The tapestry entitled “The Invitation” (1998) led me to create a mosaic version for my husband Bill for his birthday later that year. Like the original tapestry it is based on the ancient Vesica Piscis, or “Bladder of the Fish.” By extension, vesica also meant any fluid-filled sac, like a womb. It was stylized in the Middle Ages as the classic aureole, or mandorla, surrounding Mary and the Christ. Its association with Mary gives it a meaning of rebirth and sacred, indeed feminine, creativity. In China it represented the moon; in India the yonic or cosmic gateway. In Christianity, as its name implies, it also reminds us of the fish, the ancient symbol of Christian life. Size: 19.5″ by 23″.
