La Iglesia (The Church)  13 sq inches mounted on canvas and framed

I love working with appliqué. It gives you so much more freedom with form. The inspiration for this piece came from my personal history. I was born and raised in San Diego and in Old Town San Diego there was a wonderful plaza call Bazaar del Mundo. It was built like a Spanish home with the rooms all opening up into a central plaza. You could walk from room to room (or store to store) thru a covered walk way. There where cages with birds and the garden and restaurant in the center.   A friend of mine managed a shop there and later the whole plaza. The owner would bring in cultural events. Bazaar del Mundo became an important part of what San Diego was about. And then, after 35 years it was gone (or forced to move). Old Town San Diego is part of the park services and they allow anyone with the highest bid to take over a lease. A big company came in and out bid the woman who had leased this area for 35 years. People protested but there was nothing that could be done. She moved to a different location and now the area is full of stores that can be found anywhere–nothing unique, no culture. Actually Old Town San Diego has become an extension of a touristy concept of Tijuana with bad restaurants (the good ones don’t seem to last) and colorful junk for sale. Before this all happened I bought a ceramic piece from Mexico and the shopping bag had a design similar to the one on this quilt.

It’s based on Mexican Folk Art of ceramic churches. The flowers are based on popular tissue paper flowers that you can find in Mexico. The pattern for the door is from a church door that I took a photo of in France.