Sunday, September 27, 2015

at least y - o - u should know

 
Embroidery is very closely related to painting.  It is constantly changing with every new style each epoch brings.  It is an art and ought to be treated like one, even if thousands upon thousands of sweet female hands- displaying scant skill, no taste or colour sense, and not a hint of inspiration - 'mis'handle quantities of good material as foolishly as possible and call the results embroidery.

Have you no eyes to see what is happening in your own time?  How art now, right now, is going through major revolutions and that soon it will be changed, cleansed and with huge momentum?

Just as it is no longer enough for a painter to just replicate naturalistic little flowers, a still life, a nude, it is essential that in the future embroidery should once again develop a feeling for abstract forms, so that beauty, emotions, spirit and yes, soul will return to it.

Doesn't Japanese embroidery display its own civilization and are not peasant embroideries and folk art the embodiment of feelings executed with primal force?  What qualities!

But you, craftswomen, modern women, who feel that your spirit is in your work, who are determined to lay claim to your rights (economic and moral), who believe your feet are firmly planted in reality, at least y - o - u should know your embroidery work is a documentation of your own era.

Hannah Hoch  wrote this in  1918.

4 comments:

  1. oh gosh these wise words were written nearly 100 years ago! your work embodies all these qualities Judy with deep thought and years of developing your ideas and technique, thank you so much for sharing this good food for thought... I often despair of my rough stitches and the detailed drawings of flowers... & yet there is something I am trying to get to... a sense of now... this 21st C world...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I came across this quote just the other day, and had to write it into my journal and then share it here.
      Wow.

      Delete
  2. hear hear - true words - textiles and fibre art are bigger than the art world

    ReplyDelete

I hope that we can have a conversation about creation. Thank you for taking interest. x