This is my entry for the 2006 RIPPED OFF! show. I am ripping off of Cynthia Gaub's art entitled "The girls with the curious hair".

After combing through Cynthia's portfolio and trying to decide on which piece to "rip off" I wasn't going to pick this one. It intimidated me because I also have very long red hair and thought that it might be a narcissistic choice. I decided to fight my instinct and go for it anyways.

Scrolling through Cynthia's portfolio I realized that we have a lot in common. I used to teach needlework, sew my own clothes, make quilts and basically enjoy most fibre arts. I would only see it as a hobby and never truly as an art. However, Cynthia has shown me the error of my ways and that there is beauty in many forms of art regardless of the medium. I think that what it conveys is more important than the means of getting there.

So, while spending the hours working on this piece I found my thoughts drifting to how my art has progressed over the last decade and who I have become as a person. It has turned out to be the closest thing to a self-portrait, something I have never done or thought I would ever do.

The quilt-like background represents Cynthia's love for fabric but also the symbols in each patchwork have a secretive meaning for me and represent much of my life just like the smaller images do for Cynthia in her original art. To say that this piece is a profound moment in my art career is an understatement.

What I thought would be a fun and exciting "rip" has turned out to be one of the more monumental moments of my artistic career. Thank you Cynthia, your work is absolutely inspiring.