Motherhood, Domesticity, Authenticity, and above all following Passion.
Detail for The Purple Shore Crab, part of The Body Remembers series.
I shared an image of my father and I a couple of posts back. It told a story about a father, daughter and a purple crab! Though I like the illustration, it is an illustration and I have been working to get off the page! I want to use my stories to talk about how reliving memories, good ones such as that one, and traumatic ones can be healing.
I’m really getting into the connection between The Body Remembers and the act of stitching and weaving. The fibres of the material are woven and connect warp to weft, sometimes they have gaps, other times they are tight. A piece of fabric- I now have learned is not fabric until it is removed from the loom, and is given time to relax- settled into itself.
One of my goals is to get off the page, so the past two weeks I have been taking a weaving class through the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn NY. One thing I can say about the global pandemic is that though physically we can not connect with others, it has created an alternative learning environment.
I did not do much weaving in this class, but I absorbed what was being said and watched as our instructor demonstrated, and defined terms. She kept saying ANYTHING could be a loom.
I have had this giant wood palette for months now, my husband has tried to throw it out several times, but I kept saying no, I am going to use it for something? Long story short, I figured it out!
First off when I say giant, it was so big that we could hardly close my door when we got it into the studio, and I would not be able to stand it upright as planned, unless I made it smaller. But with a trip to the hardware store, a few supplies and couple hours of work I converted it into a rudimentary Loom.
I’m pretty excited to start working on it and weave my own stories into the warp.
I am working on a series of short stories- memories from my childhood. I am interested in the role of memory, more specifically trauma, how it plays out in our body, how we understand ourselves and how it may impact relationships. I’m playing around with ideas for recipes to go along with them, as food also conveys very visceral feelings.
My dad had a boat, he loved to go fishing. Originally from Saskatchewan, he was a prairie boy with a hankering for travel and the open water. When I was 4 or 5 he would wake me up early to go fishing with him, before it was even light out. We lived in Maple Ridge just outside of Vancouver but still an hour + from marinas that he could launch his boat from- Ever so faint is the memory- those were in Port Moody. I am still in love with jagged coastlines, rocky coves and seaweed slicked stones. After one of our trips, back in our yard, my dad was cleaning out his boat and flushing the outboard motor, and a wee little purple crab came tumbling off. I tried to save it and keep it as a pet. ( Recipe idea- Fish and Chips)
The following image is a work in Progress.
The Purple Shore Crab
As I continue to work with embroidery I can see that the possibilities are endless! I’m experimenting with colour, shape and soon size. I am trying to figure out ways to display them. Framing, placement?
The working title of the series is called “The Body Remembers”. It’s a reflection of certain traumas and events in my life. I know that others have had similar experiences and I hope through talking creating art about them, that it will lead to some interesting conversations.