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Couture Brute?

11/4/2023

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Picture
An outside hall at Mt. Hood Community College (hereafter MHCC)
What I dislike occupies more brainspace than you might expect.  I worry at it, like tonguing a cut in my mouth, trying to quantify what I dislike and why.  Sometimes, in creative assimilation, I make what I don't like, and so become a connoisseur.  Then, like a cut in my mouth, the thing heals and I forget it ever bothered me.  Most things have some beauty if you look close enough.
Today I contemplate Brutalist architecture, the Brutalist design philosophy, and how it might be expressed in thread.  The photos in this post are all my own, of Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon, USA.  ​​

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Dying Art or Cognitive Distortion?

6/12/2023

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I visited the Quiltopia quilt show in Salem, OR last year with a non-quilting friend.  She said "Oh, it's so sad that this is a dying art!".  Queried I: "What makes you think it's dying?", and she responded by pointing out the aging demographic she saw... that most of the people at the show were middle-aged to elderly.  She worried that they would age and die, and thus would perish quilting!  But, I countered, the middle-aged-to-elderly demographic is constantly renewed, as people age into it! 
Picture
She might be the last quilter! Mennonite Board of Missions. Photographs. Illinois, Eureka, 1961-63. IV-10-7.2 Box 3 Folder 70. Mennonite Church USA Archives - Goshen. Goshen, Indiana.
Maybe quilting is a hobby people tend to take up in their middle years, as they settle into homes that have room for all the stuff, and as they age out of caring about fashion and clothes-sewing.  Plus, a lot of young people exhibit their quilts on blogs and message boards (looking at you, r/quilting!) and Facebook, rather than in shows. 

I wonder by what rubric we could actually evaluate whether an art is "dying"? 

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"Cracked Ice" Surface Design - Part 2

11/30/2022

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Picture
冰裂紋窗 Cracked Ice Window, by lienyuan lee, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
I continue my investigation into the Chinese surface design called cracked ice.  Last time I introduced it and tried to answer the question: What principles or method underlie its design?  Today, I ask the same question, but in copy-pasted Chinese. 

I do not speak or read any Chinese dialect... this is me swimming in dark waters.  But since I can't find the information in English, I have to do my best with Google Translate and luck. 
As for pictures, if I'm not using my own work, I seek photos under free public licenses.  In today's post, however, I use one photo without permission (because I have no idea how to get permission).  But then I mangle it beyond recognition in the pursuit of design, so I'm not sure where copyright law falls on that one!  Nevertheless, I still do my best to credit the originator and link back. 

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"Cracked Ice" Surface Design - Part 1

11/28/2022

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In mundanity, complexity.  A sheet of ice, cracking as it thaws, inspires artists, woodworkers, scientists, and me!  Today's post is a deep dive into a surface design pattern called "Cracked Ice", which is common in traditional Chinese art. 

COPYRIGHT & PERMISSIONS

This post uses some photos that are available under free public licenses.  I put the attribution and copyright details under each borrowed picture; clicking on a borrowed picture will open its source page in a new window. 

A few of the pictures are my own, and I label them as well.  As a blanket rule, the pictures, writing, and other content of this blog are my property unless otherwise noted.  Feel free to link to, pin, or share these pages online, as long as you credit me (Karen Roy), preferably with a link back.  Please ask my permission before redistributing or reproducing my work in any other way.  ​
Picture
Cracked Ice, by Timo Noko from Helsinki, Finland, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Picture
冰裂窗 Cracked Ice Window, by lienyuan lee, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

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Labeling and My Acid Trip Quilt

11/22/2022

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Labeling quilts is an interesting topic for me.  Historically, labeling quilts was not the norm.  Some modern interpreters assume that the women of the past didn't think their work deserved credit, as this quote from Womenfolk.com exemplifies:
Most women of the past simply didn't think that the everyday or even "for best" quilt they made was important enough to sign. Some even felt it would be too prideful to sign their quilt.
 -- America's Quilting History: Did She Sign Her Name?
     The History of Quilt Labels, by Judy Anne Breneman, 2001
I hesitate, however, to argue motives from a lack of evidence.  We have positive evidence of makers marking their quilts in several instances, such as when making signature quilts as gifts or community projects, or when labeling a quilt for laundry purposes.  Even the source cited above, which claims women failed to label quilts because they thought their work unimportant, then goes on to describe an uptick in labeling when indelible inks came on the market.  Did women suddenly find their quilts important then? 

