SAQA "I'm Not Crazy" Exhibit Entry

Studio Art Quilters Association is having an exhibit titled "I'm Not Crazy" which explores mental health issues. I think the title  is offensive but whatever. It is the perspective or someone with mental illness, a caretaker or friend or family member of someone with mental illness. I have a very close friend who is Bipolar and is medicated to have balance in her life. This quilt is my interpretation of being bipolar-one minute she is happy, hyper bouncing off the wall and the next sad, depressed and angered. I used muted sad, dull colors to represent being depressed and, of course, the frustrated facial expression. I used bright colored fabrics with lots of chaos for the manic side's clothing, make up and jewelry. Her hair is out of control and her facial expression shouts "manic." I used lots of desciptive words on both sides of the personality in a subtle way in the background. I purposely went subtle because in society we don't want to talk about mental health issues and they are subtle and quiet  in our discussions. I found there is a two sided smiley face which symbolizes Bipolar Disorder and I added it to the quilt in the lower center of the quilt.

This photo is a closeup of the depressed personality.

And this is a photo of the manic personality. She's kind of "out there!" Her expression deminds me of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland!!

Cloeup of the Bipolar symbol and a few of the background words.

I embellished the manic side with hand made Sculpey clay beads, a beaded earring, rhinestones for pierced earrings, orange lame' in the hair to symbolize being wired, and some fabric paint. The intent was for excess and chaos in hair, make up, clothing and jewelry. The depressed side has a necklace made to buttons made from leather (pretty cool from a quilt show!), a few beads for the necklace and a rhinestone for the nose piercing. Both have a little fabric paint for details.

The exhibit aplication is online at SAQA's website the month of May and during the summer we find out if we made the cut then the selected quilts will travel for 2 years to the various Mancuso Quilt Shows.

This quilt is not meant to represent beauty but a social issue. I was thinking of entering it in the local community art show at my library which runs through the summer but I'm not sure if the social issue would offend people. I guess art can do that sometimes...