Monday, August 27, 2012

little still places


Why am I so attracted to dots?
I purchased little bits of dotted cloth in the cities I visited last spring.   Me, who usually only buys white fabric.
I like them best when they are almost but not quite in a grid.  This red and white as well as the blueish one below are by Japanese designer Naomi Ito . Wabi sabi, perfect imperfection.
Both were found at raystitch when Ned and I were in London last June.  The shop itself is not as commercial as the web site makes out.
The detail shows that this cloth is really two layers. 

  Jung says that tiny spots are archetypal symbols of the mysterious creative, the starting point from which all things arise.

  I think of them as representing all of us who are alive, so small.  Just specks. 
 All different.  All the same.  
 Last May, when April and I visited New York, we made a pilgrmage to habu textiles and I bought half a yard of this black and red dot.
Not only are there three layers in this fabric, the dots are actually holes.  I love that., I'm attracted to that.  But I do not want to say exactly why because I do not know.  
John Paul Morabito burns dot-holes into his weaving and  I've quoted his artist statement about why he does this on my modernist aesthetic blog.  

13 comments:

Velma Bolyard said...

and i came home from oz with a little porcelian dish, with, you guessed it, dots. (irregular, at that)

April said...

I'm so glad you bought that fabric.

will you pick me up in sudbury at 5:45 on wednesday? :)

Victoria said...

Somewhere Jung goes on to say (my paraphrase) that the dot, extended, becomes a line, and the line extended becomes a plane which, when extended, becomes a cube. Editing jungian books comes in handy at times.
V.

Cate Rose said...

I love dots, too, but I can't say why. They just really speak to me.

Dijanne Cevaal said...

I love dots too- and i guess in Australia there are the iconic dot paintings of the indigenous people which are to some extent sacrosanct- so dealing with dots has to be in a way that does not mirror their work- so my dots have included big circles , also burning holes( they have such a pleasing edge), colonial knot stitches- and a pleasing aside discovered just the last few days whilst doing a number of breakdown prints the drops that develop on the back of the screen develop dots on the printed front- dots are complete a world on their own but they can join with others to send messages to create an image, to make a whole of something that already was hole- i also think of dots as circles- the whole turn of life enclosed within a space, of comfort and surround- yay for dots!

Ms. said...

one . leads to another .
......-...-......-.....!

Caterina Giglio said...

the circle of life... the dot

Montse Llamas said...

I agree with Morabito's statement about destruction and creation. Life and death, would I also say. Depending in how you look at them, dots can look like confortable or uncomfortable to me. Just like looking at images of ova, for example, which make me feel weird...

mansuetude said...

I love the many layers, showing through just a bit, as thought is multi-layered, and emotion and the eye gazing on world.

Watched a small flock of very white Terns of a sort fly against the fabric of a grey sky and water this morning. They swung about and dove like explosive dots of a sort, seen from the bedroom window; and though alive and intent on feeding, they seemed an expression of energy in random pattern, motion of life... as all the cells, atoms of air and water; nothing in a constant grid, but sparking.

.
Really enjoyed John Paul's video and your other blog.
And your last post, haunts...

Thank you.

jude said...

always been charmed by them

Nancy said...

Never a particular attraction to dots. My mom had this charming book that always comes to mind:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Dot-Line-Romance-Mathematics/dp/1587170663/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1346202429&sr=8-8&keywords=the+dot

And then I found this wonderful children's book while teaching preschool:
http://www.amazon.com/James-Excellence-Childrens-Literature-Awards/dp/0763619612/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346202530&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dot

It is a great book on acceptance and art as his book "Ish"

I bet you will enjoy all three.
When my daughter was you she hated dots. Who knows why. So a couple of her friends TPed our house using toilet paper and many many many dots cut from fluorescent poster board! You should have seen the front yard!!! A good memory:)
Lastly, I have become more fond of dots over the last couple of years due to yours and Jude's cloth work. So, thank you for that. Not that it is imperative that everyone like dots, but because it is nice to find out you can begin to like something or see it with new eyes.
PS Sorry for the super long comment,I guess I have more connection to dots than I realized!

Margaret said...

I like the fraying holes...but must say I've never been partial to dots. Lines, now -- plaids, tartans, stripes -- that's another matter.

Then again, what you see in and can do with dots will be magical!

Yvette said...

From dot to dot......journey of life

I remember my mother in polkadot dress
Here via dot jude

Love your blog and wise words