Category: Project Den

Perthshire Open Studios

I am starting to prepare for POS (3-11 September 2016).  I have a venue number (71) and am on the Blue Route.  Its quite exciting and daunting at the same time – I have never opened my studio up to public view before (yes, I know its really a shed!).  Lets hope the weather is better than in this picture because I want to have my current den/finger knitting project open for visitors to work on.

my shed

Craft vs Art

One of my current projects (den) relies on two things – firstly public involvement and secondly that art and craft can co-exist in relative peace.

In recent decades craft has suffered quite a severe decline and this has led many people to question exactly what craft is compared to art.  I believe they are two ends of a spectrum with lots of overlap in between.  Art has moved away from making in a way that craft has not.  Centuries ago St Francis of Assisi said:

 

I know lots of crafts people out there who put their whole heart into their work, and equally, many artists who do not make objects of any kind, so this definition is no longer completely relevant.

(This image is from quotesgram.com)

The Familiarity of Known Relationships

This project is developing fast.  I’ve jumped from the thinking stage to the planning stage in one quick leap. It could be quite frightening if I let myself worry too much about it simply from a point of view of keeping everything under control aFingerknitting for the Den projectnd not letting anything escape – I don’t want it to end up a bit like trying to get hold of my cat to take her to the vets – as fast as you get hold of one end, the other is wriggling free and scratching in the process.

People are coming forward wanting to be a part of the project, and that’s even without any sort of advertising.  Last semester when this idea first began to develop, I was worried that I would not get enough people creating ‘fronds’ for me to create a den of any size with but I am starting to think that won’t be a problem.

Maybe one of the main attractions is that no skills are needed?  The process of finger knitting is a comforting memory for many people, often associated with childhood and this is exactly what I want to tap into.  TS Elliot apparently talked about the ‘familiarity of known relationships’   I’m not absolutely sure where the quote actually came from but I think something like that is going on here.

The first finger knitting session will start soon.