Red Thread Studio

A Gift from India

I'm working on those new posts, as promised . . . I'm sure my productivity will improve when I can stop biting my nails and watching the campaign news. Meanwhile, yesterday was my birthday, and my friend Betsy the Artist gave me a spectacular gift -- though we agreed that we should co-own this textile, as her mother bought it on the street in India and it just seems like something that should be shared. Betsy doesn't have a spot for it in her current home, so I am the lucky recipient of it for now. And so I share it with you. There are endless interesting details in this large embroidered patchwork piece, so I'll take more pictures for later. And it has hundreds of magical shisha mirrors, so I feel both protected and inspired by this joyful piece.  Click on any photo to enlarge. 

Vote! It Feels Good.

The best lack conviction

Given some time to think

And the worst are full of passion without mercy

Joni Mitchell, Slouching Toward Bethlehem, adapted from The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats

As I voted yesterday, I was once again surprised by what an emotional experience it is, participating in the democratic process of the most influential country in the world. And this is no six-of-one-half-a-dozen-of-the-other election where there appears to be little difference between two uninspired choices. After eight years of the worst, full of passion without mercy, we can vote for a better choice, with conviction at last. I was very proud and moved to vote for Barack Obama, a person of singular intelligence and vision with a world view that isn't simplistic or violent. Voting is an act of hope and community and determination, so don't miss your chance. It feels good.

And on the back burner, I've got a few post ideas to write this weekend, on Shipibo Indian textiles from Peru, on the value of art, craft and the Slow Cloth approach in our now-slow economy, and on a very thoughtful comment a new reader made on a recent post, about preserving and supporting textile traditions in a sustainable way versus exploiting them while they're fashionable and then abandoning them when styles change. Challenging thoughts.

On the stitching and making front, I successfully copied a pair of Indian-style harem pants for my dance teacher last week; did you know harem pants were in the runway collections of virtually every big designer this year? This pair is actually flattering and fun to wear. And here's an updated photo of the shisha practice piece - I don't know what it will become. As always, click to enlarge.

Color and Spirals

In France they kiss on Main Street

Amour, mama, not cheap display

        -- Joni Mitchell, In France They Kiss on Main Street

No one sees behind the door

But every day it's one step forward

Soon we'll be sleeping in Paris

And we can set those wild ones free

       -- Rosanne Cash, Sleeping in Paris

Some color and curves and dreams of Paris for Saturday morning . . .

When it comes to art quilts, I'm consistently drawn to those that have a painterly quality, and none more so than the work of Deidre Adams, who combines painting and quilting in a way that's fascinating to me. Her latest blog post has a quilt that I think is just stupendous -- see it here. The color and texture are extraordinarily appealing and interesting. 

For more color, New York Times fashion and culture writer Bill Cunningham has a short slide show with audio on women wearing colorful  -- and some outlandish and very creative -- clothes on the streets of Paris.  It's very fun and will make you want to be a French woman (even more) or at least to be strolling on the sidewalks of Paris.

Whenever I think about color, I have to go and visit the Colour Lovers blog,  and I'm rarely disappointed. Here's a post on the architecture of Hundertwasser, an artist I've written about before, whose work is inspired and idiosyncratic and strangely wonderful. From the post: "He was fascinated with spirals, and called straight lines 'the devil's tools." 

No devil's tools today -- make it all about the curves, even if you can't see around the bends.

October Days

Thanks to the friendly green people at Crafting a Green World for linking to my post on the presidential candidates' positions on the arts. Welcome to new visitors who found me through that link; new and old might be interested to know that I've finally written a first introductory post for Making Good, my new blog on organic, sustainable, ethical and artisan clothing and textile enterprises. This first post will be familiar ground for many of my readers here, but check back often and there'll be new news.

I see these two blogs as complementary (with some overlap) and I hope you'll enjoy them both. From my perspective I have trouble fitting all of my textile interests under this one umbrella, so we'll see if this works out better.

If recent posts have piqued your interest in African textiles, visit Ananse Village, a fair trade online marketplace for African crafts and culture. They sent me a lovely e-mail; all of their fabrics are manufactured in Africa by hand,  including batik, tie-dye, wax prints, indigo prints, mud cloth and kuba cloth, like these:

Ananse ships from within the U.S., I believe, so ordering should be easy, and they also sell beadwork, drums, coffee, masks and other handmade artisan objects. 

We're having spectacularly beautiful October days here, all the more precious since it could snow any time. This is the best month of the year here, though. It looks like this:

I hope your days are beautiful too. Back soon. 

