There is such a thing, I believe, as a good anger, Maria feels it for the way men have treated her and for the way men have treated so many women.

This “good anger” quote from the writer Marge Piercy was one of nearly a dozen quotes used in a powerful new quilt from Full Moon Fiber Art that is a sweeping statement and insight into the lives of women over the past half-century and beyond.

Maria says this piece stunned her with its depth and presence, and it stunned me in the same way when I saw it for the first time this morning.

She’s been working on it for weeks, day and night, harder, I think, than on any quilt she’s yet made.

At its heart was a vintage hanky from the 1950’s or earlier mailed  to her some time ago, it’s called “How To Keep A Husband,” and  says a lot about what good anger is and why it is taking so much of it to bring about real change.

She took the wrenching sexist advice from the time – “if your husband likes music, you like it too..” and wrapped each bit of suffocatingly advice with a quote from several artistic female pioneers and champions – Piercy, the singer Lizzo, Clarrisa Estes Pinkola.

It is so effective, and so uplifting, it is inspiring even to me, a man who witnessed in my early childhood the devastating effects of men on the life of my mother, she was nearly destroyed by it.

The quilt is also just so creative – strong woman in a dialogue with the ghosts of the past, oppressed housewives who were permitted no life but the struggle for men’s approval, a kind of grotesque imprisonment.

It is a groundbreaking work for and from Maria, she has changed so much and learned so much, about life, about art.

Maria has a lot of anger towards men, at first I doubted she would ever re-marry one.  She is one of those women who is viscerally nurturing, but who has never needed men or women in her life.

I know she would live well without me or them, I am grateful she took a flyer on me.

This anger is uncomfortable for me at times, I assure her that men suffer too from this way of looking at the world, and she agrees, but then you look at the news and can’t help but grasp that this work is not over, it is really just beginning. I will not come close to living to see the end of it.

But I am happy and proud to have made it this far, to see voices and feelings like this rising out of an artist’s heart and speaking such truth.

This quilt is wonderful, Maria speaks about it herself, which is the way it should be, but I am dazzled by this work, and surprised.

It is so ambitious, it has such a wide range. It speaks to her own evolution as a woman and an artist and feminist, and it speaks to the long, seemingly eternal struggle of women for the right to live their lives as they wish, not as men wish for them.

To me, it is a “mega-work,” a defining work,  a brilliant artistic weaving of the past, the present and the future of the women of the earth.

It is big and complex and practically speaks for itself. Check it out for yourself.