Artless Fabrications

The Labyrinth at St. Michael's Monastery

A labyrinth is an ancient symbol that has served in many cultural and religious traditions including Hindu, Hopi, Christian and Pagan Europe, Middle Eastern and Egyptian cultures, just to name a few. The distinguishing feature of a labyrinth is its pathway from the exterior to the center, which is enclosed in a circular outside line with only one entrance/exit. One singular path takes you to the center and also brings you back to the entrance where you began, unlike a maze in which may have multiple entrances/exits and many twists and turns which can lead to dead ends.

The classical labyrinth shape is most frequently understood as a symbol of birth, rebirth, and transformation. In some traditions walking the labyrinth has been used as a form of pilgrimage, as an aid to spiritual growth. To walk a labyrinth is to create sacred space and the more a labyrinth is used, the more powerful it becomes as a symbol of transformation. What happens to the pilgrim as she walks the labyrinth depends on her disposition and each experience is uniquely personal. It is found useful but not essential, to have a particular intention upon entering. As one follows the path towards the center, a reflective or meditative state of mind may be reached. This could also be a time of ‘ letting go’, of emptying oneself of all that one wishes to leave behind. Upon reaching the center of the labyrinth, you may feel the need to stand or sit awhile, allowing yourself time to absorb the sense of spirit or to reflect on your sacred journey experience. It can be meaningful to leave a small stone at the center symbolizing those aspects of our suffering that we wish to leave behind. To walk back out of the labyrinth symbolizes your re-entry into the world.

I’ve just returned from a journey and it happened to include a sacred walk inside a labyrinth.

My journey was a trip to Lumsden, Saskatchewan during which I was presenting the keynote address and a creativity workshop to the biennial gathering of the guilds of the Saskatchewan Spinners and Weavers Association. This was also the first public exhibition of the “artless fabrications” body of work, fifty two little pieces of my soul exposed to the world for the first time. With not one piece of spinning or weaving amongst them, I worried at how well they (or I for that matter)  would be received by this extremely talented group of artists.

Sensing my raw vulnerability, this incredible group of women embraced both me and my work with great enthusiasm and kindness, dissolving any fears I had about acceptance as a fibre artist. They welcomed me into their circle, allowing me a safe place to share a part of my self that I’ve never had the courage to expose before. The entire experience has confirmed in my heart that there is always a place for the creative spirit to be planted, nurtured, and grown unrestrained, until it reaches its full potential.  I only hope that I was able to inspire the spinners and weavers on their path to creativity as much as they inspired me.

Although there was only one path to follow on this particular journey, I feel as though I did not come out at the same place I entered, nor am I the same person as I began. I began with no conscious intentions or expectations but left myself open to become transformed by the time, the place, and the people I encountered along the way. There was so much that I took away from this experience, and yet I feel that I’ve left a little of myself behind, a small blue stone at the center of the labyrinth. But isn’t this true for most of life’s journeys?

My Muse Takes Flight

When I am immersed in the process of creating art, all time stands still and everything makes sense. With my mind focused on the creation in front of me, I can release the stress and worries of day-to-day life and allow all things positive to enter my heart. Bringing the vision in my mind into actuality always presents its own challenges, but within the difficulties lies the satisfaction of seeing the idea come to life and many times, even better than I have imagined.

In the case of my self-portrait/muse, I have been pleasantly surprised by path she has taken. She seemed to know all along which direction she was headed and what she needed to wear to make her journey complete. After shaving her head it only made sense to paint her lips black and  give her some artistic tattoos. Her elaborate headdress is comprised of a metal napkin ring and part of a wire basket and is embellished with dangling crystals, satin ribbon, and metallic beads. A pair of beautiful lace wings enable my muse to take flight… after all, doesn’t time fly when you’re creating art.

Although this project has taken much longer than I originally planned, it has been a terrific experience. I started out with the intention of stretching my limits and heading into unfamiliar territory. It turned out to be an exercise in determination, innovation, and liberation. When I consider the concept of being an artist I realize that true creativity is not just about having wonderful ideas, but it is all about bringing those ideas to life. When you define creativity it is about actually creating something, anything, just make one thing… it usually leads to more.

In the words of the famous doll artist elinor peace bailey “I’d rather make bad art than no art at all“.

Spring Is In The Air

Today is Spring equinox which means tomorrow is officially the first day of Spring!

Looking out my window tells a totally different story though. We still have plenty of evidence of a long, cold prairie winter scattered about the landscape, including snowdrifts approximately four feet deep. Being something of a romantic optimist is extremely beneficial living in midwest Saskatchewan, as I can fool myself into believing there is a hint of green to the branches of the trees and if I close my eyes and take a deep breath, there is a slight fragrance of jonquils in the air.

