Tuesday, June 30, 2015

planned freedom

About twenty years ago, I saw large embroideries from India in the Textile Museum of Canada.
 They were so cheerful, colourful, beautiful, and powerful that they hit me in the heart.
 I remember that there was a folk-art quality to them.  I remember miles of chain stitch.
Those cloths were taller than I was, wide enough to cover a bed.
They were completely covered with thread.
 Huge immense spaces of stitched marks.
I get similar heart felt feelings when I visit  English gardens.
My eye and heart eagerly follow the masses of blooms and foliage.
Masses of small unique marks.
There is an aesthetic of labour in both gardens and large embroideries,
There is time.
Gardens and large hand made textiles reach something deep inside us and that feeling is more natural than we can understand.

11 comments:

Mo Crow said...

what a visual treat Judy!

Caterina Giglio said...

I couldn't agree more...

Montse Llamas said...

How are you always so perceptive and create wise visual connections???!!!

Els said...

These pictures : just like Mo said : a treat (for the eye ánd the heart !)

Margaret said...

Yes!!

Thank you. Again. :-)

Judy Martin said...

I wanted to link to images of those Indian embroideries, and spent about an hour looking for something similar. They were not palampore, although similar. Palampore are painted tree of life fabrics from 18th century India. Occasionally they were embroidered , as is this one in the Victoria and Albert museum. (copy and paste the link below)

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O63060/palampore-unknown/

But my memory is of gay brilliantly coloured red yellow and green floral and geometric
imagery. They were not kanthas. I don't think they were suzanni from central Asia, (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan) ...I was sure they were from India. This link will show the kind of colours I remember, and these are suzani. Covered with embroidery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzani_(textile)

It was one of my first face to face exposures to world textiles and I might have mis remembered some of the facts.

I do remember the impact the hand work had on my body and ultimately my work.

I wanted to make art that made others feel that way too.

Unknown said...

Hi Judy,
Once again you have touched my heart.
Joyce

Heather said...

Connecting to the bigger picture. Transcendence.
i love that you have taken your sticthing with you on your travels.

Heather Hutchinson said...

I love the green and blue mix. Beautiful.

obat kuat semarang said...

Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures and quilts! I'm in awe, everything looks so pretty. Hope it was a good day. Hugs,
obat kuat

Istanbuljoy said...

Inspiring as always & I find the colour combination in your current work so very soothing to the soul. Thank you for sharing.