Thursday 20 June 2013

The greatest gift is the present



Hi and welcome to my blog, especially if you came here after finding an unusual arty/crafty thing somewhere in the state of Washington, Oregon, or California.

I am on a road trip there with my husband and my best friend, Mary, who lives in washington, from the 17th until the 28th of June 2013.
I am a textile artist and live in Hertfordshire in the UK and i decided to leave some kind of mark behind whilst cruising through a part of America.
The idea was stimulated by the memories of my daughter Kiama Petit.



Kiama suddenly died last year on the 11th of May, within 10 days of falling ill from what was later discovered to be the 'forgotten' disease of Lemierre Syndrome.
She was an art student  in her final year at Norwich Univetsity College of the Arts, who awarded her with a post-humus first class honours degree for her work.
Kiama was interested in Participatory Art  and liked to get people involved in community enhancing projects.
One of these projects was Paper girl Norwich which involved a group of cyclists distributing 365 free art works given to her by 52 artists for the public of Norwich.
In another project she would write postive messages and secretely stuck them onto parked  bicycles to brighten up the day of the unsuspected owner.



She loved to do random acts of kindness and  enjoyed the element of surprise.

She lived her unexpected short life to the full and treasured every moment inviting and inspiring people to do the same.
We discovered she had written a Bucket List, which was printed out as a poster from which 1000 copies were  given away by the university  during the graduation show.
Feel free to download a copy here.

Kiama was 22 years old when she died, so I decided to leave 22 craft decorations behind during our trip in honour of her spirit.
Kiama never visited the USA but she had all intention to travel different parts of the world so we are also leaving some of her ashes on American soil with the wish that her spirit may touch who ever feels the connection.

If you came to this blog because you found 1 of the 22 decorations I would love it if you would leave me a comment, mentioning the number, written on the scroll and I promise I will get back to you.




4 comments:

Gina said...

What a wonderful thing to do and how fortunate the finders of your textile gifts.

Miriam Weaver said...

A lovely idea Catherina.

Anonymous said...

This is Makayla and Charleigh we are 11 and 9 years old. We found number 18 on a park bench in Odessa, Washington:)
We would like to tell you that we think it is really sweet what you are doing for her and spreading her ashes across the U.S. and also spreading her words of love!

Anonymous said...

Hello :) My name is Josh, I'm 23 years old, and i am from Ellensburg, Wa. I found your 21st charm on the fence at the local skatepark in our town when i was taking a break from skateboarding in the shade. It looked like someone else possibly found it first as it was already unraveled and not cared for, but I'm glad i was able to find it and let you know it is more than just appreciated! i've actually done a couple similar small charms myself and left them on fences around town as well, such as a feather wrapped in hemp and attached to the cork of a bottle.. Mostly things that can just bring simple admiration and smiles :)
What you are doing in light of your daughter is a wonderful thing, and it is not only rewarded in her soul as well as yours, but many others who are able to be a part of this. Thank you for your neighborly kindness!