Stop the presses
I bitch a lot about the arts. I’ve cultivated a fine contempt for most of what I see treacling across my RSS. However, there are some people who do not make my choke on my own vomitus. I figure, since I am clearly way too occupied sorting our things away at the new place, I should fill this space with some of them.
Though Nicole is second I’ll mention, she was actually the first fiber/stitching artist I found that made me happy instead of raging. I still had Craftzine’s blog on my RSS at the time, but was skipping most of what I saw. Then, between a post on making twee flag bunting and something about Steampunk heart pins was a quote that caught my eye.
The idea with this project is to examine the implications of the fact that we now have the ability to disseminate widely something written very quickly, to a potentially very large audience… My response is to create this blog, posting embroidered diary entries on a semi-daily basis. While the posting of the image is nearly instantaneous, the act of physically creating the object is much slower than typing or even handwriting an entry. This forces me to think very carefully about what to include.
That was Embloggery. I was thrilled. I mean, my project at the time was embroidering maps from memory, revelling in the time spent/wasted on inaccurate information. And I am mad fond of hyperlinking. What made me happy was that, when Nicole was unable to embroider for a while we started to see what other things she turned to when her hands itched to make things. And in March she started Red Tarts, confessing “Rugs are actually my real passion. I adore embroidery but sort of view it as my “hobby” whereas rugs are more like my “career.”". As she went on we got to see more of her work, like using the ‘backside’ of a needlepunch piece to draw.
Nicole and her work was a driving force behind my own attempts to figure out how I felt about stitching and using fiber and thread as a “graphic mark”. Her pure amusement and joy in stitching is a constant encouragement to keep going.
What with moving and now trying to make this place a home instead of just a place we live (it involves curtains! and pegboard accessories!) I’ve been terrible and just letting the Twitter hold this space. My stitching lately has been of little to no note, just mindless doodle-crap that isn’t worth scanning. However, I did do this for an awesome co-worker’s birthday:
I have been equally awful in commenting and noting that I am somehow keeping up with everybody’s ups and downs lately. Part of my bleh is that I’m now a laptop user and am still trying to get used to the difference in how things go. Also using the internet comparatively less, though that hasn’t resulted in much more than Farscape watching.
I bitch a lot about the arts. I’ve cultivated a fine contempt for most of what I see treacling across my RSS. However, there are some people who do not make my choke on my own vomitus. I figure, since I am clearly way too occupied sorting our things away at the new place, I should fill this space with some of them.
First is Chelsea, who’s posted bits of her thesis on her blog, PlainMade. I think I actually pumped my fist in the air when I read this bit, where she explains some of Christien Miendertsma’s influence in her work:
These politics are evident in my work through the direct, non-gendered use of craft. I use sewing as a simple method of adhering pieces of material together to form a garment. It is not used symbolically to talk about the role of women or gratuitously to suggest an interest in labor. Like Miendertsma, I am using the technique as a means to an end. In choosing textile forms, I try to work with garments that are not immediately symbolic in the way a piece of lingerie or a 1950’s style of dress might be. I am more interested in garments that are familiar and suggest a utility. It is the space within this familiar territory I wish to shift slightly and utilize as a site of communication.
Sometimes stitching is just stitching.
And sometimes strange conceptual work has an underlying sense of that “There’s got to be a better way” bit of David Cross’, Gothic revival gardening, protective camouflage and makes my brain happy and interested.
Chelsea sells prints through her PlainMade site and has another blog focusing on the conceptual work of herself and others, called Fool. Through Fool is another store, where you can get her freaking awesome flat pack houseplants.