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 31, 2016

Towel VI gets a bath!

Towel VI gets a bath today!
Betty from NH has written this in the voice of towel VI ~

Hi Sarah,
     #VI here.  I've had a traumatic morning.  I was hanging around in the
kitchen as usual when I heard her say, "Throw VI in with the jeans and the
other dark towels.  Remember what Sarah said about the dyeing!"

     WHAT?  WHO IS GENE AND AM I GOING TO DIE?

     I was abruptly thrown in a basket with some other dark stuff and my
friend 'Green Towel'.  He took us all to the basement and threw us in a
hole!  Then he proceeded to dump white powder on my head.

 WAIT!  WAIT!  IS THAT STUFF HAZARRDOUS?

     Then even worse, the place started to flood and get all cloudy and
bubbly!
 IS DROWNIG THE WAY I'm GOING TO DIE?

     Things started to spin out of control and I bumped up against my friend
'Green' who saw my panic.   ' Green' said, "Relax VI,  this is Spa Day and
you're going to like it!"   I tried to relax and found that the swim in the
pool was actually quite refreshing.   So after a good swim we were
transferred to the sauna.  Now that felt good!  I stretched my warp and weft
back into shape and luxuriated in the warmth and comradery.  After tumbling
with the jeans and 'Green" for a while we were taken from that hole and
folded into another basket for the trip back upstairs.
     So, I was well used in my first week and was rewarded with the Spa
Treatment.    My panic is over and I am becoming "Well Loved"  Life is Good!
Respectfully,
     IV

PS.  She sent a picture for you.
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