John Coburn (1925-2006)

'In this tapestry, "Paradise Garden", is a traditional subject for art. There are paradise gardens in Persian art and in Egyptian art. Some of the early Christian art in some of the churches are like beautiful gardens and there were paradise gardens in medieval art. All my conceptions of heaven are somehow like Australia and I think Australia in the summer is like a paradise garden. But, then again, when you think of the Italian Renaissance artists, their conceptions of heaven were like the hills of Tuscany, weren't they? So, I just tried to make my paradise garden as beautiful as I possibly could.' (John Coburn, 1988)