Art Defined in Textile

I love the southwestern Native American textiles. The blankets, weaving patterns of brilliant color into geometrical designs are incredibly beautiful. In the Northwest, Pendleton Woolen Mills produces woolen blankets with fabulous designs and color.  Another art form… 
The southwestern weavings are incredible…some of subtle shades of grays with perhaps red or a muted turquoise; others brilliant in color. The process of hand weaving is so very time consuming. It is with pride that these artists display their work at the Indian Fairs and Markets.

 

Twenty + years ago I was working in the Denver area and had the opportunity to go to the Indian Market that was held at a stadium in Boulder. It was a festival of Native American Art with the rugs and blankets hanging throughout the show.   It was beautiful in the display of colors and craftsmanship.

I have a few pieces, a couple of small rugs, a Pendleton blanket that serves as a bedspread in a guest room. I guess what I love about these pieces is the use of color…they are bright, lots of colors and it doesn’t matter what the “seasonal” colors are in the fashion world…these pieces use the basics of color to play one off the other…just like a color wheel.  It’s all art.

spray paint and railroad cars…

The railroad that follows the Columbia River and provides transportation for paper mills and distribution centers always has numerous cars sitting idle, waiting to be loaded and moved to some other destination.  Some of these cars, from time to time, will be laden with graffiti from who knows where.  Sometimes you can pretty easily decipher what is painted on the cars with spray paint; other times not.  Sometimes you will see only words; sometimes characters.   I wonder who did the painting; where were they and why?  those railroad cars travel all over; a moving gallery of “art” – if you consider this art.  I think it is a type of art form…It may certainly not be one you identify with or even like in the least, but you must admit there is a certain amount of artistic talent needed to create some of the things you see on the sides of the cards.

Whenever I drive by railroad cars with the graffiti on the their sides, I wonder about that art form.  Where has that car been?  Who did that painting on the car?  Why?   Is is just graffiti?  Is it an art form?  I guess I think it as an art form or sorts.  I have seen some pretty intricate paintings even though it is defacing someone else’s property.  So I think it is sad that someone with obvious talent is doing a basically wrong thing by spray painting the side of a rail road car.  So what does it mean?  What do the words say?  Gang related messages traveling thousands of  miles in warning.   Some of the paintings have more than writing on them; some in really vibrant color.  I am sure it  relates somewhat to supply on hand at the time.  Are these “artists” skulking around after dark in the railroad yards looking for a clean canvas to deliver their message on?  Is it a warning or just mischievousness; is the message meant to go somewhere specific or is it random?  I wish they had canvases and a gallery…there’s talent there…

Define Art…

Art…it’s a pretty personal deal.  My goal with this blog is to tell about something “art-like” in my world…or maybe one of my friends world.  We don’t all look at art the same way.  Thankfully!  Art can be the graffiti on the sides of freight train cars, the works of master painters, children’s projects from school, stuff you see on walks, a plate of food, a deli’s showcase, photography…So come with me on this journey.

(Jean’s wood cut images)

Art…A couple of years ago an elderly friend of mine passed away.  She was a wonderful artist who was talented in lots of mediums – watercolor, block print making, etc.  A patron of the arts, Jean was a founding member of the local Art Center and volunteered there for years.  Late in her life she brought some beautiful tiny wood block prints to the center to sell.  She said her kids had picked the ones they wanted and she had just decided to sell the rest of them.  I bought two of them and cherish them.  They hang together in my dining room in a grouping of  some small works.  Whenever I take a look at them, I fondly think of Jean, her great smile and gentle ways.  Art for her seemed to be done for purely pleasure.  She didn’t seem to care if  she made a bunch of money on her work; she did it for the pleasure of making art.

After she had passed away,  her children gathered things that they didn’t want and had a yard sale.  She had lots of interesting artifacts from around the world, but the two things that I fell in love with were two sets of wood block cuts for printing/imaging.  I am a huge fan of art stamps and have a collection that is quite extensive.  So when I saw these wooden boxes of wood blocks, I had to have them!  There is a collection of letters and numbers in different fonts, some well-worn; others hardly used.  On occasion I pick a couple and ink them up and stamp them into a project, but mostly I just take them out and look at them and remember my friend Jean…