International FreeForm Fiberarts Guild: Akua Lezli Hope

Showing posts with label Akua Lezli Hope. Show all posts

2019 Akua Hope

Akua Lezli Hope

Coloratura

Coloratura is comprised of this spring’s crochet adventures in design: feet, hands, eyes, mouths, embossed dimensional leaves, Tunisian-based leaves, balloons and bubbles.

Color is a great challenge for me, most of my work is monochrome or at most two colors. This Challenge pushed me to try different color combinations.

Working in spirals was a first step as I worked with just two at a time and then 4 together.

As my wardrobe is only black, I cast about for what nonwearable to create.

The doll form fulfills and extends the dimensionality of her composite parts.

2016 Akua Lezli Hope

Akua Lezli Hope

Southern Finger Lakes

New York

United States of America

http://www.akualezlihope.com

http://www.zencrochet.blogspot.com

The Southern Finger Lakes Region of New York State includes urban areas but is predominantly rural, full of farms, fields and woodlands.

There are many species in our lands. The work includes red cardinal that sparks winter views, the black bear that lumber near my home, deer for the many that graze near and sometimes run past parked cars, and the ever-present squirrels. The maple and oak leaves stand for two of our indigenous trees, the tree represents my beloved native catalpa, whose heart shaped leaves and fragrant flowers appear each year outside my front door. Our currency included a 5-cent piece that used to bear the image of a bison — the American buffalo, and though they didn’t run in this region, its iconic head is included in this work.

2014 Akua Lezli Hope

Akua Lezli Hope

Spirit Vest

This work is about ancestral spirits, guardian spirits, those known and unknown who created me. The motifs include a dancing figure, ladders, leaves, male, female and child/neuter figures, masks/faces, one large tree, small graphic trees, triangles, and trumpets. I first conceived of the predominant forms as future people, but came to realize that those future folks were my forbears, braver and more daring than any of us who live/d where they landed in the Great City. The ladders stand for the windows of time as well as the connection.

My many unknown predecessors are represented. While there are not many apparent ancestors, there are many whispering through the eons. All four of my grandparents migrated to the United States in the teens and the early twenties of the 20^th century from the islands of Montserrat and Jamaica. They all broke precedent and created a bold new future for their children-to-be. I feel the responsibility of witness bearing. I am grateful for their love and daring.

2012 Akua Lezli Hope

Akua Lezli Hope

Corning, NY, USA

www.akuadesigns.etsy.com

www.zencrochet.blogspot.com

priestess
she sits atop the rubbish heap of history
dispenses new nostrils that filter polluted air
wraps hair that helmets head from acid rain
enjoins others to help construct evolving parts
upcycle trash into habitation, clothing, art
makes loam from devastation,raising homes
growing gardens and wiser, braver brains

inspired by Priestess, composed and performed Billy Harper on Live In Europe, 1979

30"x 28"

Wool, acrylic, copper, brass, cotton fabric

2011 Akua Lezli Hope

Akua Lezli Hope

New York, U.S.A.

http://www.akuadesigns.etsy.com

http://www.zencrochet.blogspot.com

Yemaya is the Orisha (god) of the oceans, who gave birth to all the world's waters. She is the feminine principle of creation, a mother goddess.

Yemaya is worshipped in the religions of Yoruba, Santeria, Candomble, Umbanda, Voudoun, and Macumba, in Nigeria, America, Cuba, Haiti, and Brazil. Her names include Ymoja, Iemanja, Iamanja, Imanja, Iamanje, Yemanja, Ataramagwa, Yemaya Achabba, Yemaya Oqqutte, and Yemaya Olokun.

Depicted here as merwoman, she is attended by Mbé, the leatherback sea turtle, Lula, the squid and Eja, the fish. Her domain includes rosette and brush seaweeds, corals, urchins, sea stars, jellyfish, and cowries.

This embodies my interest in mythological imagery, symbolism, and traditions from African and Caribbean cultures. I was born on an island (Manhattan), of island people (Montserrat and Jamaica). African visual language expresses the union of human beings and nature. They are part of my thought and art. The creation of this art becomes my ritual, is my work and prayer, that the sea remain clean, healthy, free.

2010 Akua Lezli Hope

Akua Lezli Hope

New York, USA

http://www.akuadesigns.etsy.com

http://www.zencrochet.blogspot.com

My whole wide world constricted in November 2005 when transverse myelitis struck, leaving me paralyzed. My glass and large paper art, poetry and short story workshops in the schools, poetry readings presented, people visited, places frequented, are all beyond me, as there is no assistance, no support system and no paratransit where I live.

I am an orphan and alone. Pain is a constant. Through prayer, tears, dreams, words, and fiber, I struggle to create anew. I reach out with my mind and work to make the world better. The red symbolizes a chakra and my pain. The red ascends to yellow. The seven cowrie shells, symbolic of the maternal and the sea, are on an ascension ladder. The yellow skyscraper stands for my birthplace (Manhattan) and aspiration. The figure's long hair is the stream of my dreams. Green ( heart chakra color)predominates because I once gardened fervently, I make paper from plants, and I love Mother Earth.