In order to spread some of my optimism around town, I’ve recently completed an installation art piece on main street here in Plenty and I’ve named it “Spring is in the Air”. It consists of stark deadwood branches on which I’ve hung small mobiles constructed out of bedsprings, wire, and speckled painted eggs. The bedsprings were cut from an old mattress at the town dump and I spent about a week hand painting some blown out eggs that were then decorated with feathers and strung on ribbon. The entire piece stands about seven feet tall and is intended to give the viewer a bit of a chuckle, as well as hope for Spring’s arrival.

Always on my mind.

I have slowly been making progress on my self-portrait muse and she seems to be coming to life right before my eyes. Although I’ve had a vision of the finished product in my head, she seems to be taking on a life and direction of her own. Working on a project in this way, allowing the piece to tell you where it needs to go, can be quite liberating and intimidating at the same time. As an artist, I need to give myself over to the process, allowing the piece to develop in its own sweet time, and have the confidence to know that in art there are no mistakes.                                                                                        Since shaving her head, I painted it with a pearlescent acrylic and added details with a black marker and translucent letters. I then decided she needed an embellishment to draw more focus to her face and came up with the idea of an Elizabethan ruff. After stiffening lengths of black lace with gel medium, I gathered layers together and pulled it taut to create the right effect. Before I attached the ruff to the figure I hand-sewed glass beads to the edges for extra sparkle. The overall effect of the ruff emphasizes the theme and lends a certain strength to the figure that she did not possess in the beginning.

I really felt that my figure needed a strong support system and therefore designed her undergarments with this in mind – after all, anything can be built on a good foundation. Even though the figure will eventually wear a ‘full metal’  skirt, her legs will still be on view and an interesting garment underneath would complete the bottom half. I used a chiffon scarf to sew her pantaloons and trimmed them with black lace. The corset became a very important aspect of this piece as the design progressed. I wanted to convey a strong sense of timelessness in the style of the corset, so it would work well with the Elizabethan collar but also reflect a current, contemporary feel as well. I chose black felt for the three pieces that formed the base of the garment and couched copper embroidery thread on top to give the illusion of a more complex construction. Further embellishment was made with metallic glass beads and the corset was then laced up the back with black satin ribbon.

A Blank Canvas

I thought it might be interesting to share a photograph of the beginning of my self portrait figure before any altering occurs. At the time I took this picture the only thing I had done was shaved the doll’s head – something I’ve often thought of doing to my own head on those mornings when I wake up with ‘bad hair day syndrome’. The hair on the doll had that all too familiar bed-head look… and who has time for that?

There certainly was something about the vacant expression on her face that appealed to me, that and the fact her body was constructed of fabric just said ‘blank canvas’ to me. It made complete sense to begin by painting her torso with fabric paints in a wonderful copper penny colour. Although this gave the appearance of an undergarment, I proceeded to design an entire wardrobe for my figure, beginning with a corset. As the design ideas progressed I developed a colour scheme of copper, black, and blue for the costume. I was also working towards a theme based on TIME:                       time is of the essence;  time is money;  not enough time in the day;  it’s about time;  time for me;  making good use of time;  pressures of time;  time travel; party time…

Now was the right time to call on my muse to deliver a special stardust sprinkling of glittery moments of time that could be spent creating wonderful works of art. This seems like the perfect gift to give myself at a time when I feel as though I’m just spinning my wheels in the quagmire of creative frustration. I’m hoping that when she’s finished this beautiful little figure will stand as a powerful reminder that it’s alright to make ART a priority and that when I spend any time creating, it is always time well spent and  makes me happy.

In my mind I truly believe that each of us is doled out equal amounts of hours in the day. How we choose to use that time is very individual, I know, but why is it some people just seem to accomplish so much more in their twenty-four hours than I can?

These days I seem to fill my moments with ‘busy work’ and not the desired Creative Work, but my focus has been on preparing the fifty-two pieces for exhibition in Lumsden, Saskatchewan this coming April. I am in the process of hand sewing each weekly project to a canvas background, giving each textile the dignity of a fine art painting. Trust me, this is not creative work! It is, however, awkward work as each piece is sewn from the back and I must hold the canvas up to the light, allowing the shadow of the textile to show through so I know where to place the basting stitches. And it is also mundane work as each piece is done identically to the last and there are FIFTY-TWO of them! I suppose it would have been smarter to spread them out over a greater amount of time but why plan ahead when I can put all this pressure on myself. At this point I have only twelve left to do so actually… there’s still plenty of time for procrastinating.

I am still working on my annual self-portrait figure and she is becoming more interesting as ‘time goes by’. She is wearing quite an elaborate costume constructed from found objects and incorporating a lot of metal and beads. I’m struggling with the concept of her headdress, my design idea and  construction technique just aren’t meshing,  but I’m sure the solution will come to me when I’m least expecting it.

My wish for myself this week is to use my time wisely. My wish for you this week is to use your time creatively!