3/24/2012

Tattered lace on a black dress

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Thumbnails.  How many times has it happened?
Those itty bitty pictures that just beg to be clicked.  I saw one today and had to follow it.
I was certain it was an antique textile and I had to have a closer look . . .

this, of course, was the tattered lace edge on an old black dress.

Ahem.

I've come to accept the fact that I just don't see things as they really are.  It happens so often
I really can't ignore it.  I see what I want to see.
I think it's a habit, this  misinterpreting  reading into things.  Dunno why I embellish with
some sort of alternate reality, but this I do . . .
constantly.

There's an upside to this penchant . . . I head into new territory without even meaning to.
By following that "tattered lace" thumbnail, I discovered a photographer doing some wondrous things
with completely ordinary objects.
Oh, how I admire this!
Don Taylor is on Flickr and has an amazing eye for capturing metallics - yes, metal -
to the extent of being poetic in his renderings.
Even sublime.


This is metal . . . and all I saw was fabric.  My alternate reality.

In fact, I see textiles or work with cloth, in all of these photos.
Call me crazy, but this is how they look to me . . .


 . . . marks from natural dyeing


. . . beautiful seam work


. . .  boro mending


and shibori . . .


rust dyeing over indigo . . .


and embroidery stitching on a nine patch.



This is a thread knot resist . . .


and these . . . layered silks, probably invisibly basted  ;>}



beaded line over a linen collage . . .




old scraps, torn and frayed, yet anchored with cabochons . . .



and a fragile weaving within a bigger (much bigger) story.


Each one gritty . . . raw. . .
highly textural.
Not exactly the words I might use to describe textile art . . .

ooh, that's right . . . it isn't.


: : :


p.s.  up for one more?  look what Taylor can do with a Victorian hightop shoe...




28 comments:

  1. OMG, those metallic photos are to-die-for. Thanks for sharing them and the link to Don's work. Simply superb!

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    1. You had the same reaction to his photos that I did!
      yer welcome :>]]

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  2. What you do naturally is called metamorphic viewing. This is what aspiring artists crave. You do it naturally. x

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    1. Clare...my affliction has a NAME?!?! I must Google that - thanks for letting me know!

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  3. I feel like that too, seeing everything as textiles. I often look at a landscape and see it is as certain fabric and certain stitches.

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  4. Oh Wow! Especially like the "boro" one.

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    1. Me too, Deb, it struck me instantly as a mended piece...

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  5. the wonders of the imagination. yours is working perfectly. great images.

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    1. Felt a bit looney as I was going through them :>/
      His photos just blow my mind...one of those image makers one discovers where you say, "dang, I wish I shot pictures like that!"

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  6. Thank you, thank you for sharing this with us. I too would have 'seen' fabric in each of these images. Wouldn't it be fun to try to reproduce them in fiber and fabric?? Hmmm.....

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  7. Wow...they do look like textiles...I wonder if he sees metal in fabric art? I also tend to see things differently than they are...such fun.

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    1. Hi Barbara! I left the photographer a message over on Flickr...if I get a dialog going with him, I'll let you know :>]]
      I'd like to know a whole lot more about he "sees"...

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  8. Gadzooks! What a gorgeous post! I don't know how you did it... but you made those stupendous photographs have so much meaning to someone who also loves textiles. Thank you SO much. OH! And your photography is really getting very good!!! I'm loving some of your pictures, and I am also getting VERY tired of grey. I can't wait to see what you and your camera can do with Spring when it really gets here! HuGGs! Debi

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    1. Debi, there's hope...it's sunny here today & there's that *smell of spring* just coming into the air....woooo hooooo!
      And you are so welcome - very happy you liked the post. I was just bowled over by Don's images & had to share.
      Thanks for kind words :>]]

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  9. I saw these posted on tumblr.
    I followed.
    I was ..am.. smitten.

    Then again I am a metalholic.
    I live for rust.
    Crusty bits.
    Salvaged roadside.
    Crackled paint makes me swoon.

    That you see these as fabric. Textile.
    This is where your heart is.

    I envision chips on canvas.
    Squares nailed onto board.
    Shrines.
    Angels.
    Reliquary.

    My heart.

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  10. fantastique..j'adore la rouille et ces photos!

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  11. Gorgeous images, lovely textures, beautiful colours - well done!

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    1. I don't know how he does it...how he can so transform rot & decay into THESE. Luv his work so much.

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  12. I saw textiles too. Thanks for sharing this talented man's work.

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  13. Replies
    1. Hi Lynette, thank you...every time I come back & look at his pictures,
      I swoon again. So fun to share with like-minded fiber/photo folks!

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  14. I have to admit that I would have thought the same thing.. fabric pieces.. but they are metal? amazing... I will have to go over to Flickr and check out Don Taylor... thank you.

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    1. So many of us with the same *affliction* Donna. Don probably thinks we are all quite, quite nutz ;>}

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