First Place, Professional Original; Judge’s Choice

Nothing is purely original and nothing happens in isolation. This composition came together from random ideas, a variety of experiences and several half-completed projects, in the “waste not, want not” tradition of my grandmother. It is a collage, soft sculpture and stumpwork, all techniques I began exploring in the early 1960s.

The ground is wet felted and the pumpkin needle-felted by hand. The corn is beaded and sculpted over plastic coffee-stirs. The corn is placed with the carved amber squash, as in the desert these are traditionally planted together. The squash stalk is Kumihimo braiding. The peas, beaded into wired needlelace shells, grow from embroidered stumpwork slip leaves and stems, and are climbing the overturned basket. Nothing can be left unattended in a garden anywhere. The carrots and cauliflower are stumpwork and the eggplant fruits are pearls.