Reframing who you already are

Shading with silk thread

I designed a second embroidery piece again depicting a joyous, splash of water. Although the direction was both down and at the same time, uplifting - in worship. This was based on a stained glass collection by French artist Henri Guérin. I was inspired by the beauty of his work, and by his artist statement:

Unintentionally, this seed of a drawing has taught me to give thanks for the treasures of the world, human and object, over which their creator dispenses a profusion of light; He whom I believe to be the creator of Heaven and Earth.

Using the freedom with which He has entrusted me, I have gleaned a few trees, bushes, flowers and other derivations of His mystery, all of them fragments of His sublime creation, to show you, in my own way. If you find the silence in these images before you more eloquent than words, perhaps you will find this declaration of faith superfluous. Secretly, that is what I hope...  

One of the works from Guérin's collection of the vowels in the alphabet.

My spirits soared after reading that, sitting there surrounded by his glass creations. I aspire, as he has done, to worship the God I believe in through my art, and to inspire others to awe as well. This is a particularly difficult thing to achieve, and I am at the beginning of the journey, but it is what I would love to be able to do through fashion design.

Fortunately, after discussing with Ashok the design I had taken from one of Guérin's stained glass works, and that I wanted this piece to all be fine  thread work, he assigned my piece to a particularly talented artisan, Raju. The stitch he used is called Fasabla, which is a stitch in the middle of two others - or mixing stitches. Ashok suggested that shading be used, and to great effect. I love this piece.

Raju finishing off my thread work piece.

Road Trip

The whole of India is covered in dust,
in my nose, eyes, grit in my mouth.
A naked child in a "play pen" cage sits crying in the dirt,
inhaling a coughing highway.
People's lives are spent on the side of the road;
walking, resting, cooking, weaving trays of coconut through traffic jams of
cars, trucks, scooters jammed with people.

And the eyes;
always looking, staring at these pale faces peering back from the other side of the glass;
these women who, inches away, inhabit a far away world.

The whole of India is covered in dust,
In my nose, eyes, grit in my mouth.
There are no clean feet in India.
But the smiles of children are radiant.

Pushkar

Further impressions of Vrindavan and Pushkar:

• Driving on the wrong side of the road to get to where you want to go
• Cows roaming in the street, as well as monkeys, dogs and squirrels
• Cows eating refuse off the street
• Shantis made of sacks on the edge of town, a small, naked girl sitting in the dirt
• Shopping for exotic delights at a fraction of the price back home- brightly coloured pigments, silver and enamelled jewellery, perfume oils, coats made of recycled saris, leather bound books of recycled paper.
• Developing a taste for Indian cuisine and choosing it over Western alternatives even when its on the menu.

After a short week learning stitches and designing embroidery designs we had a weekend away in Rajistan. Arriving in Pushka at sunset, we were treated to a camel ride where we sauntered past orchards and arrived at the home of Fiona and Praveen. There we were treated to a feast and a performance by local gypsies, where tipping involved dancing with them! The next day we saw how The Stitching Project employs local women to embellish jacket components with a hand running stitch. This provides an additional income that is given directly to the women. We also tried out block printing in a local studio, used by Fiona and Praveen which was a lot of fun.

Camel ride through rural villages

Nandu Kanwar refining my "graffiti" block printed scarf 

Local gypsy dancing troupe

Fiona and Praveen are embracing the principles of fair trade, making jackets and clothing to order whilst employing local artisans and women. Fair trade, sustainable fashion is certainly the longer, harder road, with so fewer suppliers and so many more questions to ask, but it is the way I want to go. Although I am seeing first hand how complicated, arduous even, it is to achieve quality high fashion that is kind to the planet and is inhabitants. Obtaining organic cotton in small runs, sourcing second hand sari fabric in the colour ways of your choice, training makers to a standard discerning customers would expect as minimum. I have so much more respect now for the designers who are going just a little way to make their collections fairer.

Fiona & Praveen inspecting jacket pieces with hand stitched embellishment.

Studio time

My concept is a depiction of the Holy Spirit, specifically the characteristics of peace and joy. Following advice from the Fashion lecturers, I have simplified my imagery to water, using two elements of water - the splash and the ripples it forms, moving to stillness as metaphor of joy and peace respectively.

Ashok has shown as samples of his work, giving us a taste of the stitches and how beading and sequins can be used.  The studio is full of materials which Ashok has generously made available for use in our projects. Robyn also gifted me some beautiful clear crystals, which are perfect for slash droplets.

Ashok showing his "daughters" embroidery samples.

