Tattle Tails: Crocodiles for Alzheimer's.
Susan Shie and James Acord
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"Tattle Tails: Crocodiles for Alzheimer's" 1993. 80"H X 90"W
Materials: Many kinds of fabrics, fabric paint, Jimmy's tooled leather crocodiles, bone skull beads, glass bugle beads and other glass beads, glow-in-the-dark beads, lots of embroidery floss.
Methods: All hand painted and hand sewn. Made in individually quilted small pieces, later all sewn together, in my Lucky School of Quilting method. Jimmy hand designed and tooled the leather crocs. I hand embroidered over all the writing in the rainbow silk borders. (Rainbow silk dyed by Melody Johnson.) writing in the quilted panels done with paint.
Our work is about healing energy. It embraces all kinds of human emotions in image, diary, and prayer. Subjects vary, as do amounts of humor vs seriousness. But the common thread is a joy of living and urge to bring wholeness to all life. When our quilts address broad issues, such as protection of animals or awareness of human intuition, we still weave diary writing throughout the work.
In "Tattle Tails; Crocodiles for Alzheimer's," we used the process of making our art to help us cope with the stress of what my (Susan's) mother's disease was doing to the entire family, and especially to Mom and Dad and us. We had just had my parents move in with us, due to Mom's worsening Alzheimer's, and the extended family was turned upside down! The quilt is full of diary writing, written on the quilt as its first and only writing. I never copy from my book diary onto a quilt, preferring to have fresh, direct statements in the artwork.
The totem Crocodile was our choice to bring us a tougher skin, patience, and grounding during our caregiving time. The central yellow croc holds my parents snuggled together in its womb, for protection. At the bottom of the piece is a panel about an argument our daughter and we had, over her car. It isn't about Alzheimer's, but it happened during the making of this quilt. So that's where it should be. Prayers for healing the family rift and for learning to cope with and balance the energy are written into the piece. The skull faces are ancestors whom we asked to come near and bring love.
Although making "Tattle Tails" didn't solve any problems, it helped us greatly, just as seeing a therapist might. We were talking it out, and sharing it with others (NOT with our family!!!) It seems to help others going through the same issues, since most families fall apart over this disease. It at least helps to know it's because of the disease, and not that your particular family is bad and unloving. We as a culture simply are not prepared for the terrible stresses which wash over us.
After a year, Mom went to a very good nursing home, where many people shared her caregiving and loved her. Dad lived with us for four years, and died in January, 2000, after living a while at the nursing home Mom was at. Mom died in October, 2001, nearly eight years after going to the Home, and a year and a half after Daddy died.
We're so glad that we had my parents here for a while, even though it was very, very hard at times. It brought back the tender closeness of childhood, and definitely wasn't all bad. We know we did all we could for them both at home, and and that the nursing home took good care of her, with our active partnering.
Detail of "Tattle Tails: Crocodiles for Alzheimer's" by Susan Shie and James Acord.
Read more about this piece on my Turtle Trax diary for 6-11-98.
Turtle Moon Studios
Susan Shie and James Acord
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