; black fabric body stuffed with wool, wrapped with batting. Face is needle-sculpted. Her brilliant hair is multicolor wool roving and sparkling Angelina fibers. Hooded cape is Japanese needle-felted fabric. I hand-wove the tunic from hand-spun wool and mixed, sparkly-fiber yarn. Sandals are leather and rawhide. Around her waist is a “golden” cord.

THE INSPIRATION AND INTENTION:This dark lady was eager to come into this world, but then she waited for some time without accoutrements, waiting, waiting. Then suddenly I found the material for her cape, and the rest of her apparel materialized within days.

She is mysterious: hidden yet revealing, full of the power of the night when the moon hides behind the clouds, of the power lying deep within caves or in the Underworld. Yet--beneath the darkness, peeking out, is long, brilliant, multi-colored hair. What else lies hidden, out of sight? The tip of her brass staff is a spiral, reminiscent of a seashell, evoking the deep waters of the unconscious. The golden chain around her waist reminds us of links to the land of myth, where the Goddess wear a gold-linked belt.