Wednesday, December 2, 2009

patched and mended





When I first started this blog in August of last year I posted some images of antique Japanese boro textiles as well as a few paintings on paper of my own. It had struck me that there were similarities between the two. The kinds of marks and colors and spaces in boro textiles attract me emotionally and aesthetically.
I love this shop and blog: www.srithreads.com. I was interested to read on sri threads the following, "Boro's visual relationship to European and American modernist painting is striking; perhaps this is the basis of the attraction by Westerners to this material."
Also this, "The sheer variety of tones of blue, the juxtaposition of pattern, the scale changes between patterns and patches, the free-form and meandering stitching, the random assortment of color combinations is so 'Dada-like' in concept--and so beautiful in result--that these pieces beg to be admired as artworks, albeit artworks never intended to be noticed as such. Imagine that these pieces were stitched in the shadows of farmhouses, usually at night by the light of one dim andon, on the laps of farm women: this extraordinary hardship and this unselfconscious creative process have yielded soulful beauty that deserves to be recognized. "
If you get the chance and are interested, visit this shop as well as the blog: http://threads.srithreads.com/ .

2 comments:

jude said...

yes, sri is a favorite, just beautiful. stephen does a great job.

Anonymous said...

Some of the textile art pieces that you posted some time back in your etsy shop, were my absolute favorites. There is one I still like seeing in my etsy faves. I really enjoyed reading this bit you shared on Boro textiles and sri threads is a total inspiration. Makes me want to pull out a large piece of hemp, wash it and dry it and start hand stitching... and then aim our home decor in that total direction!