Red Thread Studio

Summer Solstice, and Mind Like a Sieve

My mind feels a bit sieve-like these days. A huge amount of interesting stuff flows through it every day but I don't seem to be capturing much, let alone getting it down on blog. Everything is okay, but the adjustment to out-of-house gainful employment is taking most of the energy I have right now; I don't know what to let go of or where all of my other projects and ideas and plans are going now.

But links, I've got links!

• The cool people at Contemporary Cloth have launched a new shop and blog called Modern Marks. The new site sells original works on paper and fabric, including original textiles by Jane Dunnewold. 
• I came across Elin Noble's beautiful work and Web site last week. It looks as if there will be threads and fabric for sale soon, and more gallery images. 
• Garment sewers will appreciate The Luxurious Vagabond's blog.
• And you'll also like the online collection at the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum.
• Do you live in a city or town that could use some revitalization and more space for artists? Artspace USA is a real estate developer for artists' spaces. They can do site assessments for communities interested in renovating or developing buildings as studios, and they have a downloadable report on the ways that art and culture can stimulate state economic development. 
• Beautiful handprinted fabrics at Publisher Textiles:

The news from Iran has been intense. I have an old Dover book of Persian designs and motifs that I've just rediscovered; I don't know why I bought it, or where, but it's been on my shelf a long time. Persia/Iran is an ancient and beautiful culture, and the people there deserve freedom and safety, especially the women. I've heard wonderful reviews of Reading Lolita in Tehran, so I'm going to read it soon. Here's a little watercolor I painted this afternoon from a Persian floral pattern from the Safavid era, 1502-1736. I used the paints I had on hand, but I'm dying to buy a whole new set of acrylic inks  . . . see? My mind is all over the place.

This week we've got a new moon, summer solstice, venus and mars in a beautiful tango in the skies . . . let's see what the week brings. Onward we go.

Ways of Chronicling the Journey

I apologize if you've been seeing text over images in recent posts. It doesn't appear that way when I preview the post, but I just learned that it shows up that way on the site. I've fixed several but let me know if it happens again.

I'm fascinated by the work Dijanne is doing with her traveller's blanket and traveller's medallions. Imagine the experience of being a traveler before there were cameras, or guidebooks, or postcards; how inventive to build the story of the journey in cloth and stitches. Dijanne's versions are, of course, modern and personal and imaginative, yet always conjuring an echo of ancient travellers whose work has informed her.

In the same vein -- (and stay with me here, I realize that sometimes my connecting of dots comes out like mental hairpin turns to those who aren't in my brain, and actually sometimes it feels that way to me too) -- Sharon B. on Pintangle linked to the newest issue of Bonefolder, a gorgeous free-to-download e-zine on book arts. In this newest volume (Vol. 5 No. 1), book artist Susan Allix has written Colours of Persia: The Making of a Book (page 19 in the magazine). It's a beautiful account of her decision to make a limited-edition book of prints that tells the story of her travels through color. Allix writes, "Travelling around this country with my bag of crayons, sketchbooks, notebooks and camera, I had been quite overcome by its colour. There were turquoise domes against blue or black skies, sun-baked courtyards containing ever-repeated patterns of yellow and ultramarine tiles, glittering mirror work, piles of rosy pomengranates, eye-stretching fields of acid green rice crops. I could buy woven textiles from nomad people and rescue fragments of old blue and yellow ceramic from the gutter to remind myself of the colours when I returned to London. Travellers in Persia always seemed compelled to write of their experiences. In using accounts which stretched from the 1st century AD until the present day and setting them in the places in which they were written, a mind picture could be built across time showing both the continuity and vicissitudes of life. The intimate and narrative qualities of a book, together with its images, lend themselves to a travelling progress." 

Allix, a master book artist and printmaker, has also made a limited edition travel book on Egypt, on view here. Her prints and books and words are all magical. 

If you like printmaking, definitely visit Marja-Leena's Web site; Marja-Leena visits and comments here (and thankfully set me straight on my Swedish-Finnish confusion in the Marimekko post) and her site and work are both stunning. 

One more link . . . the movie Australia has just opened here, and All the Rage has a terrific interview with costume designer Catherine Martin, and her creation of "a staggering 2,000 costumes from 1930s-era vintage gowns to traditional aboriginal dress." I love reading the backstory that Martin creates to arrive at a look; it's a reminder of all that clothing communicates if we look carefully.

