Size: 45" x 55", 1996
Technique: Foundation-paper-piecing (mainly by machine) and machine quilting.
Material: mainly cotton.
Photo by Rik Klein Gotink

I "saw" the picture of "She who can sleep with the wolves" during a dream and it touched me deeply and left me in awe, for this image was to show me that, yes it is possible for a human being to be in complete harmony with nature. It did not only give hope but also pointed in a direction and showed what needed to be achieved in order to reach that harmony: pure love and pure intent. From that moment on I felt a growing pressure from within to get this image into the physical world.

After I had carried the image of "She who can sleep with the wolves" inside me for about 3 years, I knew I would have to bring her into the physical world, so she could be an inspiration for others, too. Almost three years later in 1996, while making the wallhanging, another meaningful aspect suddenly occurred: her long hair spreading out gracefully in all directions shows our spiritual connection to all that is in all directions. So to reach pure love and pure intent we need spiritual development: harmony is to be found on a different level of consciousness.

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Size: 49'' x 59'', 1997

Technique: Foundation-paper-piecing + (reverse)appliqué + machine embroidery and machine quilting
Material: mainly cotton
Photo by Rik Klein Gotink

This wallhanging "The Dream of the King" I made in commission: The request was to use a particular sufi-story for my inspiration. From that story I chose the part in which a king in despair about his wife’s ill health goes to the temple to pray and ask for advice. After a lot of praying and weeping slumber overtakes him. In a dream he hears a voice telling him to worry no longer, because the next morning a visitor will appear who knows the answer to his prayers. Early the next morning the king expectantly goes to his belvedere and does indeed see someone approach: "a sun amidst a shadow, coming from afar, like the new moon, he was non-existent, though existent in the form of phantasy".

In overlapping images the wallhanging shows both the dreaming king in the temple and the message of his dream: the visitor who will arrive early the next morning.

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