I am a lucky participant in an invitational art show in which each artist was provided a wooden cigar box. The show will be in alternative art gallery in October. This past week I looked around the studio for raw ingredients that might find a route into this creative gate.
I am a collector of scraps. twigs. thread. snippets of fabric. rocks. dried weeds. you name it I got it. The pile of colorful threads next to my sewing machine started to look like it might have a heartbeat so I decided to take a stab at weaving it all together. Crosswise, lengthwise, in a circle, over a ball, into a nest, around a heart shaped rock and just plain balled up. The texture was emotive, chaotic, and intriguing.
The box I have is from Mexico. I have vivid memories of the colors and thread work I saw when visiting there a number of years ago. The art, the people, the history and the countryside are rich with inspiration and passion. Frankly, I was surprised. I was a victim of bad media coverage: fear of getting sick, attacked or kidnapped are all potently exploited by news reports here in the States. Fact is, it can be dangerous wherever you are and if you let fear rule your decisions you can miss out on a lot. It's a lesson that Congress could benefit from.
So that was the seed for this assemblage. The fact that we are a polyglot society dependent on and richly endowed by our immigrant population seems to be missing from our politicians mindsets. Woven together we are stronger, more creative and richer by far. At times it may look like chaos, but underneath there is a tapestry of truth.