A few weeks ago, Anne, a follower of Maria’s blog sent Maria a Japanese Kimono give to her by a friend who died during the AIDS epidemic years ago. She loved her friend and kept the Kimono all of these years in his memory.

She told Maria she wanted her to have it, she knew she would do something beautiful with it.

Maria hung the Kimono on her studio wait, waiting for inspiration to strike. It did.

The answer came at the start of the Corona Virus Pandemic, Maria decided to make the Kimono a work of Fiber History.

She intends to tell the story of the coronavirus through the Kimono a daily record of the time.

Maria takes a statistic or event (today, it was the deaths of 799 people in New York City), and enters it on the Kimono.

She doesn’t know what she ultimately do with the Kimono, she will probably hang it in her studio. As of now, she has no plans to sell it.

In a month or so, the Kimono will be covered in sketches and fiber drawings that together, tell the story of the virus, day by day. Maria was trying to figure out how to respond to the Pandemic as an artist. I think she figured it out.

She’s also finished and is about to sell six “Gloomy Day Potholders,” they are quite bright and colorful. They are going up on her Etsy Page shortly, but you can purchase them directly from her by e-mailing her: [email protected].  They are on display in her blog.

They are $18 plus shipping.