The first thing I thought was, what can I make of that. What is East and what is West. Is it just a direction, or is it more.  Is it a location, or is it about habits, religion, culture, trade.  And where are they meeting each other, in the middle.  And where is the middle, does it depend on where you are, so it will be a location again.  And how do I look and feel about the East and the West, meeting each other?

The second thing I did, is thinking in form and colour.  How do they look and feel.  The East is round, with swirling lines, flowing, elusive, colours between yellow and red.  The West is square, with corners and bottom, stable, organized, colours in all shades of blue.

The third thing is the meeting, how, where and what is happening.  Squares and circles, can they integrate and how do they influence each other.  What are the similarities and what the differences.  What kind of energy will the meeting give, and will there be understanding and balance.

And so the fourth thing I thought about, was the human brain.  Two sides of the brain, each with their own properties, crashing and collaborative, but inseparable.  Seeking for balance, influencing each other, trying to meet each other in the middle and integrate.

The fifth thing I did, was making my art quilt.  Squares from the west side, waves from the east side, covered with a net of nervous energy.  The meeting starts in the ring, first organized, but more chaotic during the process.  Reaching the center of the meeting, you see how they influence each other, start integrating and finding balance, carried out in squares and circles.

There is one more thing that occupies me. Integration is possible, no matter where we come from, the west or the east, the place where we are is always in the middle, the centre. It is here where the real meeting is, we are all equal, trying to find a balance in ourselves. Let us realize  that in every meeting, and start loving each other.

Materials:

Hand dyed and commercial cotton and linen fabrics, synthetic netting called colbac, print pasta, water-soluble film, paper thread, several kinds of embroidery threads, cotton batting

Techniques:

Raw end applique, paper piercing,  machine quilting and -embroidery stitches, hand embroidery

The making process is to be seen on my blog Kleurdesign