Rainstorms inspire beauty, changing light, oxygenated freshness, and a change in temperature. Inspiration from Lake Champlain is ever present, but last winter’s woodblock exhibition of Hiroshige’s prints at the Southern Vermont Arts Center inspired this white on white weaving - called Gratitude for Rain. While I normally knot the ends of a rug, this one allows the warp to continue unbound as if the flow was still there.
And, in reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KImmerer, I am inspired to include part of the Thanksgiving Address. This section offers gratitude to the Waters. From https://danceforallpeople.com/haudenosaunee-thanksgiving-address/haudenosaunee-thanksgiving-address-3/ : It is offered as a daily sunrise prayer, and is an ancient message of peace and appreciation of Mother Earth and her inhabitants. The Thanksgiving Address teaches mutual respect, conservation, love, generosity, and the responsibility to understand that what is done to one part of the Web of Life, we do to ourselves.
We give thanks to all the waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms — waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send our greetings and our thanks to the spirit of Water.
NOW OUR MINDS ARE ONE
