I checked out Slow Stitch by Claire Wellesley-Smith from the library over the break. The book felt like soft, coarse fabric; it made it special to hold and study it. There were some really interesting works presented.
I love how this one references traditional quilting with the repeated blocks connected with dashing, yet it looks a lot like a drawing. The lines aren’t straight, and the shapes are all a little wonky (academic term of the day) but perspectival illusion is somehow maintained and, viewed in a landscape format, it looks architectural. The muted pallette brings out the richness of colours that would typically fade into the background.
This image shows how different materials work together to create a product that is much more interesting than either would manage on its own. The stitched square seems to float above the background and echoes the angles of the black cross beneath it. It lays behind the tangle of coarse thread ends spread across the top. I feel like it shows how separation and connection can exist at the same time.
We also read The Slow Cloth Manifesto
The whole venture is very supportive of creative process, artistic growth and connection to the natural world. It values the maker, the materials, the process and the viewers. That’s a lot of valuing. Humour aside, I think that might be the most important thing I will have learned in this course. When I engage with making in this way, I am much less influenced by materialism and external validation. I could slow my whole life down to make time for the things that matter.