Example of water using stitch and sequins

Example of water using silk and metal thread

Artisan Chhailvihavil working on my water splash, which utilises beads, sequins, crystals and silk thread.

Sitting with my Artisan, I was able to show how I'd like the beads to be mixed, gradating from one colour to the other in a painterly way. This was the biggest challenge I found, as the artisans were so disciplined and expert at their craft that everything was neat. They were used to neat rows of colour and  lines of stitching - they must have been perplexed at mine and others' insistence on "messy, messy!"

Beauty in Ritual

On our second day in Delhi, after sourcing end of run fabrics, and dining and shopping in the local courtyard mall, we met the girls of a orphanage that our host supports. These girls were so happy and full of life. We filled the restaurant with lots of noise and laughter. (No photos of the girls posted to protect their privacy.)

After an early rise and 3 hour car journey we arrived in Vrindavin, south of Delhi, where we were welcomed by the photographer Robyn Beeche into the Ashram where she lives. We are here to learn embroidery and beading at the Ashok School of Embroidery, and to collaborate with Ashok's artisans on some contemporary designs of our own.

Being a temple town, ritual is everywhere in Vrindavin, and I love this richness, how they incorporate their Hindu religion into daily life. What touches me is the aesthetic beauty of their rituals. How Shilpi, the wife of the Ashram guru's son, blessed us before our first day at the embroidery studio, like her Mother would do for her before an exam, by placing a bindi on our forehead and giving us some sweet biscuits she had baked. 

Shilpi blessing Sarah

The chanting and use of roses and coconut water in the puja or ceremony of Ashok's brand new school. The pujari (priest assistant) in his beautifully embroidered white robes gave each of us a bindi as we held rose petals that he then sprinkled on the shrine. 

The Pujari placing thread around my wrist after giving me a bindi.

Lighting a floating candle on our morning river tour in Vrindavin.

The wearing of different colours for each day of the week: pink for Monday, orange for Tuesday, green on Wednesday, yellow on Thursday, multi colours for Friday, black or blue for Saturday and red on Sunday. 

The evocative, energising singing and music in Sri Radharaman Mandir, the ashram temple, to which one woman spontaneously got up and danced before the deity.

Dancing in the temple.

In contrast, western society could do with more ritualistic beauty. Perhaps the Enlightenment has had too much of a sanitising effect on culture. Capitalism and individualism have also left its scars. Are aesthetically beautiful rituals and ways of relating to one another  replaced with aesthetically beautiful luxury consumer goods? 

Reflecting on what I have seen in Vrindavin, as a Western Christian, at times I look for a more aesthetically enriching expression of my own faith. The use of colour, flowers, performance and gifts, perhaps.  Perhaps there will be inspiration in the traditions of  the Greek Orthodox, Egyptian Coptic or Nasrani Christians (the latter from Kerala in India's south). And the Bible itself is rich with imagery, which as a design student I can try to respond to in fresh, contemporary ways. This will be both a challenge and an enriching experience.

First Impressions

After arriving off the plane at our beautiful guesthouse in south Delhi at 6am, we were out 3 1\2 hours later for a full day of shopping. We came home laden with all kinds of ribbons, trimmings, beads, sequins, and fabrics, as well as bellies full of delicious Bihar food and eyes wide after visiting the studio of emerging designer Rajat Jain, who incorporates luscious beading in his contemporary designs.

Embellishment heaven!

Beader's delight!

Along the way, I also saw some random things that I would not have seen back home...

• The nature strip of a highway used as an exercise track
• A family of four on a scooter
• Another family in a three wheeled open taxi, laden with plaster of paris gods and shrine plaques
• Men picking wax from customers' ears outside McDonalds, with used cotton sticks.
• A girl's pleading face pressed against our car window
• Children making music and doing tricks at the traffic lights to earn money for another.
• Climbing around traffic in centimetre gaps to cross the road

There's something exhilarating, even though unsettling, about being amidst it all. And sleep will be sweet tonight...

India, here we come!

What a fabulous experience awaits ten of us who, as part of our fashion and textile design course, will be travelling to Delhi, Vrindavin and Pushka for 2 1/2 weeks. There we will source fabrics, learn traditional Indian embroidery and beading techniques, stay in an ashram and come home richer for  the experience.

Each of us will be collaborating with an artisan on contemporary embroidery designs, so it will be a real   knowledge exchange - the combination of two minds from very different worlds. I can't wait. Here is a sneak preview of my theme - can you guess what its on?

