Full Circle

 Come see the project on display! Read the journals, handle the towels and soak up the 12' weaving. George Marshall Gallery, Lindsay Road, York ME. 

   

Well Used, Well Loved at George Marshall Gallery, York, ME until July8, 2018.

The Eight Journals on display and available to be read.

The 8 towels and journals.

Towel III caretakers Andrew and Bethie.

Progress Report

Shifu thread is so easy to weave 

The Shifu paper thread is brocaded on to the surface

 I have begun weaving with the Shifu spun paper thread from the participants in Well Used, Well Loved. Now that the loom is all threaded and ready to weave -- it is a breeze. This thread is so gorgeous that all I have to do is stitch it down with the supplementary warp -- and it looks amazing.

Slight color changes from each paper thread

"I'm my cat's dishtowel"

I am digging in to each of the 8 Journals - reading each one - selecting favorite passages to copy on to Kozo paper for spinning as well as transcribing these passages to my lap top for future reference.

Here are some beautiful words from journal #III.

"I feel no moment slows down enough to become well-loved. My things grow well-used without my noticing them. Is that a form of love? Trusting a thing to be there for you without acknowledging or thanks? That trust, that faith, is a way to love?”“Maybe it’s a way we allow children or pets to love us. I’m sure that’s how my cat feel about me. She loves me by allowing me to work thanklessly for her. I’m my cat’s dishtowel.”

Honestly - if I had the time and energy -- I'd copy every word and illustration in each journal. I feel so honored to be able to step inside your head and hearts as I sit with your responses to the prompts. 

Gathering, Reflecting

    For those people who make art -- you know this time period.
If I were a hen -- I'd be sitting on my eggs.
Contemplating, keeping them warm, inspecting them every new and then.

Well Used, Well Loved - Journals and towels

    Well -- here I am -- exhibiting hen-like behavior. Not actually sitting on this stuff I gathered from "Well Used, Well Loved" - but contemplating it.
     Examining it, reviewing it. I am inspired by the stack of journals that were so lovingly created by the linen team households.
     I am awestruck by the depth of thoughtful writing and drawing that the paper team created. The Shifu spun threads from these kozo papers are seeped with spirit.

A response to Prompt #9 "Soft Matter"

     Entering into these dark winter months ahead, I feel the poignant potential of these materials.
    This time of waiting, sitting, listening and reflecting is a critical step in the art making process.
So like a hen,  I'll just sit here for now.


    Thanks for waiting with me.


Shifu spun threads waiting to be woven.

The list of prompts

WELL USED, WELL LOVED

A Community art project that explores age and beauty

Through the vehicle of a physical object (a hand-woven towel, a journal and kozo paper) over 30 households explored questions of age, beauty, value and attachment.

From later January to late September 2016, we explored together and alone the following questions. Some of us wrote in journals while others wrote on kozo paper.

HERE IS OUR ENTIRE LIST OF PROMPTS

 

Prompt #1 on kozo paper

Prompt #1 - Hello

Introduce yourself and your household.

 

Prompt #2 - Old and beautiful

As you look around your life and home -

What or who do you perceive of as "old"?

What/who do you perceive as "beautiful"?

Do you have possessions that feel too precious or special to use?

 

Prompt #3 - Will I be loved?

What connections do you see between being attractive/beautiful and being loved?

If I feel beautiful/attractive/appealing to others - will this mean I will be loved?

 

Prompt #4 -  Demonstrating Love

What actions, words, or attitudes demonstrate love?

 

Prompt #5 - Sorting

Prompt #5 on kozo paper

Spring cleaning: Attachment to objects, people, attitudes.

How do you sort, let go of these thing/ people that are no longer serving you?

How do you evaluate the need/desire to keep stuff?

 

Response to prompt #6

Prompt #6   Absorption

The materials for this project are handwoven linen and Kozo paper. Both of these are created from a plant material, a bast fiber - both known for its absorption qualities. 

Your towel, your paper has absorbed much in the last two months you've been together. Absorption can also been seen as dissolving boundaries, union.

In that light I wonder what parallels or connection you observe between your own ability to absorb, to soak up, to feel to empathize? What reflections do you perceive  between your materials (linen, paper) and the action of union, of dissolving boundaries of connection? What value do these actions have today?

 

Prompt #7     The Dark Side

For two months we have examined and reflected on different aspects of using and loving.

