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.
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.
I’ve always been fond of my birthdate, it pleased me as a nerdy kid to have a birthday right after Earth day (rhyme!) and when I later found out that Shakespeare was born and died on the day1 it added some class. Two years ago I learned that the day is also St. George’s day, but it wasn’t until very recently I even looked at what he was patron of. Turns out, totally appropriate birth-day saint, since he was also Palestinian. Rock.
Anyhow, as of late I’ve been all embroidery-y and trying to use stitching as just another media, something to draw with and be just another “graphic mark“. I am not a single media person at all, and I’ve been trying to better integrate my stitching into the other work I do and have done. So. I figured, birthdays? Totally a good push to do something about it and what better than a haiographic saint icon to work with as a subject?
There was a lot of image searching to get the brain churning. What bothered me about a lot of the traditional icons was that a) the dragon came from a lake, not a cave guys; 2) always the dragon is being stabbed in the image, which is false advertising as St. George doesn’t kill the dragon right there— he puts this princess’ girdle on it and takes it back to the village to bully them all into being baptised; 3) he was a Roman soldier and part Palestinian, something not often reflected in his face or clothing (which is just how religious arts work traditionally, but still2). So I did a drawing, transferred it to my fabric and got to work.
Overall, it worked out to eight days of stitching on the MAX (I tend to read on the bus legs of the trip, as it is jouncy and hard to work precisely) and a lovely afternoon of painting, 12-15 hours total. Which isn’t bad, especially considering that a chunk of that was technical dead time anyhow.
The end result I’m super happy with, its a step in a good direction, I think. I love stitching and embroidery because it is like painting and sculpting and sewing all together.
All in all, a nice way to ring out my 25th year and bring in the next.
1. According to the Julian calendar.
2. I think this is partially why the knight/dragon thing is so medival and England, because it was painted that way so often, despite the whole thing going down in the late third century.
While slumming around Portland with awesome folks on Sunday after Stumptown we hit Powells, like you do. Resting tired feet in the Pearl room, I found that we were in a section of utter awesomeness, being lots of art history. I am a magpie, easily attracted to certain book spines and while poking through little plate books of Persian miniatures I found a book of Russian icons from the 12th to 15th centuries. I have a fondness for icons, the combination of bold imagery with complex symbolism is fascinating. However, I’m not that up on all the meanings, so some plates, like this one:
make me think of Aarne-Thompson type 312 (Bluebeard). Like, people look in this hole they weren’t supposed to and BAM, head off. Really though, it’s St. John the Baptist and what we’re seeing here is sequential story telling. The head in the hole is his. Snap.
What decided me buying the book was that there is a plate of the best horse drawn ever in it.
Look at this horse. Is it not the best ever? Holy crap you have never seen a better horse.
Anyhow, turns out this wizard is Elijah (still a wizard, frankly), and Jesus is not stealing a baby, that’s his mom’s soul and she’s being escorted in style to heaven. The plate listing was an uncut page so I didn’t even see it till way after I had it home.
Icons, guys. The raddest.