I have a note on my ideas board to my self and it says: 'how do I dance? keep yourself dancing' With great difficulty ha ha and in private! This stitching means so much you wouldn't believe it and its not that amazing but it has some how connected me back to myself, perhaps because it uses bits of yarn that have been in my stash for years (some bits are even left overs from the mill in Leek where grandma worked. Yep 1970's acylic) I was sitting there thinking about the beehives and the crotchet and what if ? What if I pertend to be in a scary place and be a small child and make them again? Grab the chance do it and you will always find something. It may not be important to others but if its important to yourself, that is, as far as I am concerned what is real. Make terrible knots, stitches that are cringeworthy and embarassing. Get into a tangled mess if you want to. Things can be untangled. Keep yourself dancing all night long.
I like this freedom of leaving knots on the top and wonky stitching. Doing the things you were told not to has made me happy about making again. Oh such a rebel! What will they say?
I've been thinking alot about being small, young, inflences and beginnings in life in general, triggered by digging out my old sindy dresses I knitted to get my brownie knitting badge (pictures for them are in 'about me') Grandma taught me to crotchet first and I used to sit and single chain whole balls of wool left over from her projects and wrap them around old toilet roll tubes. Grandma made fancy doiles and I desperatley wanted to copy but it was deemed to complicted for some one as small as me and with that frustrated desperation of not wanting to be held back I began sewing the single chain together to try and make a flat mat. Unfortunatley I couldn't sew very well either and I made all of these strange beehive constructions because I couldn't sew it flat. I can remember struggling to pull open the front draw in the side board at home which would be full of these tangles of industry mixed up with hair brushes used carrier bags old mittens hats and anything else that mum wanted to keep out of sight. This week I had a funny and tried to make them again. The shape is not quite right and I will work on that but the stitching looks like it.
Success. I don't believe it. Pusssy Power has been selected for The Harley Gallery Open Exhibition which opens from today until the 24th March. I was going to wuss out and not try because I thought I wasn't good enough but Giles made me do it (with good old fashioned help and support) The artist statement with it goes as follows:
Pussy Power is one of a series of ongoing embroideries to express my frustration at the things I see happening around me. I call them “Bollock Monsters” because, let’s face it, we all want to shout “Bo***cks” at some of the situations we see, even though we may not be brave enough to do so.This piece of work represents my feelings about draconian attitudes, the environment and hate towards other people, and is a comment about the lack of respect towards women and their positive power, which has been suppressed throughout time by those in control.
I find it curious that it wouldn't be out there without male help and encouragement. I can see that Yin and Yang symbol in my minds eye again with 'tolerence' written underneath it.