This week I would like to explore what might be considered the dark side of this topic. It’s a place that some might shy away from – with all good reason.  And yet, to know and understand something – we must be aware of its opposite.  In this case, what might be the opposite of “Well Used, Well Loved”?

In yoga class, sometimes my teacher will have us exaggerate the opposite of a pose – for example if she wants us to relax and drop our shoulders – she asks us to shrug them up, way up to our ears.  And then we dip our shoulders back down with new awareness of both positions. As many philosophers query – how can we know sunshine without knowing shadow?

These opposites are an integral part of Yin/Yang philosophy, Bali Hinduism and many other spiritual traditions.  Perhaps the deeper we explore both sides, the less obvious is the line between “black and white".

Prompt #7 in a journal

 

PROMPT #7

Do you see an opposite to Well Used, Well Loved?

Do you want to explore this opposite side?

If so, what do you see is the opposite of Well Used, Well Loved?

 As always – there are NO right answers to these prompts. And they are very personal.

To share them is your choice – not a requirement.



Prompt #3 response in journal

 

Prompt #8  Beauty, Economics, Well Being

Beauty is temporary - right??

You pick a beautiful flower and know it will fade, wither and die.

 

How is it then that I struggle to accept this?

How is it that I resist the inevitable aging process of my own body?

This is a normal, natural process.

 

For over 15 years I have colored my hair (in reaction to school children commenting that I reminded them of grandma.) I did not want to be like grandma while in my late 40s. So I took to coloring my hair.

 

Just this month I made the decision to "go gray".  In sharing this decision with a friend who is still active in her career  ~ she remarked  she could not choose this option. She feels obligated to keep coloring her hair while she is actively employed. "It's just a fact" she said  "To be valued in the work place you must appear vital and youthful. Gray hair does not fit."

 

My mind quickly queried about the connection between economic survival and our cultural attachment to beauty. Thus Prompt #8 is ~

 

• What connection do you see in your own life between your economic survival/well being and your age/beauty?? Are you in a profession that requires a certain maintenance of image/beauty?
• What connections do you see in our culture between economic survival/well being and age//beauty?

 

Prompt #9

Soft matter: vulnerability and love

Both our towel and our Kozo paper are soft materials - allowing them to show evidence of wear and tear - or use and love. Our physical bodies are similar.

• Examine your hands - what signs of use and love do they illustrate?
• What connections to your perceive between soft materials, vulnerability and love?
  

  
  

  
  

  

  Playing with color and language on kozo paper

  
  

 

Prompt #10 "Saying Goodbye"

 

My most successful public workshop is the Mandala Community Weaving. To introduce this project I sit and talk with students about Mandalas - especially ones of sand  made by the Tibetan Buddhist Monks. I guide them thru the story of how the Monks take a long time (a  week or so) to make these Mandalas, using colored grains of sand that just lie on top of an outline.

I talk to the students about how the monks make the Mandalas over and over again -  as a practice and a lesson. I show them photos to show how after spending days working on the Mandala, the Monks sweep it up into a brass bowl and then with great ceremony they pour the sand into the closest body of natural water.

 

After sharing this story I ask them: "Why do you think the Monks spend a long time making something beautiful and then pouring it into the water? What lesson do you think the Monks are trying to learn?"

 

I have asked this question to hundreds of young people - and invariably I get an array of beautiful answers. The most memorable response was from an 8 year old in Maryland last spring.  He said "I think that they are trying to learn how to say good bye to something that they love."

 

Yes, exactly.

Isn't this the most difficult lesson we as human beings must learn. Whether it is a beloved flannel shirt that is just too tattered to wear anymore or your elderly mother who is frail and failing - it is very hard to say good bye.

Letting go and saying good bye is hard.

This will be my last official prompt for the project - we will be saying good bye to this effort in a month.

 

Prompt #10 - How do you say good bye to something or someone that you love?  Do you have a ritual for saying good bye? Can you share a story?

Well Used, With Love

Her well used, with love hands.

If there is one object that we can observe that is well loved and well used - it would be our hands. I mentioned this in the last post and the last project prompt.

My mother with her beautiful hands slipped away on the silvery trail of the full moon on June 20th at 9:10 PM.  Flying across Casco Bay, right out the Hussey Sound, she sailed towards a new horizon.

I photographed and drew her hands her last few days. It has been a distinct privilege and true joy to be her daughter - she was a true gift. I feel like I am just beginning to know her.

Me and Mom Summer 2012