by Wendy Moyer

I generally don't explore any new technique with small "manageable" trials. Rather, I jump into the deep end, fully committed to seeing some grandiose idea through to fruition. Often this means I endure more than my fair share of sputters and spurts, barriers and creative blockades. Eventually, though, I land right where I need to be. Similar to birthing a child (or so I've been told) I don't remember all the pain and labor it took to see my creative dream come to fruition.

Shuttle tatting, a method for handmade lace, had been on my radar for a while. Just about a year ago, I wound my first bobbin and inserted it into the shuttle. Wound thread around my fingers like a loom, and began (very slowly) the over/under stitches to make a series of slip knots. Once I learned and mastered how to "flip the knot" in tatting (watch how), I was off on a rather large lacy adventure.

I had started to collect images of microscopic "blooms". My new works are inspired by the patterns of cellular divisions we see under the microscope. The interplay of these cells as they grow, multiply and divide is beautiful on a microscopic level – even if, sometimes, deadly to their host.

Modified Bloom, is one such example of "deadly beauty". The title is a purposefully shortened version of its inspiration, Modified Bloom Richardson, the pathologic grading system for breast cancer. Normal cells are nicely round, uniform and reach maturity. These are represented by the circular glass piece encased in a protective sheath of small, symmetrical tatted rings. However, cancerous cells divide and spread through uncontrolled growth, they vary in size and shape without continuity, "blooming" uninterrupted. Presented in "Off the Wall" at Berlin Bar, this piece and others in the series are encapsulated under glass as if under a microscope.

While some may find such inspirations rather dismal, I believe if beauty can be found amid great loss, it can help soothe the soul and hold the light of a kindred spirit in our memory and in our hearts forever. I, for one, would rather walk this life with their light illuminating my path than searching for a path in darkness. As such, Modified Bloom, currently showing at the Berlin Bar & Bistro, is a tribute to all my BC (breast cancer) sisters.

See more of the exhibition

Off The Wall exhibition at the Berlin Bar & Bistro continues showing fabulous works by three very different women artists: Debra Thompson, Wendy Moyer and Ana Thiel.

All art in this exhibition is available for purchase.

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Wendy Moyer, a Mexico-based artist, has finely honed her creative roots in traditional handcrafts into communicative art filled with thematic and conversational layers that both enrich our lives and pay homage to ancestral memories. Expounding on early teachings from her mother and grandmothers, her fabric manipulation and sculpting techniques are self-taught. Whether manipulating fabric, molding pill capsules or casting glass, no medium is outside her artistic reach to best convey her message.

Her works are currently on exhibition at Centro de las Artes de San Luis Potosí through November 26th. She has also exhibited at Museo de la Mujer, CDMX; and Centro de las Artes de San Augustín Etla, Oaxaca. Wendy has exhibited locally in group shows at the Calderoni Gallery and Casa Europa. And she has been the only artist to represent and win for Mexico in the international show "World of WearableArt" held annually in New Zealand.

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