In the Meantime

By the end of the week, God willing and the creek don't rise, I should finally have my high-speed Internet issues resolved. Liberation. NOW we'll see some blogging, people. It's not like I live in the backwoods -- hardly -- but there are peculiarities in my little microcosm that have made it a challenge.

Meanwhile, a few links and photos of unexpected pleasures this week. If I were in England this week, I would try to find my way here, to the Stroudwater Textiles Festival and Symposium. For the rest of us, that link will take you to a page that has further links to several very intriguing artist sites. This looks like an extravaganza for those of us with the Slow Cloth orientation.

Maggie Baxter from Australia is an exhibiting artist at Stroudwater whose work looks quite amazing in the multicultural Slow Cloth vein. She doesn't appear to have a Web site of her own, but you can read about her collaborations with textile artisans in India here.

My friend Betsy sent me a link to Digital Threads, a project of the Textile Museum of Canada. This is a rich and beautiful Web site that focuses on some very innovative, forward-thinking textile projects, but also has links to past exhibitions that explore a very full range of textile arts from traditional to contemporary.

Arlee sent a link to Pleasure-Purpose, a Toronto exhibition that is "an attempt to navigate craft and question its contemporary role." It seems like the textile world just continues to explode in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia . . . maybe it takes the past or present influence of a Queen.

But then there's Japan too. My brother and mother went to the new International Quilt Study Center museum and sent me a beautiful package from the gift shop: these Japanese fabrics from Kasuri Dyeworks and Stitch Dissolve Distort by Valerie Campbell-Harding and Maggie Grey. If you love Japanese textile arts -- or stunning displays of skill and beauty -- definitely visit Jane's blog on Japanese embroidery. She left me a lovely comment here -- thank you, Jane, and thank you for your subtle, gorgeous work.

And last of all for today, my dear friend Lisa went to New Orleans for the Jazz and Heritage Festival and brought me a God of Love. I've had a few of those in my life in mortal form, but never one of fabric.

Here he is, very powerful, slightly alarming -- because love should be a little dangerous -- and completely enchanting:

 

Pattern Recognition

Sometimes I feel so reckless and wild
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
I gave nobody life
I am nobody's wife
And I seem to be nobody's daughter
So red is the color that I love the best
It's your Indian skin and the badge on my chest
The heat of my pride
The lips of a bride
The heart of the truth
And the flag of youth
And the blood that is thicker than water
I was born to be telling this story
I am finally telling this story
I will always be telling this story.     -- shawn colvin, the story

Nice to see you again here in cyberspace! I have been a very recalcitrant blogger. I got seriously derailed in the last couple of weeks, in part because of dental issues that aren't going away quickly. Like Acey at SparklingLotusLand, dental situations bring up a lot of early-life issues for me (and I have some doozies) and they never happen at the right time.

I'm also a bit stalled in my efforts to restructure my life since losing my job in late August. It's been some time now, and I have excellent freelance projects, but it's not quite where I want or need to be. I don't know what the answer is, and hesitate to talk about it too much, but part of what I'm doing here is exploring ideas for ways that I can finally make a living, contribute to the world, and use my skills in something that involves textiles, after spending nearly 15 years mostly working in the organic foods industry and somewhat cut off from my creative self.

 

 

I have a lot of expertise and passion for the principles of the organic foods movement, but sadly it has felt like a dry well for me for quite some time, though it has given me a grounding in issues very relevant to sustainable textiles and apparel. I've had a lot of false starts with art and textiles, so now it is past time to get serious, and I am ready and eager to find work that I really love, whether editorial, entrepreneurial, communicating, designing, getting an advanced degree and teaching, other, or all of the above. There really is no going back. (And if you are interested, my resume is linked in the sidebar.) So -- path forward -- dare I say clear eyes, full heart, can't lose, for my fellow Friday Night Lights fans.

Readers, when it comes to creating, how do you find focus? I love art quilts, bead embroidery, painting, garment sewing, and more -- I love to make beautiful and meaningful things. Art quilter Lisa Call says to affirm that there is enough time, but do you think it's more important to follow one muse, or work with a broad range of techniques? Is that the difference between the artist and the hobbyist -- the ability to leave a hundred shiny objects behind and focus on one path? For me the danger has always been doing nothing when presented with too many possibilities and choices; at the same time everything feels connected and enticing. In some ways this relates to the fantastic comment threads on Craft 2.0 and Slow Cloth -- I appreciate the stimulating discussion so much, and thank all of you who commented.

