Marking Time with Fabric and Thread: Calendars, Diaries And Journals Within You Fiber Art
Tommye McClure Scanlin
I opened this book, expecting it to be an easy scan and review - you see, I have a pile of jobs to do and although I love a cover to cover submergence into the finer detail of the text, aesthetics and placement - I just havent the time. Well, I said. That was the plan.
I realise that on doing so, I would actually be being disrespectful to the author and publishing house. Naturally some art books are easier read than others. There are those where we get the expected, yet there will also always be the displacement from this rule. I am please to tell you that this book hits that nail.
I cannot possibly tell you the whole contents, however I will give you some areas I felt were worth considering before you make the purchase.
So, it is hardback, has a traditional old school dust cover - don’t you just love a traditionally made book? I do, the ones with the dust covers demand looking after - so easily a rip or tear…
So what is the book about? As the title says - marking time. Moments matter, so do not let them scatter - as humans we crave highs, lows and memories. Some of us on the sentimental side, romantically mark events, the milestones, achievements which allow the every day mundane to be survivable. But what is the point in them existing if they are not acknowledged? This book, develops that line of thought within the arts. Artists too need to make sense of the world, this is their way - the ongoing development of creative realities. Their sketchbook is their visual diary, their version of your mum, sitting upright in bed every night, loyally putting pen to paper to remind you in a decade, what your first word was, the date of your first day at school….they just do it with a different tool.
The contents is divided into various ways artists have personally carried this out and they explain in their own voice how they work this out. From tree crochet to traditional letter writing….weaving, quilting….mixed media…..see it all here.
This is not a how to textile art book, it is more about being the nosey, the explorer, finding out where others have gone and taken their creative practice. So, now it is up to you - what is your moment of matter? This book will certainly strengthen you to discover whatever that is.