At the preview of the exhibition Muu maa, in Joutsa, Finland there was coffee offered after the speeches. A friend, who attended the preview took these photographs of the coffee cups waiting for the guests. A great collection of coffee cups. It was a sunny day and warm and a great opening of the show. The artists were introduces by Merja Metsänen. Yours truly made a speech about the importance of art, residency and society.
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Part of the exhibition "Undir berum himni = Under the open sky" Great pictures of the Warp of Fate that a friend, Ólafur Jón took. It has already rained and been windy so Warp has survived so far. I am very pleased that this piece is where it is and very thankful to the owner of the house that kindly let me have holes drilled into her precious house to be able to mount the warp. It is of importance that the Warp of Fate is situated at Urðarstígur named by Urður or Urd one of the three Norns of Destiny in old Norse mythology. Urður for past , Verðandi for present and Skuld for the future. In Iceland we should be able to learn from the mistakes of the past. Unfortunately barely the majority of voters in Iceland have have in this year 2013 given us back the people that made it possible for Iceland to go bankrupt 5 years ago! The governing forces of Iceland are now arrogant people who will not learn from their fellows' mistakes. I span the wool during the winter of the financial collapse of Iceland, 2008-09 and warped it. Part of the exhibition "Muu maa = Other country"
I am very concerned about the Icelandic goat race and have wanted for quite a while to make art for the goats. Part of my concept is to make art from discarded material. The goat works are made from the coarse hair of goats, material that is left when it has been dehaired from the cashmere that is a desired material. Also discarded wooden boards and old desk tops. The name of the work is The Last Goat of Iceland. That would be the most frightful thing, if the goats vanish from earth because humans can't take care of precious things. Very satisfying. I like this image. Actually photographed it myself in the late afternoon when the sun is hovering above the horizon just about to set.
These are the crosses that make the giant cross stitch goat "The last Goat". There has been progress with the last goat. Not only the work I have done but SPRING is here and the grass around the great cross stitch goat is growing and it is of course GREEN and keeps growing and the question is how much should I allow the grass to grow? Should it cover the goat? The whole idea behind this work is the endangered goat species of Iceland. I have done some practical non artistic work (is work ever non artistic?) searching for cashmere in Iceland as you can see on my goat/cashmere site: http://weberstrasse-cashmere.weebly.com/
The two other pieces are made with old desktops, wall cladding, and last but not least hand spun goat-hair-thread. I try to stick to the reusing, recycling, up-cycling idea. The big goat on the ground is akin to the Great White Horse of Uffington The Great Goat of Iceland or The Last Goat of Iceland as its correct name is, could be akin to the mythical goat Heiðrún. That is a good thought. A giant goat in progress. In order to make it I tore the cladding of this gable which was due as the house is being made up. In this way I am using "rags" as I am accustomed to.
I am making a crossstitch goat with 3 esses. This work has proved to be physically exhausting but very enjoyable to step out of one's usual box which is the loom and rags and make this instead. The work (not the gable though) will be part of the summer exhibition at Haihatus art centre in Joutsa, Finland. perhaps the gable should be part of the exhibition? It is a splendid idea! I made a goat pattern for knitting or cross stitch embroidery a few years ago. And now I am working with the this pattern in different ways. This in one work. The cross stitch is made with yarn spun from the coarse hair of the goats that I have been combing in the past few years. I want to create more goat art and am thinking of various ways to express my concern for the Icelandic goat race.
I have learned to make an yul tide ornament that is called Himmel in Swedish which means Heaven.
Himmel in German and Himinn in Icelandic and Taivas in Finnish. This ornament is still called Himmeli in Finnish. I learned to make it with plastic drinking straws but originally a Himmel is made with straw of Rye or Oat. Mine is narrow and not as impressive as the real ones that were made for the yul-tide in former days and then burnt in the midsummer bonfires, only to make a new one after harvesting for the following yul-tide. I have been busy building crosses that will structure a piece of Goat Art, Icelandic Goat Art that I am preparing these days. I make goat art in order to make the endangered Icelandic Goat Race more visible. The wood in the crosses comes from cladding from a house that is being made up. The cladding was meant to be disposed of so I am still in up-cycling, apart from the himmel I made. But who is perfect? Not I. |
AuthorAnna María Lind, MA Textile Art Winchester School of Art. Archives
March 2024
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