Happenings is the unique creative
output of Lilo Hoefnagels in the medium of colored thread and needle.
These miniature masterpieces are the work of an exuberant and
warm-hearted woman with a life on two continents and memories of loss
and struggle in her youth. Like so many others she was a displaced
person in WWII, suffered the losses of home and family and endured an
epic journey on foot with her mother in winter when she was 20. When
they reached their destination with little more than the clothes on
their backs and a prized accordion, which had helped sustain them and
others physically and spiritually on their journey, and then even this
last vestige of her old life was stolen at their destination. Reunions
followed and in a few years a new life in America with her husband whom
she met and married after the war and raising 6 children helped put the
darker memories behind her. Always known for her zest for living and her
energy she had all the challenges and fulfillment of a wife and mother
while underneath she nurtured a yet-to-be-fulfilled talent in color and
design.
S015 Undulation
Now retired in the Netherlands she has found a new
evocative artistic expression using nothing more than her two hands and
needle and thread. What had been the normal proficiency with these tools
that most mothers of her generation possessed has now become the
vehicle to her latent compositional design talents. These miniature
gems, originally no more than 3x4 inches each and more recently in
larger sizes, range in mood and feeling from the simple, gentle and
whimsical to the dark and profound. Like all great art in whatever form
it comes in, whether visual, poetic, musical or textural each of these
miniatures reveals more and more layers and shades of meaning and
emotion. What you bring to your experience of them allows you to learn
more about yourself and the world. In the end that is how all artists
communicate to us through their work.
S048 Expressions of Fanciness
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