The Ever-Symbolic Tree

The Ever-Symbolic Tree (20 1/2" x 24 1/2" - approx 32 wefts/inch)

This design was inspired by the passing of my father-in-law, which is why it's taken me so long to write about it.

The bottom of the rug, the tree trunk and black space around it is everything we consider tangible. It's represented here as a necessary void--comfortable, because of its perceived limitedness.

The top of the rug represents all the clarity we strive for, the peace we sometimes yearn for. I used to think it was unreachable. A trove of knowledge tucked light years away into one of those mysterious areas of space where gravity and light can't escape, but radiation can.

Not anymore, it's all here. In the blanket of tight space between black, grey, red, yellow, white, green, and turquoise wefts of wool.

This tree is the clearest representation I can muster of what allows me to feel that I'm okay, that my family's okay. That everyone and everything that has passed before me or is yet to come, they're okay.