The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period.

When I think about it three things come to mind, cherubs, Portuguese Arraiolos rugs and mythical creatures. I couldn't escape from this imagery so I decided to incorporate it all into two complimentary pieces.

The structure is of the emblematic rugs, so important to textile art history, with a thick ornate border of repeating elements, the star for the whimsical, the creature's head and the heart for romance representing the cherubs in the middle. Cherubs were depicted as chubby male babies, usually naked and sometimes winged, I chose to represent the frog and the bear instead to bring the artwork back to my aesthetic and place of comfort.

Joana Marques