Kaz and Dave and Ben and Meg

Kaz and Dave Madigan were in New Zealand and a fortnight ago. We first met at their place in 2014, then in Tokyo last November when I took them on a needless hike around metropolitan Tokyo, and finally in Nelson. We got a little more weaving talk, but also a bit of politics, (Kaz and me), about her kids, food, travel, etc. Not to repeat the hilarious fiascos of when Dr Cady visited Nelson, I armed myself with Nelson's winery and pottery maps, and started out with an enjoyable visit to McGlashen Gallery, (though Royce was overseas speaking,) but another favorite potter  was away, (and from the looks of it, less pots and more paintings?); one winery cafe we enjoyed with the Cadys had closed, (and they haven't rung back,) and another had just changed hands and were prepping for Sept 24 opening, (although he let us buy some,) and a reliable cafe had become a restaurant with no nibbles at 3.30PM, offering dinners only. I'm so out of touch, tourist maps are not always accurate, I'm thinking of giving up wee tours of the region completely. Especially because Kaz and I could have happily sat on a couch talking weaving, while the boys could have gone to see classic cars down the road. Or something... Although it was fun to observe two long-and-somewhat-suffering weavers' husbands.


I have to be careful how I address Saori weaving, with which I have a strained relationship. I admire the easy access to weaving, easy cloth-to-garment transformation, (especially if you're slim. :-D), its therapeutic effect, and their all out effort in helping older and/or disabled participants. At the same time I've inherited Mom's dislike of their business model and politics, and I don't consider Saori "real" weaving. I see it akin to my mixed media/prints/drawings, knitting and needlepoint: instinctive, all pleasure, no discipline. And if I had to work hard, (I didn't, if I were honest,) why should they have all the fun? Which is utterly hypocritical because I'm self-taught and I didn't go through the rigor of, and therefore lack the knowledge and skills of, "proper" weaving. Having had proper training and decades of "proper" weaving, on the other hand, may have given Kaz and Terri different perspectives: Kaz loves to teach and observe people having a go, and backed by her extensive knowledge of dressmaking, has a more macro view, while Terri, in my opinion, uses Saori in part as therapeutic/peace promoting act. And they are lovely, gentle, kind, unselfish people.

Whereas, you know me, I have wondered out loud, in front of them, (many times in case of poor Kaz,) my conviction/perspective the act of weaving alone and itself should provide the highest reward, (nothing wrong with that,) so why are they wasting their time? (very wrong.) Besides, look where I am financially, not teaching, not writing, not selling anything else by more scarves! 

What's more, and this is where my "logic" gets fuzzy, I've become a hostage to the aesthetics of and the thinking, (are there??) behind outsider/naive art in the last decade. Which is why I don't hesitate to show you my stuff here. And this is why I became interested in going to Kaz's class in the first place, in addition to wanting to meet her and have a good pow wow about weaving. This is why I'm persisting with, (albeit with long breaks,) clasped wefts, plotting to adopt a tapestry loom, and coming up with more ideas to incorporate spontaneous elements. (Yes, evil plans hatching. Muahahaha.) "Olding" and compensation for  the lack of technical skills aside, my appreciation for the genre and having done some intuitive art have alerted me to the more primordial joy I could reap by weaving differently.

So, though I engage in my outsider art for the intrinsic joy, and I learned to dive right in and engage with these as ends rather than means, I started to consider seriously only since the needlepoint project ways I might merge the two modes of making, on the loom. Which should also satisfy some who said I was wasting my time. LOL. 

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In speaking of politics with Kaz, I noticed I haven't had the optimism to see the glass as half empty, but I don't trust the glass even exists some of the time, particularly where race is concerned. I've cocooned myself in a victimhood based on personal experiences and reading about/listening to others on the Internet, which is another reason why I stay home more. This can turn things into self-fulfilled prophecies, or remain wise precaution because I'm not as nimble as I used to be. This is a hard one.

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See? Chipper-er than yesterday's post?

Kaz and Dave came to celebrate a significant anniversary. We have one coming up, and we think Melbourne, and meeting up again with them is the best option. So I started thinking/planning last week because we haven't got that much time. Or didn't until Ben reminded me our significant year is not next year but the one after, so we have 19 months to a plan.

Let us LOLROF in unison, and hope that I don't forget it in 2020.

Yeah, nah, so sorry no pics, I was too busy talking. But they have some and maybe it will pop up on her blog or maybe I'll ask her for some.