Unsigned quilts were exhibited at county fairs, shipped across the ocean as gifts, saved for generations, and described in letters.  Clearly they were not unimportant, even if they went unsigned.  So maybe there are other explanations for not signing.  Maybe the makers lived in smaller communities than we do today, and within those communities the people who mattered knew who made what.  Perhaps the makers didn't care about a hundred years down the line because they never expected their quilts to last that long! 

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Noshi Motifs in Kimono

10/3/2022

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Picture
Today's post is a bit of a dive into the sea of Japanese history and symbology, in search of the story behind this motif on a kimono. 
This pattern is called "noshi".  But what is it? What are those yellow strips?  Why are they tied together? 

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911)

3/25/2019

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Picture
Image of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on March 25 - 1911. First published on front page of The New York World 1911-03-26. Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Today is the 108th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.  This workplace disaster galvanized America to pass labor laws that protect workers, and we see the benefits every day.  Does your job have lighted exit signs?  Doors that open outward? Fire alarms?  You have them because the Triangle Waist Company girls didn't. 

NOTE ON PICTURES:
All of the photographs in this post are, to my best knowledge, in the public domain (click them to see their source-pages) or used with permission.  If you're doing research for yourself, you may find it useful to search archives for the "Washington Place Fire", which is how they labeled things in the immediate aftermath, before the fire got its "Triangle Shirtwaist" notoriety. 
This will be a long post, mostly concerning the fire in 1911 and the pro-labor legislation that followed in America, but also touching on the global sweatshop problem today.  Make some tea and join me for a talk. 

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The Great Fire - All the Lace!

11/19/2018

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In September of 1666, the Great Fire of London burned for five days, reaching temperatures hot enough to melt pottery and completely cremate victims, destroying thousands of buildings, and leaving seven eighths of Londoners homeless.  In addition to devastating the city, the disaster ignited religious and ethnic hatreds, stirring mobs to violence and politicians to a blame game, and threatening the newly restored monarchy.  London had been a medieval town, outgrowing its own streets and buildings, but after the fire it was rebuilt, with much the same street plan, but wider streets, better sewage disposal, and fire lanes to the Thames. 

In 2014, PBS released a four-part miniseries dramatizing the Great Fire, which is compelling as history, drama, and costume-feast-for-the-eyes.  And I... I love those things! 

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Corticelli Silk Pamphlet, circa 1923

11/12/2018

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Picture
I promised that I would, over time, show you some of the fascinating ephemera enclosed in Catherine DeVore's fashion and art portfolio from the 1920's... so today I showcase an advertising pamphlet put out by The Corticelli Silk Company in 1923.  This short, stapled booklet has full color pictures of the famous dancer Irene Castle wearing Corticelli Silk!

WHO WAS IRENE CASTLE?

Irene Castle was a fascinating lady... a paragon of class and respectability in the early Teens, who also ran nightclubs, introduced the bob, influenced fashion, acted in films, supported animal rights, and wrote books.  With her husband Vernon Castle, she is one of the founders of modern partner dancing.  

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Belgium in WWI: Flour Sacks and Lace

10/22/2018

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Picture
Photo courtesy of Jorie, of EmbroiderElaine blog. Click to see her site!
As a child, I attended Herbert Hoover Elementary school, yet never knew who Herbert Hoover was.  For years, I had him confused with J. Edgar Hoover (not the same guy at all, it turns out), which is a shame, as I now find he was really an extraordinary man. His greatest and, I think, most lastingly significant work was done when he was a private citizen during the Great War.  For his actions on behalf of starving Belgians, he received grateful tributes of needlework and lace which are are far more compelling and beautiful than my elementary school.  So today: WWI, Herbert Hoover, Belgium, and lace! 

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    Karen Roy

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