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Table Runner

July 1, 2010 Artist Responses 3 Comments

I have an idea to somehow put Mary’s spoons, hidden away for years in a drawer at Queens Park, back on the table. Inspired by the table runner that Mary sent out to the collection at Timaru in New Zealand I have been collaborating with weaver Ismini Samanidou on a table runner which uses a combination of  images of the spoons in the archive and clay spoons I have made in response.  We are still playing and sample making, exploring very subtle weaves and more dramatic combinations, trying to reference the worn surfaces and edges of the spoons, perhaps incorporating some text from the letters, maybe the spoon inventory.  Through all of this we are discovering the similarities and differences between cloth and clay and learning ways in which the two can be brought together.  It is proving to be a really stimulating project.

thumbnail sketches of early ideas

Spoons from the collection woven into cloth

Subtle weave with ceramic spoons nestling

shadow of spoon woven into cloth

Ceramic spoons over woven text

At this early stage we are playing with varying combinations of cloth and clay – clay spoons sitting on cloth surfaces, cloth spoons rolled into clay dishes, images of clay spoons and surfaces woven back into the cloth.  I like the notion of a seamless transition between the old and the new, the cloth and the clay, the analogue and the digital, the hand and the machine, and would like this to be reflected as the work develops.  Sharon

Modeling the idea on the table in cloth and clay

Currently there are "3 comments" on this Article:

  1. Sharon Blakey says:

    Yes Martin there is a computer! My collaborator Ismini is the brains behind that, but I’m learning a lot and it’s wonderful to step into another genre. It’s an exciting development for sure!

  2. Melanie Williamson says:

    These are lovely Sharon! My favourite is spoons from the collection woven into cloth.

  3. Martin says:

    Sharon, these are marvellous, I’m really interested in how the weaving is constructed – please tell me there’s a computer in there somewhere. I can’t even begin to imagine how you would handweave items of such complexity.

    Really looking forward to seeing how this work develops.

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