currently at Lark and Key
I’ve been using stitched fabric in my mixed media process for a long time now and for me, it is always a reference to mending and healing. Within the thread itself, I think about what connects us to each other, to other beings, to ourselves.
Mending- do people do this anymore? I know that among creatives, there has been a slow stitch movement and a return to the slow and care-filled action of mending. But among other people? And of my generation? I’m going to guess, probably not. Despite all that we know about the need to reduce and reuse, we live in a consume and toss culture. The difficult thing is that even if you are aware and try to reduce and reuse, it is still tough. So easy to just throw away and put your bin out on the sidewalk and then early morning comes and poof, it’s gone!
But of course, not gone.
I’ve been wanting to do more mixed media pieces that involve piecing together pieces of fabric, stitching together. It feels therapeutic to me as it seems like so much has been unraveling these past few years. I remember mending the first piece of clothing for my son when he was a baby and feeling a connection to the cloth, to the little active body that had worn through that cloth, and the slowing down to sit and hand stitch…and I remember feeling such tenderness.
That same tenderness was something I was thinking of when I was creating this piece and thinking about healing and mending the earth.
Mending the Earth is part of Lark and Key’s “Reclaimed” show that opens May 1st. All work in the show will be able to be viewed at noon on that day!