Re: Embroidering & Embellishing

Mirjam Bruck-Cohen wrote:

Lucky you to have a library that considers holding such books...I am
collecting such books, and am very lucky if a friend or colleague has
another one i can lend from her. Of course as Budget is low , i only
buy those books when they are reduced. But i do enjoy looking at them,
for various reasons.

I think there are similar budget cuts here in the public
libraries.......in past years, used to borrow many books of all types,
especially the artistic volumes we've been discussing. Many times, I
ended up buying books after seeing them in the library and falling in
love with the books.
It was a good way to review expensive books before buying.

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I grew up
with so many DO and DONT`S rules that my inner feelings rebeled
against, but i was afraid to change and do what my heart and feelings
told me to do. Thise pictures and photos of Other people , using
materials in OTHER ways Freed my soul to make waht i felt was right
for me.


Seems that most of us have similar backgrounds in how our thoughts and
creative urges were limited or stifled by some insensitive adults in
our lives.
My parents discouraged any interest I had in the arts because they felt
it was frivolous, therefore a waste of time!

Fortunately, through a kind Godmother who took me to museums and let me
look through her artbooks (only after I washed my hands) as a very
young child, I learned to treasure such books.
I was like a sponge soaking up all the beautiful artworks I saw in
person or in books.

It's wonderful to see the many art & craft books now
available......like you, through the years many of these books have
inspired and opened my eyes and mind to other ideas and techniques.

I imagine you have done this too being a creative person.....what we
learn or see from books, our environments inspires us to create our own
original works!

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I think this was esp important as a Female and as a
Fiberartist, since we had to oppose Male opinions And `conventional
art` opinions As to what ART really is. It always amazed me when i had
to convince women about the `Artistic Validity` of Fiberart as well as
Female ideas and Female materials .

Yes, I agree that many women still don't realize the textile arts are
valid artworks.
Just because women have always done needlework at home or quilted for
household uses, these skills are taken for granted.

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Others
told me this was valid as Art, and not Craft, And before Anyone here
Flames me, i Respect both my Craft side and My art side, But there is
a difference between the 2. a soft zigzaging line differs between the
2 and each crafter/artist knows where her/his line is .

There is a fine line thought between craft and art with the line
growing thinner as our perceptions become more educated and skills
become more refined.
The confusion and the part that's hard to explain why one woman's
textile arts is ordinary and another woman's work is art!

I think the analogy of homemade vs handmade might help the explanation
a little.
Textile arts can both be utilitarian and gallery worthy.....Jack Lenor
Larsen,a famous male textile designer comes to mind....too bad I can't
think of an equally famous female designer to use in my comments at
this time since the topic is about women in general.
Anyway.....Lenor Larsen's decorative fabrics are considered art pieces
as well as being used to decorate both public and private spaces
(residential places).

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"The Art of Manipulating Fabric " by Colette Wolff, Chilton , 1996....
A MUST , a course of `Taming cloth `
"The Folkwear book of Ethnic Clothing" By Mary S.Parker ,Lark Books ,
A good book , not a must ,,, The embelishments photos are Good her
instructions aren`t so well explained.
I also Adore my
"The Historical Encyclopedia of Costume by Albert Racinet, Studio
Editions , 1995 [ reprint].

I've seen these books and all are indeed good to have in a design
library.

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Wow , one of the artists that will take part in my new exhibition,
visited Oman several times, i will ask him about it, He told me woman
there were tottaly covered up , but they sprayed nice perfumes thus
you could guess if she was young or old.

I was somewhat surprised the pics in the book Oman Adorned featured
pics of women without veils but there were also pics of women with
veils. Guess there are different tribal groups shown, each with their
own beliefs and customs but all were showing off the beautiful
traditional craftsmanship of ethnic silver jewelry.

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It's quite true about the less than accurate cultural visions created
by Hollywood..

I am glad you agree, come to think of it , when you look at `clasical
art showing Biblical scenes, you see a similar problem. Jerusalem is
painted with rivers, People Before Christ are wearing Florentine
clothes of the 12th cent. etc,,,, And in Leuven Belgium i saw a
picture of the Last Supper in a Vlamms House with Every one dressed up
with Vlamse Costumes... On the Other hand , i once met an American
Email friend of mine in Europe, her husband kept looking around me ,
than asked me where i kept my Kafia and bag of stones,,,,as that was
what he got from the TV images of Middle Eastern people.

