Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Acknowledgement ( a bit formal I know)


Welcome to Storycloth.
This opening post is dedicated to all women, from every time and culture, and their teachings. In this I must acknowledge my Anglo-Saxon heritage: my mother who still teaches me, and my grandmothers who, from the other side of life (so to speak), continue to teach me love of creation. How to make something beautiful, useful, precious. How to find what I need. How to seek the story of cloth.
I acknowledge the process of teaching cloth with this excerpt from bell hooks’ “belonging: a culture of place”(2009). bell writes to give voice to the quilting stories of black women. She speaks here of her grandmother, Baba.
“Baba did not read or write. She worked with her hands. She never called herself an artist. It was not one of her words. Even if she had known it, there might have been nothing in the sound or meaning to interest, to claim her wild imagination. Instead she would comment, “I know beauty when I see it”. She was a dedicated quiltmaker – gifted, skilful, playful in her art, making quilts for more than seventy years, even after her “hands got tired”, and her eyesight was “quitting”. It is hard to give up the work of a lifetime, and yet she stopped making quilts in the years before her dying. Almost ninety she stopped quilting. Yet she continued to talk about her work with any interested listener. Fascinated by the work of her hands, I wanted to know more, and she was eager to teach and instruct, to show me how one comes to know beauty and give oneself over to it. To her, quiltmaking was a spiritual process where one learned to surrender. It was a form of meditation where the self was let go. This was the way she had learned to approach quiltmaking from her mother. To her it was an art of stillness and concentration, a work which renewed the spirit.”
Having been brought up in Australia and now living in Canada, I acknowledge the creations of all indigenous women who weave story cloths with ancient truths. I express my gratitude to these women for every stitch, every spindle, every woven reed, every care taken with the environment.
I hope through ‘Storycloth’ to learn well my own truths, explore my understandings, contribute to the fertile garden of women creating cloth.
And a thanks to Grace, Penny, Kate and Nandas who have encouraged me, and to jude hill and all in her fantastic 'beasts' class. Not sure how to do links yet - or to transfer photos from the camera. So - soooon I will post a pic or two.

15 comments:

  1. OHHHHHHH!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!
    so...yes, let's see where this takes you and
    all the rest of us as we journey with you.
    oh oh and oh....So Great!
    and i love the introduction. an excellent
    first post.

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  2. Thanks Grace - Hope to just relax with what I write haha..I am sooo intense at times. I am very conscious that I stand on land that once belonged fully to others. On a lighter note - I'd better get to my sewing for awhile.

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  3. good morning from Aus, what a lovely start to your storycloth. relax and enjoy it as you story along...kaite

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  4. me again, i've just emailed you a few hints on posting pics and links, cheers, kaite

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  5. a most formidable start... i am looking forward to getting to know you through this blog and your cloth. i think blogger is the easiest to get started with... before long it will feel like home! congratulations!

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  6. Hi Kaite - I'll work further tomorrow with the aid of your directions. Thank very much for taking the time to write them out for me. This feels really good - could not have predicted the goodness..

    Oh Nandas thank you I feel the same about getting to know you all too.

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  7. Yes well - I am tra-la looking forward to it too - not great skills there. This is fun, hey?

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  8. ..meaning kind of nervously that I don't have great skills there - not the reverse.

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  9. Yeah....loved your first entry. My grandmother taught me lots of the crafts I know but she never did any quilting. I learned that later in life along with lots of other things. Looking forward to future entries. And thanks for the comment on my blog.

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  10. Hi Deanna - I was so fortunate with my grandmothers. Their kitchens and kindly eyes, hands that have worked well over life's detail, their hugs and kisses, and interesting packages of items as Christmas and birthday gifts. So many principles are passed down. Yours sounds special too. x

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  11. I love your stories...to read about grandmothers is one of my favorite things...keep going, this is wonderful...

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  12. A fantastic first post! Your quote is a wonderful one...much meditation to be found in making. Welcome to the world of blogging!

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  13. Im hooked, am am now a follower lol I promise not to stalk, but Geads story has me captured! Just love your stitching............

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