IC:Innovative Craft Blog

Timing stitches and making time

Posted Wednesday 18 March 2009, 09:24am

Deirdre Nelson writes:

I have been reading and thinking a lot about time recently……. my time. I am often asked of a piece of work ‘how long does it take?’ My answer is always the same …..‘I don’t know ‘.

I have recently been involved in A Stitch in Time’ – an event/performance curated by Matt Hulse, produced by IC:Innovative Craft. It was a privilege to be involved in such an exciting collaborative event and it has opened up new ways of thinking and further opportunities for collaboration. It has also made me realise a few things about time.

In preparation for A Stitch in Time’ I began to think about my ‘stitch’ in a new way as I demonstrated stitches to my new students: the filmmaker ( Matt Hulse) and a group of musicians (One Ensemble). As I worked with the group, I thought more about the timing and rthymn of each stitch I was making. The performance was to be 45 minutes and each time I rethreaded my needle, the music would shift and change. Keeping time was important.  After discussion with One Ensemble I prepared to time my stitching convinced that the image we had chosen (that of a film projector loop) would be completed in no time at all. 

It was only when I timed my stitching I became aware of just how long it takes.

Before I even contemplated the activity of stitching as ‘performance’, as a maker I was concerned with what I was to make: the final result. Ordinarily, in my practice, it is the output that is exposed – the final object. It is this which demonstrates my skill and expresses my activity and ideas. In the planned performance of A Stitch in Time’, the physical act of making would be the main focus, not the finished object. This was a hard shift for me to make in my mind as a maker of things where the focus is the finished object.

Although enthusiastic about the collaboration and event, I hadn’t fully considered how I would feel working in front of an audience. I was well aware the audience would be involved in viewing many other aspects of the event (including weavers weaving; films projecting and looping, musicians playing and bobbins and bonnets bobbing). In spite of this I became very self conscious. To begin with, I sat awkwardly, creating an uncomfortable posture in order to work. I became very aware of time. The first ten minutes felt like the longest minutes I have ever spent stitching. I became aware of each awkward stitch I was making. This time, my lack of skill was exposed.

While I spent time concerned about ‘my’ making, the audience were spending time relaxing and observing the beautiful film projected, the bobbins and bonnets bobbing, the musicians playing and the hands of the weavers weaving. My experience stitching in the event wasn’t quite the same as those experiencing it.

One year on after being selected for Jerwood Contemporary Makers, I now have time to reflect and celebrate my achievement. When selected I was concerned about my time. I was trying to balance time on an artist’s residency with completing a large commission and preparing work for Collect at the V&A. I was also preparing to go and take time out to do voluntary work in Cambodia. I was concerned about my time but also the expectations of being a Jerwood exhibitor.

After a very busy time, I am now trying to take time to think. Reflecting on my practice, I think of myself an artist who takes time to create and search out appropriate projects and opportunities in order to make work. Each time, I try to create a comfortable environment in which to work. Although I often work in collaboration with others, I am now more aware that the private space I need (in order to physically make) and the atmosphere I create around me allows me to get lost in making. As a result I become totally unaware of the time it takes.

So when next asked ‘how long did it take to make? I will probably say yet again, ‘I just don’t know’.

http://dstitched.blogspot.com/
http://www.craftspace.co.uk/page.asp?fn=2&id=57&stp=1&grp=2