Jordana Martin, artist behind Oak Knit Studio and president of the Textile Arts Center Board of Directors, is our residency mentor. She offers us guidance and support in our exploration and creative processes. Jordana is amazing and I will write more about her soon.
She suggested we listen to this On Being podcast on the artist Ann Hamilton. This conversation with Hamilton is so on point with what we are undertaking as artist with the residency. She talk about her creative process and how the body embodies the knowledge of the creative act, that it carries "embodied knowledge".
She suggested we listen to this On Being podcast on the artist Ann Hamilton. This conversation with Hamilton is so on point with what we are undertaking as artist with the residency. She talk about her creative process and how the body embodies the knowledge of the creative act, that it carries "embodied knowledge".
The first group activity we had for the residency was a 2-day drawing marathon organized by Jordana. During those two days, we were exploring the material capacities and how they were inspiring us in a very intimate way. Towards the end of the 2 days, I realized I was constantly using the square as a starting point. I commented on that and expressed the desire to break this pattern, to break the square. Jordana then told me something very important to me. That I did not have to make a decision now concerning the use of square which is a very provocative shape/. She said during the next months I will explore so many techniques and material, that I can let myself go and not think about it. That things would emerge and take form anyways. This made me realize how creative work with textile is bound to the material and that this conversation between the body and the matter is in constant evolution. That it is good to let things come out, let things go and not ever think it, not trying to phrase it instantly, but accepting it as a journey and not judging every step. Ann Hamilton phrases this beautifully:
"When you are making something you do not know what it is for a very long time. You have to cultivate the space around you where you can trust the thing that you cannot name(...) How do you cultivate a space that allows you to dwell in that not knowing. The thread has to come out and it comes out at its own pace".
Hamilton also talks about how our process impacts the piece. In textile art particularly, every gesture marks the work, every relationship with the matter affects how it looks and feel:"every act of it is in some ways transparently present in the material. Even if you can see the whole you can see the parts. You go back and forth between those." This is why I love textile art. Because they are traces of who we are anchored in space and time, and tradition.
Something she also talks about is how who we are and feel affects the work. When we create,we are "making at the pace of the body" and "The body is a transparent presence in the material". I realized this last spring while weaving. The rhythm of beating the warp was influenced by how I felt, thus the textile surface was not the same.
I am currently working on an embroidery project and I can feel this at every stitch. One of my goals fort he next year is to develop awareness on how I related to my creative gestures.
"When you are making something you do not know what it is for a very long time. You have to cultivate the space around you where you can trust the thing that you cannot name(...) How do you cultivate a space that allows you to dwell in that not knowing. The thread has to come out and it comes out at its own pace".
Hamilton also talks about how our process impacts the piece. In textile art particularly, every gesture marks the work, every relationship with the matter affects how it looks and feel:"every act of it is in some ways transparently present in the material. Even if you can see the whole you can see the parts. You go back and forth between those." This is why I love textile art. Because they are traces of who we are anchored in space and time, and tradition.
Something she also talks about is how who we are and feel affects the work. When we create,we are "making at the pace of the body" and "The body is a transparent presence in the material". I realized this last spring while weaving. The rhythm of beating the warp was influenced by how I felt, thus the textile surface was not the same.
I am currently working on an embroidery project and I can feel this at every stitch. One of my goals fort he next year is to develop awareness on how I related to my creative gestures.