Bounty of the Beach

poem and mixed media collage of shells, beads, fabric, sequins,
tracing paper and yarn, sewn onto recycled paper

Bounty of the beach

Shells on sand

Girls wander the shoreline

Gather jewels in their hands

Contentedly collected then

Sewn into memories

Of lifelong friendship

Fondly recollected

- Sally Jane Carter

I made this collage as a present for my best friend, Phaedra. We met at uni over a decade ago and I imagine that we'll be enjoying each other's company well into our retirement. The collage and poem it contains is an ode to our friendship. The shells come from a beach holiday where we spent hours wandering the shoreline and collecting the ocean's jewels. They represent memories of times shared, like:

• Friday night cooking with the shared contents of our fridges at each other's houses when we both lived in Summer Hill. Usually followed by a tub of tim tam ice cream, two spoons and a dvd
• After-work drinks at Bistro-fax
• Nights at the Opera, afternoons at the Art Gallery
• Sharing a love of lists
• Pre-date fashion consultations and mid-date sms updates
• Being each other's bridesmaids
• Being a source of wisdom and acceptance for each other throughout our struggles
• Making a mess with Master Miles, baking biscuits
• Regular beauty spa sessions

Phaedra is gentle and wise and cheeky and full of substance. And there's a contentment knowing that we'll be hanging around for some time.

faith and fashion

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for... All these people [Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham] were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead they were looking for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.                                                                                                         - Hebrews 11:1, 13-16 

Last week I received an offer from Ultimo TAFE Fashion Design Studio to study their diploma course. It is like a distant dream that I dare not entertain - one of those 'illegal' thoughts we tell ourselves to push down and ignore - except it kept on pushing upwards into my consciousness and now it is a reality. Nineteen years of pushing can have that effect.  When I was finishing school I had a vague idea to study fashion design but the conventional world around me - which I swallowed - steered me into a more academic pursuit. Also I had the unspoken erroneous belief from the church I grew up in that the Christians in God's inner circle were missionaries. I knew myself well enough to realise I wouldn't cut it serving in Africa, and having survivor guilt for not being poor myself, I threw myself into social justice and a career in the non-government sector - perhaps hoping that God would approve of that. Except every new position felt like a stepping stone to something more fulfilling, a better match for my skills and interests. I enjoyed my studies and enjoy aspects of my work; I've achieved a lot of good things and honed many skills in my career, but I never have found a job I can say I really love.

Back in 1993 fashion design did not seem like an option; I was scared that it would steer me away from God. In high school I did not have creative people around me with the wisdom to show me how I can authentically serve God with my gifts and abilities whatever they happen to be. That God likes fashion too. I mean, just look at the myriad variety of flowers he put on this earth. Aesthetic beauty for its own sake is a value God invented! 

Now I am on the edge of the cliff of possibility and my loved ones are saying "jump!" and I am terrified. I am about to indulge my passion, possibly even my Element, and it is testing the sense of security I have in God: that I'm OK, acceptable, that he will keep using me to spread his love and faith around. But I realise that what this means is that a corner of me (actually, probably a rather large chunk if I'm really honest) still believes I can earn God's approval. Yes yes, I am an evangelical protestant, I know that it is only by believing in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection that I get a 100% guaranteed free pass into Heaven. But I'd like a crown. I want accolades, honourary inner circle missionary status, for God and I to be close.

God just wants me to enjoy him, to know his love for me, and I get stuck on wanting brownie points.

But the absolutely beautiful, lovely thing about God is that he is using a renaissance in my life to bring me into a fuller understanding of his acceptance and intimate love for me. I am already in his inner circle, as is every Christian person. Doing fashion design changes nothing. I even have an inkling that being more authentically engaged in doing something I love will make me a more effective worker for God's agenda too. Because with God, our serving has to start with freedom. I can't serve to gain anything. Christ has already given it all to me freely. We only serve God when our motivation is a pouring out of thankfulness for the wonderful ways in which he loves us. Any other motivation is empty, only serving an inner drivenness for some notion of success that never satisfies. 

Which brings me to the passage. The Fathers of Israel knew about stepping into the unknown. Particularly Abraham; God gave him a promise of land and a great nation of people that would come from him. Then asked him to leave his comfort zone of home and family and be led by God. Their family empire consisted of one son only by the time they died and they remained nomads in another's land. Why did Abraham or the other ancients not give up? Faith. Their motivation for obeying the tasks God had set for them and persisting in relationship with him was an expectation that they would receive  good things that God had promised. On their death bed they did not renounce God for not having yet received his promises. Because, as the passage of Hebrews explains, they knew that God's promises of land and nation were more than temporal. They had the right focus, and it was long distance. They served out of thankful faith in what was to come. 