Moonlight Becomes You

Today is the Full Moon -- the Hunter's Moon or Blood Moon. There's a chill in the air and it's getting dark early, and I don't feel ready for winter at all, especially with the slightly ominous tone of violence coming from Sarah Palin rallies and livid right-wingers who think they're entitled to win every time by any means necessary, and meanwhile too many people in real need, wondering how they'll heat their homes or buy school supplies for their kids. 

And yet. Onward we go. The moon is magical and maybe we can right our collective ship and see some mass re-prioritizing.

I'm always so talky on this blog that you must wonder if I ever actually create anything; well, there has been some stitching going on. These photos suggest that I need a new camera, or more attention to focusing - sorry. I finished the 10-year-UFO  scrap quilt:

I practiced the shisha stitch so I can work on my OM piece, using big sequin pailettes -- tragically, the sequins get scratched from the needle, but the scratches show up more in this photo than in real life:

I made a new lunch bag for my dear friend Aidan, who goes to all-day school now. This excellent pattern is available from Spool; I added an outside pocket with a Velcro closure, and a handle. 

And finally I started another bead embroidery piece, though I think my iron may have melted some of the silver thread:

That's all for now. Stay warm and safe and make a wish/set an intention on the moon.

More on African Textile Shows and Dutch Wax Prints

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, African textiles are having a big, wonderful moment. There's more in today's New York Times. Here are the relevant links:

• "African Art, Modern and Traditional: Seductive Patterns from a Rich Palette." This is a good review of the Metropolitan Museum show and another show at NYU.
• There's also a beautiful slide show of work from the two exhibitions.
• The exhibition site for the  Metropolitan show, "The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End," is here. 
• Information on the exhibition at New York University's Grey Art Gallery, "The Poetics of Cloth: African Textiles, Recent Art" is here. 

One of the pieces that looks most intriguing in the slide show is by Rachid Koraichi, an Algerian artist now living in Paris, whose work "makes reference to the complex history and geography of indigo in large vertical banners filled with text from an eighth-century Sufi mystic." Though we associate indigo perhaps more with Japanese textiles, it's been used all over the world. 

Dutch wax prints are among the most accessible and lovely of African textile traditions, as they can be bought as yardage; while many African print fabrics available today are imitations, you can still buy authentic Dutch wax print fabric like these from Vlisco:

Candidates' Positions On the Arts

This comes from a story in the Salt Lake Tribune. Also visit artsvote.org. Now which candidate do you think actually cares about art and artists enough to have given this some thought? 

  McCain platform on the arts:

"John McCain believes that arts education can play a vital role fostering creativity and expression. He is a strong believer in empowering local school districts to establish priorities based on the needs of local schools and school districts. Schools receiving federal funds for education must be held accountable for providing a quality education in basic subjects critical to ensuring students are prepared to compete and succeed in the global economy. Where these local priorities allow, he believes investing in arts education can play a role in nurturing the creativity of expression so vital to the health of our cultural life and providing a means of creative expression for young people." 
   
  Obama platform:
   
