Well Used, Well Loved: 2019

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, January 20, 2019

News bits and updates

Towel and journal VI back home.

I began this journey in early 2016 with around 50 households participating in the project where we explored thoughts, feelings and reflections on age, beauty, attachment and impermanence.

Three years have passed since I reached out for companions on this journey - and I am eternally grateful for the enthusiastic and willing folks who contributed this project.

Well Used, Well Loved continues to garner attention and awards. Here are some news bits and project updates.

Last week I brought the 4 WUWL panels home from a solo exhibit in Brunswick ME at Maine FiberArts.

I have also been returning the Well Used and Loved towels and journals to the 8 Linen Team households. Only one towel/journal set is waiting to go back home.

Well Used, Well Loved has been accepted in a national juried exhibit titled "Excellence in Fibers IV." The exhibit will be in Los Angeles at The Craft in America Center from May 11 - July 6, 2019.

I am so pleased that this work is getting the recognition it deserves and that all the voices that contributed to this project are being seen.

Again - thank you to all who supported and championed this project. I am incredibly grateful.

WUWL panels with Shifu threads

Central panels installed at ME FiberArts Gallery

WUWL in FiberArts Now magazine