Glass Half Full

Ahhhh. Very well played indeed, America. Now where were we? Wherever it was, we're in a place now that's the same and also entirely different. I always say that cynics and romantics are two sides of the same coin; scratch the most brittle, fatalistic person just a little and you'll find a gooey marshmallow center. The more grumpy on the outside, the more sensitive the poet within. So the most jubilant among us this week were the ones least willing to hope, the ones desperately trying to diminish expectations, trying to tamp down that feeling that something big, something for us instead of against us, was underway. But we're free at last to believe that things can change for the better.

This week it felt safe - let's say mandatory - to be optimistic. It's such an unusual feeling for so many of us. Everyone I know has hurt themselves or gotten sick this week; I think we're either detoxing George Bush or just awkwardly adjusting to this entirely new energy. (I did a number on my back yesterday that was blindingly painful and briefly immobilizing; Advil is going to be my friend for a while.) 

So what about us, artists and handcrafters, torch-carriers for the authentic, the contemplative, the service-minded, the creative, the multicultural, the local and the global? Why, we fit right in for a change.  The economy is scary, there's no doubt about it. It gives us room to use our skills, and only magnifies the need for beauty and creative expression. We might have felt marginalized in a world where net worth and conspicuous consumption ruled, and a search for significance and meaning was mocked; now we have a chance to write the book. Because the one thing I've noticed for sure this week is that everybody feels like they can be more and do better than before. No matter how long some of us have lived a disappointed life, we're ready to shake it off. This is what inspiration feels like. 

I have a backlog of textile and art stuff to write up. I was thrilled to see that the new issue of Surface Design Journal has an article on Rowland Ricketts, the amazing indigo dyer and artist I've written about a few times on this blog. And I came across this wonderful online exhibition of the Dragon Robes of China's Last Dynasty at the San Diego Museum of Art Web site. It's interesting, after all the hoopla around what the candidates wore in this election, to notice how rulers and leaders through the ages have approached their own version of looking powerful. This is a formal court robe from the Qing dynastry, from the site:

 

Finally (for now), I've been thinking about this comment from a few posts back, from Anaka Narayanan of Brass Tacks Madras, a clothing company (with fascinating blog) in India, responding to the interest in African textiles:

I wonder how sustainability fits into the fickle nature of fashion with textile crafts that require for the knowledge to be kept alive from generation to generation. For example, if there is a huge demand for African mud cloth today and craftsmen there work towards a certain level of quality and production, that's great for today. But tomorrow if the new craze is embroidery, then does the demand for mud cloth take a nose dive? How do designers or craftsmen make sure there is a constant demand for their crafts?

I have some thoughts on this but I'd like to hear yours as well, so please comment, and come back soon for more on this. Oh, and don't forget to look for the new Stitch publication from Interweave/Quilting Arts Press this week, with my article on sustainable and organic fabrics. 

Comments

[Heather]

Canadians took great interest in the election as well, since our fortunes are so closely tied to the U.S. I was thrilled that Obama won, for the reasons that you describe so well. As artists and makers of things, we know that transformation is possible, and it's very gratifying to see that sense of possibility taking hold in the general public.

[Heather]

This past week has certainly inspired me than anything in a long time. I was listening to Prairie Home Companion last night and really teared up listening to the audience sing along to America the Beautiful. It's good to feel like I belong to a country that can choose change.