oh my... it has been awhile since i posted... life has been busy with out of town visitors and a dyeing workshop. and the weather has changed from our last bit of sun to gray rainy days. i'm not complaining mind you... just takes a while to readjust. its time to pay attention to my space. so i have been cleaning up the studio in preparation for getting back to work. nothing makes me want to get back to work more than a nice clean space ... i don't mind the mess when i am solidly in the process of working but its a real downer to come into a messy place to start again. and i have just been dumping things from classes and what have you... so. now workspaces are cleared and the ironing is done and i have new pieces of fabric to shoot when the rain stops and the light is brighter. i was reminded about this last week when i went to a lecture by gerhardt knodel who is a weaver based in michigan... he showed slides of his work over a 35 years time period. there were some major changes in the art fabric scene that he took part in. in particular i liked what he had to say about space. he compares fiber to architecture where space is integral to the finished project. he says that it the forgotten space between the warp and the weft that plays an important role in determining the use of the fabric.
its an interesting thought, space. something i have always needed ever since i was a child. with three little sisters and a mom that needed a lot of help, it was something i didn't have much of. in my adult life i made it a priority. i created a corner that i called my own and a bit of time to pursue some needle work. now that is so much a part of my life that i don't know what it would be like with out it. the warp and weft of my life has been formed around my space.
6 comments:
oh wow. just beautiful.
i too enjoy space, but mostly because a lot was given to me as a child.
i too hate returning to mess. i feel like it confuses my head a little too much.
for me space in quilting is always about what is left out. when i think of quilt designs and colors
it's about what i omit as much as what i put in.
hope the workshop went well and that your out of town visitors made it back out of town safely.
hard work on the hostess.
Space is wealth! In small old Europe, it is almost a luxury. I love my northern home landscape with a view to all horizons.
I also found that it is such a luxury to collect things. Having a lot of things makes you poor! As I was a daughter of refugees, I often heard: "You never know what you may need it for!" Then I learnt to create free space. What a progress!
space defines everything
your last sentence is of course
beautiful. as is the photograph
at the beginning of this post.
i read the post first last night
and have re-read twice this morning.
and in between have carried it's
thoughts as i look at this
space
where i am, literally and
metaphorically
and think about how i would speak
of what might be the warp and the
weft of my own life.
i like the word architecture
introduced here. forms.
thank you for these thoughts....
Woo hoo Nan - beautiul photo and beautiful post. Yeah - I wonder how much our dimensions of being are charted by all that is not us. Gilly
serena all is calm in the household now until mid november.... thinking of space in a tangible way we might say that it is what we leave in the quilt. no?
eva... what a concept...free space...i would like to hear more about that.
jude, just as knowing what you aren't forms what you are.
grace, warp and weft, posts and lintels, forms we move through and by our movements we learn more.
gilly yes, one could map it.
thank you everyone for such thoughtful responses.
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