There is something different about walking into YGIG for my fifth year. I’m not simply returning to teach and learn in another Back-to-School session. I’m returning with an excitement and sense of possibility that I haven’t felt in a very long time. It’s the feeling rumbling in my insides that this is a new day, a new beginning full of possibilities. Five years ago, I had a near-death experience that changed the direction of my life.
Recovery hasn’t happened quickly. My healing has taken four years. Four years of learning to listen to my body by listening to middle schoolers. Four years of adjusting to the purpose of my life. Four years of grieving what I lost. Four years of discovering what remained. And, somewhere in all of that, I began having visions of what I needed to share with the people of tomorrow. LOVE! Unconditional respect and adoration. Because as much as I share with them, they bless my soul.
When I was between life and death, I saw visions of sewing machines and piles of colorful fabric. I saw young hands learning to stitch. I dreamed of young people discovering that mathematics wasn’t just something written on a smart board. I saw them discover that math hides inside a hand-sewn quilted tote bag, a seam allowance, a pattern, and scraps of cloth. I envisioned crochet hooks moving without patterns or rules, giving young people permission to experiment. And I see fabrics and fashion becoming a doorway into careers, creativity, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. For the past four years, these have been visions. Beginning tomorrow, I get to walk into them.
After a life-changing art experience participating in the Spring Pentaculum residency and retreat at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, I’m revitalized. Being an artist and making art with other artists restored what got buried deep inside me while living in survival mode. I’m newly healed under the outpouring of Easter Blessings, and Arrowmont was my blessing of confirmation. My Arrowmont Experience inspires me to share the content in this year’s Back-To-School programs at YGIG.
Fiber Art by Carola STUDIO & STORE 
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