Several things happened since June. But before I get into it, let me say I am not placing myself above other weavers, that I do not see myself any better. What I am trying to do is to have a conceptual direction for my art, or if you like, I'm trying to have a clearer product positioning; these two statements sound so different, and yet in my mind, for now, I understand them to be remarkably similar.
In early July, I had a One-on-One with Martin at Arts Marketing. The crux of the discussion was, I may be a different kind of a weaver in that I aspire to weave textiles outside of what is commonly expected of handweavers in New Zealand or Nelson, at least for now. He told me to build stronger ties with weavers with similar aspirations, and to seek inspiration from artists in other disciplines as well.
In October, Randall Darwall told me to be my own apprentice.
Later in October, I met Sue Broad, who now lives in Nelson, and with her arrival, I have, for the first time, a warm-blooded (as opposed to mostly-over-the-Internet) weaving buddy I can talk to and have coffee with and admire each other's stash with. I also became friends with song-writer Kath Bee at a time when we are both taking baby-steps and giant leaps into our respective worlds.
A couple of weeks ago, sculptor Tim Wraight and designer Claudia Lacher, both of whom I met at the June Retreat, came over. While discussing my transformation into a weaver and search for an identity, Tim recalled when he finished his apprenticeship and was about to go solo. He declared he would not trouble himself with "bread and butter" minutiae, but would make cake only, and that I should do the same.
So, in 2007, I'm going to be an apprentice baker who aspires to bakes only the moistest, most delicate, and the most delicious cakes. And if this isn't a clear enough direction, I have no business in art.
Liz, Angel Food, Devil's Food, orange, or whatever, you and I have lots of cakes to go through in our respective lives; I hope we get to share some in person.
6 comments:
Dear Meg,
I am sure you will succeed in anything you might inspire to, and at the highest levels, no doubt about it. I wish you the very best for the coming year, Merisi
Lavender Lady, my 2007 goal is the simplest in all the years I can remember having goals, which leads me to believe maybe I can achieve it in some ways, as opposed to my usual bullet point list.
Merisi, thank you very much for the encouragement. Time works in a totally different way when making art, and I'm finally starting to see that. I would like to stop seeing weaving as slow, and learn to live by my weaving time, if that makes sense.
will be interesting to hear more about the process :) checked out your blog from flickr profile (where i'm pinkveneer)~
i've just received a small loom and am just starting a process in which you've been engaged many years, sounds like!
(another recent present to me was a randall darwahl(sp?) jacket, so i thought it was funny to see his name here) :)
Thank you for visiting, Linda. I love your yarns. I spin, but not very interesting yarns, and I would love to be able to incorporate interesting handspun accent yarns into my weaving.
In a Homer Simpson voice: mmmmmmm.....
cake.
Figure out how to bake a "bialey," they're the best (a nyc delicacy).
Thanks for leaving a comment on my site while I was away.
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