November 2018: Adriene Cruz

Adriene Cruz creates textiles to tell her story: Lost and Found, Abundant Offerings of the Spirit. Adriene explains, "As a descendant of stolen people there has always been an urgent desire to discover my place, my roots...my purpose. My place of  healing and peace easing life’s traumas is through creativity. As a dreamer, I travel the world in my mind ....claiming places as my home and people as my own and borrow whatever appeals to me to weave into my work. Working with my hands creating art ....getting lost in the process and finding myself in the process unravels and exposes possible answers and new discoveries.  The work is always a meditation,  a prayer for guidance along with gratitude for blessings that allow the channel to open so that I may experience and create. Spirit guides, ancestors and angels  assist greatly. The healing power of color is the main conduit". Her work has vibrant colors, rich textiles, sacred symbols and embellishments that offer a way to escape, transform and survive. "I’ve been blessed with wonderful friends and family who give abundantly of their life and travels much of which is included in these offerings.photo and quote were given to me by my Auntie Gloria, James Baldwin’s sister. But not at the same time, I had the photo first and 14 years later the  quote ... her favorite of his. I painted most of the fabric in this work including bits of African indigo  that my Auntie Gloria gave me."