Artist Statement: For centuries, Venus has been a symbol of divine love. Humans, seeing a planet that rises in the morning (a morning star), named that planet after Venus in honor of the symbol for divine love, connecting the symbol to heaven and Christ. In more recent times, Venus the planet has often been fictionalized as a lovely green place beneath the heavy cloud cover, a place to escape which was not damaged or polluted as earth was, a new Eden. However, the physical reality is very different, full of hot material flowing out of massive volcanoes to create a very hot surface which is not very human friendly. This sets up a discrepancy between the actual physical reality and the idealized romantic and symbolic Venus. In this quilt which illustrates just one of the many volcanoes on Venus in a false-color image of the volcano's temperatures the beautiful colors offer homage to the symbol while illustrating the reality.

Dimensions: 37" wide x 37" high

Materials and Techniques: Cottons, mostly batiks. Machine quilting and appliqué