My first Huichol-inspired art quilt, Peyotero Visions of Covid has been selected for the Art of Healing Exposition at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee!
I feel so happy that my work has been recognized at last! This art quilt was first conceptualized in April of 2020. There was a call for entries for a national quilt show organization. The show for which I created this work was called “Quarantine Quilts.” I worked my ass off to get my quilt completed in time. I knew I wanted to use Huichol yarn painting figures and a coronavirus image in the design. It took many hours to complete and I learned a lot while doing it. I submitted my application at the end of May, and in July I received a rejection email.
I was sad that I wasn’t accepted, but in the end, the show never happened because of the pandemic. The silver lining is that this experience led me to create this quilt after having thought about making a Huichol-inspired piece of art for a long time.
Earlier this year, another artist told me about the call for entries to the Art of Healing Exposition here in Nashville. It looked like a great idea so I read up on it. At first, I saw that there was a size limit of 36”x36” and my heart sank; my quilt was longer than 36 inches! I emailed the organization with a photo of my work to see if they could make an exception. Someone responded right away and said my quilt was beautiful and that they could make an exception to the size rule.
They originally said the entrants would be announced at the end of April. I didn’t hear anything until mid May when they said that they had received way more applicants than they had anticipated. We were informed that we would be notified by the Memorial Day weekend.
A few nights ago, I received their email telling me that my work had been selected for display at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center! That was my ideal location for display from all the locations they had chosen for displaying all the art. I was so excited after I found out that It was hard for me to sleep.
I’m so glad that my precious art quilt will have an opportunity to be viewed by the public! Peyotero Visions of Covid will be on display from September 2021 through December 2022.
For more information on the Art of Healing Exposition, please visit their website.