Christine Meuris: Hearth

June 21-July 27, 2024
Artists’ Reception: Saturday, June 22, 5 – 7 pm
Oakland Art Murmur / First Friday: July 5, 5 – 9 pm

“…we were home, we had drawn the circle, we were safe for the night.”
-Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking

In a series of pieces based on quilt patterns and crewel work, Christine Meuris explores the power of home in a time of upheaval and sorrow in her own life and in the world. In the first week of October 2023, Meuris lost her mother after a long struggle with cancer. Then a dear friend died in a gruesome accident. Between these two events, horrific violence broke out in the Middle East. Having recently given up drinking, which she had become dependent upon as she coped with the pressures of daily caregiving, Meuris found a fierce love of returning home at the end of the day, the “drawing of the circle” as Joan Didion put it, blooming in place of the nightly drinks. This love of home, alongside the awareness of how quickly so much can be lost, is the inspiration for this show.

Christine Meuris lives and works in Berkeley, CA. She has shown her work in solo and group shows locally, notably at the Berkeley Art Center, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, and Mercury 20 Gallery; as well as in group shows around the U.S. She was a resident artist at Kala Art Institute in 2023 and was the inaugural Digital Artist in Residence at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles (SJMQT) in 2020. Her work has appeared in the Surface Design Journal, Fiber Art Now, and the Textile Society of America News. Her work is included in the collections of the City of Berkeley, SJMQT, Kaiser Permanente, and the Four Seasons Residences SF, as well as in several private collections.

Image: Christine Meuris, Field Flowers Red, 2024, printed paper, linen, bookbinding cloth and thread, 24″x 32″, photo courtesy of the artist