Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Museum

I'm here but sometimes I wish I could be in the UK or somewhere else
- it still amazes me (and always will) how people all over the world sharing the same interests can meet up and have a 'conversation' or exchange ideas on their blogs - even more so because I know how precious the company of like-minded people
can be . There are not many handweavers here in Italy - and less than the national average in the region where I live!


Today I've been to the depository of my local museum -where a kind lady showed me some textile fragments of damask and velvet from the XVIII and XIX century. The idea is to draw inspiration from the shapes and colours of these fragments - and of course have a chance to peek around! Some other textiles I found really inspiring: mezzeri - lightweight cotton fabric printed with flora and fauna motifs, with the most common the 'Tree of Life'. The name derives from the Arab word for "cover": women originally used them to cover their heads, but they were used also as shawls and bedcovers. They were particularly common in the XIX century in Liguria. Mezzeri are still used today as covers for bed/sofa but the modern versions have lost some of their appeal, as colour combinations are decidedly ugly and the patterns too big.


Thursday, May 15, 2008

Fifties

About a month ago I've been to an exhibition on Antonia Campi (unfortunately there is not much about her on the web, I am trying to get my hands on the new catalogue...)
I suppose it's just one of those moments - when you realize just how much you love some specific shapes, colours and surfaces - they were there before, but now you are aware that they're special to you - and you crave for more...
Back to my weaving I fancied something black and white - then, after the exhibition where I saw the most lovely plate in white, black and pink, I decided for these three colours.
Pink had a lovely sort of "creamy" shade in the Fifties...

Above are samples - in wrong colours! - just to check the structure and colour&weave effects. As I want to cover a chair seat I need a strong and balanced fabric - plain weave still my favourite.
Today I've been threading the loom and hopefully tomorrow I'll prepare the warp.
Can't wait to see the fabric done!

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Back Home

as usual, going to the UK for me is a feast - for all textile-y things and lot more -
we went...First, to the Savill Garden
Entrance - the roof is impressive both from the inside and the outside
Exhibitions at the Crafts Study Centre, Farnham : "Makers & Movers" (with some samples by weaver Marianne Straub)
and "Meeting Places" by Carole Waller - her hangings were amazing, delicately floating in the air when you passed close to them -

...even the towel in the toilet was somehow matching the atmosphere of the exhibition!

Next on the list was a quick trip to Stroud for the Textile Festival; we only went there the first day, no chance for talks and workshops, sigh...
I particularly loved Claire Lane:
and the colours of Ptolemy Mann (to be honest, I had seen her work in photos before, but standing in front of the real thing - two whole rows of them! - is something that one has to experience - I was speechless)

Back home to the South it was nice to stroll around and discover new lovely places such as Sno, a Scandinavian design shop (grrr.....that day it was closed)
and Coastal Creatives - a lovely gallery/shop well worth a visit.
I wish we could have had some more time...
...and back home, flying over the Alps