  "Reinvest in Arts Education: To remain competitive in the global economy, America needs to reinvigorate the kind of creativity and innovation that has made this country great. To do so, we must nourish our children's creative skills. In addition to giving our children the science and math skills they need to compete in the new global context, we should also encourage the ability to think creatively that comes from a meaningful arts education. Unfortunately, many school districts are cutting instructional time for art and music education. Barack Obama believes that the arts should be a central part of effective teaching and learning. 
  The Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts recently said "The purpose of arts education is not to produce more artists, though that is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to create complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive lives in a free society." To support greater arts education, Obama will: 
  ---Expand Public/Private Partnerships Between Schools and Arts Organizations: Barack Obama will increase resources for the U.S. Department of Education's Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination Grants, which develop public/private partnerships between schools and arts organizations. Obama will also engage the foundation and corporate community to increase support for public/private partnerships. 
  ----Create an Artist Corps: Barack Obama supports the creation of an "Artists Corps" of young artists trained to work in low-income schools and their communities. Studies in Chicago have demonstrated that test scores improved faster for students enrolled in low-income schools that link arts across the curriculum than scores for students in schools lacking such programs. 
  ----Publicly Champion the Importance of Arts Education: As president, Barack Obama will use the bully pulpit and the example he will set in the White House to promote the importance of arts and arts education in America. Not only is arts education indispensable for success in a rapidly changing, high skill, information economy, but studies show that arts education raises test scores in other subject areas as well. 
  ----Support Increased Funding for the NEA: Over the last 15 years, government funding for the National Endowment for the Arts has been slashed from $175 million annually in 1992 to $125 million today. Barack Obama supports increased funding for the NEA, the support of which enriches schools and neighborhoods all across the nation and helps to promote the economic development of countless communities. 
  ----Promote Cultural Diplomacy: American artists, performers and thinkers - representing our values and ideals - can inspire people both at home and all over the world. Through efforts like that of the United States Information Agency, America's cultural leaders were deployed around the world during the Cold War as artistic ambassadors and helped win the war of ideas by demonstrating to the world the promise of America. Artists can be utilized again to help us win the war of ideas against Islamic extremism. Unfortunately, our resources for cultural diplomacy are at their lowest level in a decade. Barack Obama will work to reverse this trend and improve and expand public-private partnerships to expand cultural and arts exchanges throughout the world. 
 ---Attract Foreign Talent: The flipside to promoting American arts and culture abroad is welcoming members of the foreign arts community to America. Opening America's doors to students and professional artists provides the kind of two-way cultural understanding that can break down the barriers that feed hatred and fear. As America tightened visa restrictions after 9/11, the world's most talented students and artists, who used to come here, went elsewhere. Barack Obama will streamline the visa process to return America to its rightful place as the world's top destination for artists and art students. 
---Provide Health Care to Artists: Finding affordable health coverage has often been one of the most vexing obstacles for artists and those in the creative community. Since many artists work independently or have non-traditional employment relationships, employer-based coverage is unavailable and individual policies are financially out of reach. Barack Obama's plan will provide all Americans with quality, affordable health care. His plan includes the creation of a new public program that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health care similar to that available to federal employees. His plan also creates a National Health Insurance Exchange to reform the private insurance market and allow Americans to enroll in participating private plans, which would have to provide comprehensive benefits, issue every applicant a policy, and charge fair and stable premiums. For those who still cannot afford coverage, the government will provide a subsidy. His health plan will lower costs for the typical American family by up to $2,500 per year. 
---Ensure Tax Fairness for Artists: Barack Obama supports the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair market value of their work, rather than just the costs of the materials, when they make charitable contributions. 

Feelin' Nearly Faded As My Jeans

I spent about 2 hours earlier this week writing a post, and . . . I deleted a line at the very end and Typepad froze, and the post was lost. Thanks again, Typepad! I hope all your money is in stocks and all your mortgages are adjustable-rate. Fortunately, my investment in the stock market is tiny, and freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.  I have a wealth of art and textile riches to share, though. 

• A reader (I'm not sure if she wants to be named or linked, so I'll wait 'til I know) alerted me to a beautiful new blog written by Stephen Szczepanek of Sri Threads. I've written about Sri before - it's an appointment-only textile showroom and gallery in New York specializing in antique Japanese folk textiles. That's the main focus of the blog as well, but Stephen also writes brilliantly and beautifully about Indian folk textiles and other aspects of Asian material culture. This is a wonderful find and a valuable new source of inspiration.
• "In Tribal Dresses, Life Stories, Intricate Labor and Female Bonding" is a review, with photos and slideshow, of Identity by Design, an exhibition of Native American ritual garments. Most have lavish beadwork, some dating back more than a hundred years, and some modern. The show is at the New York branch of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. From the article: "These are heavy garments, and not just because they are dripping with beads, coins and other ornaments. Each is weighted with the circumstance and life story of the woman who wore it, as well as the history of her tribe." This dress, below, is circa 1900 (Photo: Ernest Amoroso / Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian).

Also at the New York Times, I love to read Cathy Horyn's On the Runway blog for her multifaceted analysis of fashion, especially during the seasonal shows in Milan and Paris. She's been talking a lot about African influences in the Paris shows, in fabric, pattern and silhouettes. With the show of African textile art coming to the Metropolitan Museum as well, it seems we're in the midst of a full-blown celebration of this stunning and diverse set of textile traditions. Global textile explorer John Gillow has a book in print on African textiles if you're in search of your own resource: 

The book looks like it might be hard to find, but it's the kind of thing that just might be in your local library. 

• Via Jezebel, I came across news of Who Does She Think She Is, a soon-to-be-released documentary on women in art, with a special focus on those who combine motherhood and art. The trailer sets the stage: 80 percent of students in art schools are women, and 80 percent of artists whose work is shown in galleries and museums are men. Many people can't name a woman artist. Women's art, especially when it has a thematic focus on motherhood or other gender issues, is ghettoized or trivialized as "arts and craft." 

