Here's something I started in mid-May, because I thought it sounded like the kind of thing artists do these days. It started a few days later I finished the SSVE scarf and was feeling liberated about doing things "not me".I found two shawls with moth damage in March. These were woven in 2005 or 2006, were exhibited once, may have done their time in a gallery, but more or less sat in my stash room for at least a year. I did have, a little lower on my list, mending these pieces. One cold morning in May, when most of my "proper" pieces were in the "to be handwashed" basket, I grabbed one of these. It was amazingly light and soft and warm and I decided to keep this one. At first I thought I should mend it before the damage worsens, but I decided against it.
Don't "artists" nowadays make a big deal of these things and mend them badly and wear them and mend them again or damage then intentionally and in the end exhibit them? I thought of ancient porcelain in museums which are mended with white, beige or pink clay clearly marking which parts were authentic and which restored; I thought to mend this piece in such a way that the restoration would stand out from the original piece. Let it be more tattered before I mend it badly, in other words... And I took this to Wellington and Napier, damage and all.
But after having decided my next goal was "authenticity", and this kind of recycled/process "art" being so not my thing, I'm undecided once again. I don't find an obviously-mended (badly) piece attractive and if I do that I'd be embarassed to wear it, and yet the process is so "out there" that I might learn or experience something new, like the SSVE scarf.
It's been draped somewhere since I returned from Napier. I hate to damage it more, but don't know what to do with it.
6 comments:
Meg, I truly can't see you doing an "obviously-mended (badly)" job on anything. And those pesky moths - the last visitors you need in your stash room!
Neither can I, Carol. Really not my thing, is it... I might mend it the old-fashioned way - as invisible as possible.
that sounds more your style.
Invisible Perfection.
You think? Thanks to adventurous weavers like you, Lynne, my horizon has been broadened to the point I see that the world is actually round, but I didn't realize how much that discovery helps me in determining what I would like to make!
I have a solution! Mend it badly, fantastically, artistically, and have fun. Then send it to your sponsored child (cough, ok, adult) in Australia, who would LOVE to wear such a wacky thing. EASY!
I'm here to help!
xo
Ha ha ha, that thought crossed my mind in March, but you know, this is so light and warm, I think I'll give it a miss. However, I do have another that needs mending and that's never been worn... So... thinking, thinking, thinking...
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