THE BACK STORY


THE BACK STORY: In January 2016 I launched "Well Used, Well Loved" (WUWL)a long term community art project that explores age, beauty, impermanence and attachment through a hand woven dish towel and reflective writing/drawing. Eight households from England to Oregon "adopted" a hand woven linen towel to use however they wish. Every other week I sent a prompt for reflection to be recorded in a small journal that I provided. The response to my initial call to participate in WUWL was overwhelming. Over 50 households expressed interest in taking part in the project and I only had 8 towels.


So I created a secondary project that dovetailed with the first one. This second group of ultimately 38 households (Maine to Arizona) wrote and drew on kozo paper (a special Japanese paper) to record their response to my prompts. Thru a hands-on workshop at my studio I taught local folks from this group how to spin their kozo paper into thread using a Japanese technique called Shifu. I created a video tutorial for those who wanted to learn to spin their paper from afar.


Prompts to both groups were the same. For example Prompt #6 was: "The materials for this project are hand woven linen and Kozo paper. Both are created from plant fibers, known for their absorption qualities. Absorption can also been seen as dissolving boundaries. In that light what parallels or connection do you observe between your own ability to absorb, to soak up, to empathize? What connections do you perceive between your linen/paper and the action of union, of dissolving boundaries, connection? What value do these actions have today.


In September 2017 I began to collect the 8 towels, the kozo papers and the journals to wrap up the project. The journals, the used/loved towels and the completed four panel piece woven from the community threads combine to create an installation that honors and reflect the spirit of this project.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Witness and Companion

Dede the bear
    Meet Dede. This is the bear that was given to my daughter when she came home to us 26 years ago. This bear is the most well loved and used creature that I know.
    She has been my daughter's companion EVERYWHERE -- summer camp, Disney World, sailing summers in Maine, Canada, France, school, colleges and now her life in Portland. This spring Dede and Zoe will graduate from college.
     Dede is showing serious signs of love and use. Her right arm is completely withered. Her eyes, nose and toes have all be repaired. There is hardly any fur left on her hide. But isn't Dede beautiful?
This is the kind of beauty that makes me weepy and weak - the beauty that is from love, from attention and companionship.
   I LOVE Dede for being Zoe's faithful side kick for all these years. I knit her a sweater for Valentine's Day 
Dede in her new sweater.

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