Thursday, March 20, 2008

Slow Cloth - Joy in Process


Over at Red Thread Studio Elaine Lipson has been making the case for a slow cloth movement, based around the same idea as the slow food movement, consisting of 10 qualities…This was a new idea to me but I find I’m really connecting to it and I have been reflecting on how the principals of Slow Cloth fit into my experiences as a fiber artist.

The first quality is Joy in Process...That is one of the things that keeps me coming back! Joy can be tricky to find sometimes. Working with fibers and dye can be very unpredictable. As I’ve said before sometimes hours can be put into a piece of work for very disappointing results. However these same inexplicable unpredictable moments can just as often work in ones favor leading to wonderful new roads to explore. I think sometimes that I have chosen this medium because some of the control is out of my hands. I sort of set things up and see what happens. For me, a person who sweats nearly all decisions, there is something immensely attractive about making that roll of the creative dice.Once I’ve gotten my results I am free to see what can come of them. This medium allows me to relax my control freak impulses and luxuriate in the play of creativity. That is a joy!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

it's always the process that keeps my interest in what i do. i've always loved a good process!
seam rippers too!