Many of us are surely torn between making art that would properly be shown in a gallery and doing things with more practical, and even marketable, applications. Lately I've found myself surfing through sites of artisan fabrics, many hand-printed, primarily for interiors. Textile print design is a whole area of specialization all its own, considered a decorative art, and a rich and world-enhancing one. Prints and patterns can have so much charm, or whimsy, or sophistication, or tribal expression. Enjoy these links, and come back soon for more ideas, thoughts, and updates on work and projects.

• Galbraith & Paul in Philadelphia creates beautiful, modern hand-printed textiles. I've taken note of them before and was reminded of them at Fibercopia. This is called Spring Garden:
                                              

• Bird Textile is an Australian company focused on sustainability. It's not letting me pick up an image, but visit their cool site.

• My friend Harmony at Harmony Art creates beautiful designs on organic cotton and has a great blog; she's interested in working more with quilters and artists, and is speaking at the sold-out SAQA/SDA Breaking New Ground conference in April in Philadelphia. You can buy her fabrics by the yard at Near Sea Naturals.  Visit her site -- I'm having no luck with images today.

Slow Cloth Inspiration, February 1

I was doing a Google search for khadi -- the homespun cotton that Ghandi wore and promoted -- and came across the wonderful Fibercopia blog. Author Arcadia is an interior designer; she has an incredible eye for beautiful and interesting textiles from all over the world, and a ton of knowledge.

Rowland and Chinami Ricketts are masters of natural dyeing and traditional techniques at RickettsIndigo. Visit their site full of stunning work -- you will not be able to navigate away (but do -- come back here!). I'm in love with this piece:

Untitled Obi Yardage, 2002, indigo and charcoal dyed hemp kibira, paste resist

and saw echoes of it the next day at the Denver Art Museum's show of Color Field paintings.

Back to interiors, John Robshaw Textiles is a commercial enterprise very much in the Slow Cloth spirit. From the Web site, here is the mission statement:

Our mission is to create original, handcrafted textiles from around the world. John Robshaw Textiles employs traditional printing, dying and weaving techniques, while reinterpreting them in ways that respect the integrity of the method to create original textiles. Every textile represents a story, a drawing of an adventure in a far–off place–from Yogakarta to Rajasthan, Bolivia to Vietnam. Arriving at textiles from painting and printmaking, I am interested in the mistakes, overlapping prints and the miss-registrations of woodblocks that record the human hand.

I'm guessing that these very beautiful pillows and bedding are out of my price range for now, but the spirit of this artistry and design is contagious. I found him through VivaTerra, where you can buy some of these objects.

The incredible multimedia and quilt artist Deidre Adams has started a blog; I'm very inspired by her technique of quilting, then painting the quilted surface.

Finally, for today at least, I'm enchanted by the sustainably-produced fabrics at Bird Textile --  "Australia's first climate neutral business."  If you love textile design and are interested in what's being done in environmentally friendlier fibers, take a look.

With the new year off to a strange start, I have not yet finished my Take It Further textile art challenge piece for January -- I don't think I'm alone, but I'm not very happy about my unfinished projects. Time to work harder and smarter.

Athena's Web

I'd like to pay homage to some of the goddesses of textile blogging who have really inspired me, the well-worn bookmarks that set a standard for the rest. I don't really know what this blog will become, but these are some I look to for their focus, knowledge and warmth, and highly recommend as a core online library for the textile community.

• Dijanne Cevaal's blog, Musings of a Textile Itinerant, is a gorgeous showcase of her work, her multicultural inspiration, her thoughtful process, and her tenacious pursuit of the artist's life.
• Serena Fenton's Layers of Meaning is not updated as frequently as some others, but every entry is a gem of inspiration and beauty.
• Kay and Ann of Mason-Dixon Knitting have justifiably earned fame in the knitting and blogging world. Their wit and geniality is unsurpassed. Whatever they're drinking, I need some.
• Sharon B's In A Minute Ago is the mother of all textile blogs; Sharon is Australian, a crazy quilter, an educator by nature and a pioneer in creating a global Internet community and using the resources of the Web.