Well, first of all, I'd like to see arts and craft not be trivialized, period, let alone be a ghetto for women's work or "hobbies," but we've all experienced it  -- especially when the medium is fiber. This is a big topic, and I haven't seen the film, so take the rest of this paragraph with a grain of salt. I get the feeling that it argues that it's easier for a woman to be a successful artist if she's not  a mother, and I'd dispute that. For one thing, being childless carries its own extremely heavy stigma in our culture, and can also bring a sometimes-immobilizing weight of sadness and regret, as it does for me, even though I know it was the right decision in my circumstances. And the idea that creative energy either goes to creating children or creating art seems simplistic. 

And putting women's art in women's art museums or women's galleries doesn't seem to be a solution to me either; isn't it just more ghettoizing? 

This comes full circle back to the whole discussion of calling oneself an artist or not. Women have to take themselves seriously first; it's not easy to do and there's always a price to be paid. The notion of "selfishness" comes up a lot when women take themselves seriously, and we're programmed early to be deeply afraid of that label.

Definitely a big topic; I don't have answers and I'm interested to see if this film advances the discussion at all. Meanwhile, I'm stitching various things and will post some photos from the worktable tomorrow. One of them, in my little ode to frugality, is a scrap quilt I started years ago; it seemed like a good time to finish it up as everyone talks about the Great Depression; it was a tough time for humans, but a great era for scrap quilts.

I hope you're feeling abundant, wealthy and creative. And did everyone see Michelle Obama on Larry King last night? Incredibly classy. In the White House, where I firmly believe the Obamas will be, she will be a fantastic role model for the next generation of women.

Post #100

This is my 100th post on this blog, in exactly 10 months. Not too bad. 

Some of the things I've learned in these 10 months:

• I love inspiring my readers, and I especially like it when they tell me I've put something into words that rings true for them. That's the connection that every writer aims for, especially with a beloved topic. I'm honored when you appreciate my words, and it never gets old. Thank you.
• My comfort level with the blogging process goes up and down. As a true INFJ (described here and here), I do better when I imagine that I'm writing to a specific person or group, but then I get nutty when I realize that anyone can read it and add their own projections between the lines . . . and gossip about their interpretation of my life. And some do. 
• Yet I'm always surprised that the most personal posts get a very positive response, mostly from others who share similar struggles, so it seems to be a balance worth striving for. 
• I think at its core this is a place for me to be a connector -- of ideas, people, art, craft, books, music, beauty, possibilities, resources and meaning. That's still what it's all about, the magical imaginary red thread that connects us across time and space with all that we're meant to be, do, know and love.
• I always appreciate comments and e-mails. I'm trying to do better to answer. 
• I think the current trendy-crafty DIY movement has become more of a disappointment to me than I realized before I started writing my opinions out on this blog. It underestimates and sometimes disrespects people who want to make beautiful things with authenticity and passion. By turning it into projects geared toward a 6-year-old's skills and making it all about selling more stuff, and using all this language of out-of-control addiction that only seems to denigrate women (drooling fabricoholics!), too much of it ends up being soulless, despite all the subversive super-hip posturing. I've tried to present ideas and an approach that are an alternative to that mind-set, which is rampant on the Web and in the bookstores and craft stores. I'm glad to learn that there are many other people who want that too.
• That doesn't mean that there isn't a place for beginners and students. Everything is practice, as the yogis say. Everybody starts somewhere and everybody has the right to experiment and try new techniques and ideas and to have fun, or maybe joy and pleasure are better words. Passing knowledge forward is part of the Slow Cloth vision. And I like to think that somehow everyone who ever put paint to canvas, or berry juice to rock wall, needle to fabric or shuttle to loom, pen to paper or bow to violin, in some attempt to create grace, beauty and liberty in the world -- somehow their spirit is with us, with a vast library of knowledge and wisdom for us to retrieve and build on. It's magic.

So what about the whole Slow Cloth idea, the possibilities of a magazine, an organization, or a bigger research project? That's all out there still. My vision and possibilities are pretty unlimited, but resources aren't, so maybe it's a matter of finding partners or the right job (still looking). Or maybe it'll evolve in the next 100 posts. Thanks for reading, and let me know -- how am I doing? What would you like to see more of?

Stitch: New Magazine

This new magazine for creative sewing will be on the newsstands on November 11, and can be pre-ordered from Interweave now at 10 percent off the newsstand price. It's a special issue, but if the response is good, maybe it'll become a regular publication. I wrote the "sew green" article on organic and eco-friendly sewing -- and I'm so proud to have it there on the cover next to an interview with Natalie Chanin.  The cover looks wonderful, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the whole issue.