Leaves from My Book of Feathers with Envelope

Description

This is one of 44 postcard collages in the CMA’s collection that the textile artist Lenore Tawney sent through the mail to her friend, the art dealer, curator, and critic Katherine Kuh between 1969 and 1981. Using natural objects and ephemera that she compiled over a lifetime, Tawney’s collages display the artist’s personal visual vocabulary and poetic response to materials. Recurring images—such as eggs, feathers, birds, baby animals, crosses, and circles—engage with universal themes such as vulnerability, resilience, infinity, and spirituality. The "book of feathers" here probably refers to one of many albums in which Tawney kept her collections of feathers, leaves, and other natural materials.