Those medieval and other painters usually painted from their own
perspective and imagined the world through their own environments, the
world they were only familiar with. Basically, it never occurred to
them that other peoples in the world could be different! They were only
centered on their own beliefs most likely being egocentric.

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grew up with such gaudy middle eastern visions watching movies like
Sinbad and other Hollywood style Arabian Nights tales.....it's those
movies that have inspired my funny versions of fortune tellers,

probably ,many a traveling Fortune teller dressed up according to
those films as well... :>:>:>


You're right about that Mirjam! A child learns from their environment,
what they're exposed to and that is what I saw....the circus images of
fortune tellers & magicians.....so to me, these characters can be
overly imaginative with a lot of costume touches that have nothing to
do with authentic middle eastern garments!

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Emroidering, embellishing our clothing allows for expression as well as
making something unique to wear just for the beautiful look!

I have already told here that i use my walk from dentist to bus to
walk midtown and look into new shops etc,, yesterday i saw a new Nook
Shop [ a shop that Materilizes in a nook between 2 buildings] , It
sold Jewelry , or what is called now trendy Jewelry, I was facinated
from the strange [ and cheap] mixture of Traditional Authentic ideas
with Art nuvo , Arr deco, New age, "whatever with whatelse' ,,, see
all fashions in 5 minutes combined on 1 wall .... My feelings went
from giggling to crying to shrug my shoulders or raise my brows. It is
Fun and it is horrid . Some mixtyres seemed tasteful enough , some
were stupid, some ridicoulous. The only Sacred thing was Making money.


We've the same thing here, especially in large cities such as
NY.....lots of street vendors who set up shop in alleys and any
available little space or dent in a building they can set up a suitcase
or boxful of merchandise!
One can buy almost anything from street vendors.....they are now a part
of the urban scene especially in ethnic neighborhoods such as
Chinatown. Nowadays, Chinatown NY looks like a scene from Hong Kong
with so many stalls and vendors all over the streets hawking knockoff
designer merchandise, jewelry and watches of all types, from cheap
Rolexes to Timex to all sorts of remedies, toys, household goods, food
stuffs and so on.!

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But the good thing for people like me , is that this are good hunting
places for us .. i can use parts of the things they sell for my work ,
Still will somebody explain to me 'How come i can buy a big amount of
beads or charms worked into something, Cheaper than it costs me to buy
them seprately ??????" there is something Very wrong about that.


Despite the urban sprawl, there is a charm to shopping from these
street vendors.....I don't usually buy anything from any vendors unless
I'm in the mood to haggle prices......no local person would pay the
asking prices! It's expected to haggle and from experience, one can
save a lot of money by going to several vendors of the same
merchandise!

So far, I've not seen vendors with much I can use for my mixed media
creations or needlework.....have seen many lovely beaded bags and
slippers....I like to buy beaded bags now and then sometimes I use
small beaded bags to tote & store my needlework tools in a project bag.

Once I found a vendor selling reproductions of antique Chinese brass
coins with the hole in the middle!! Dumb me didn't think to buy a whole
bagful as these coins were well made and CHEAP! I only bought a small
handful.......these coins would make perfect embellishments on all
kinds of projects especially Asian inspired pieces.

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I always think the best place to show/enjoy my adorned clothes is
where other creative ladies will be,,,,


You're quite right about that Mirjam! At the TNNA or National
Needlework Trade shows it was always a fashion parade of gorgeous knit
sweaters, beautifully embroidered totebags and so on.
Needlepointed bags and panels on vests were often seen.

Quilt Market trade shows featured their own styles of hand stitched
clothing with a quilted theme....many beautiful quilted jackets &
totebags to be seen....also painted fabrics for clothing.

Other interesting things were earrings and brooches made from machine
embroidered designs that were done on water soluable fabrics.....after
machine embroidery, the cloth was put into water and melted away
leaving behind wonderful lacy shapes that were quite unique....these
pieces could be further enhanced with additional threads or beads for
embellishment.
---
Lula
http://www.woolydream.com
http://www.shamashandsons.com - see my NEW fabrics!

.

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