The example of Abraham is also a reminder to me of what my focus in life needs to be. No matter what I do, enjoy, achieve in this life, I am looking forward to the realisation of God's promise in the next life. This one is temporal, the one to come will last forever. 

I love my life; there are so many good things in it, so many opportunities to explore and things to discover. So much beauty, so much to be fascinated by. Everything good and lovely points to the source of beauty - God - and yet is only a shadow of the gloriously fabulous life, land and citizenship we will enjoy with unfettered access to God in Heaven. So when I am enjoying life, pursuing my passions and talents, when I am captivated by beauty, let its purpose be as a prompt, reminding me that this is only a shadow of the joyous life which awaits. When I enter it, God will welcome me with open arms and embrace me. In that moment I will finally be complete, satisfied, fulfilled. In that moment I will know rapture and jubilation for the first time, like I've never experienced them, as I take my very first breath of perfection.

And let this focus, this joyful anticipation of receiving all God has promised, motivate me to desire God more and more, to open more of my heart to him and know and enjoy him more. And let not any temporal success steer me from this focus, but out of thankfullness let me use every situation I find myself in to serve the One who blessed me with it. Amen.

grow creativity - granting whimsy the control

     Yesterday I attended the Ilawarra Children's Festival's Creativity Conference. I thought it would have a lot to teach me about creative development for adults and I was right. Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."

     An important message from the conference was to trust the uncontrollable whimsical ideation process that leads you into the unknown. Resist controlling the outcome and something wonderful can emerge out of all the mess that is created. We need to replace fear with trust, control with play. We need to just turn up an allow the creative process to happen without jumping to outcomes prematurely.

     Julia Cameron (The Artist's Way) gives this same advice to simply turn up to the page, which I followed today in my morning pages. I offer them here as an example of the fun one can have when one lets ideas frolic free.

The Ethics of a Pencil Case

The Spit Press is a free Sydney art newspaper. Its August issue includes an article I wrote on sewing instead of spending. Happy reading!

Open publication - Free publishing - More art

wisdom of the leaves

On a windy cold morning as I returned from the bakery, ready for a day of  creative industry, I spied a fascinating composition of shapes that was once a a single leaf, attached to the twisted rope of its stem. And then further down the road lay a delicate piece of skeletal lace.

Refuse, lying spent in the gutter, strewn desolately across the footpath. But the aesthetic spirits of these fragile leaves had not departed and they spoke to me. It compelled me to honour them as objets d'art in a mobile. And the exquisite vulnerability of their form told proverbs about how to see. 

“ 

Contemplate beauty in all people and you will see their inherent value.

Listen carefully; beauty whispers from desolation.

Function can be reinvented; there is no uselessness.

Value and respect the resources you expend.

Resist the tyranny of desiring what is new.

Reaching for the shiny and refined does not stretch one’s imaginative muscle. 

       

All beauty enriches; finding it in unlikely places grows contentment.

When you next step out into a bleak wintery day consider the beauty of the leaves underfoot and the wisdom they impart. Winter affords us this luxury. 

the gospel winter warmer

There's nothing like soul warming gospel music
to shoo away the Winter blues.

You're invited to an a capella night of choirs at Italian restaurant Camelot in Marrickville. The Elementals is a small a capella choir with a big impact. We are performing with a 40-strong wave of voices, Jonah and the Wailers. Doors open 7:30, music starts at 9pm and you can celebrate the feel-good vibes until early morning when the latin band woos you off your feet and onto the dance floor. 

Bookings: www.trybooking.com/PYD

And if you'd like to try before you buy: http://www.ianlaurence.com.au/Hear_Us.html

Be part of our musical community for a night - or if we inspire you, you are welcome to join us! Ian Laurence is the person to speak to: http://www.ianlaurence.com.au/
I hope to see you there!
- SJC

Pattern Sourcebook #1 – Mi sino

Mi sino, Madre no me riñas mas

“My destiny, Mother don’t dispute it any more”

Mi sino, June 2010

Mixed media collage (paper, card, pencil, wool, metallic thread, gauche)

These were the first two lines of a cante which I was learning from Loli Moreno, a well known flamenco singer in and around Sevilla. Jules and I were staying in Sevilla for 2 months learning Spanish and trying to escape the 40 degree Summer inferno. I choose to describe the circumstances through which I met Loli as God conspiring to delight me. Not knowing any flamenco teachers in Sevilla I had asked a man who owned a flat we were hoping to rent. He was a personal friend of Loli and recommended her. The best word I can think of to describe Loli is simpatico – kind, warm and friendly. She was immensely encouraging and both heightened my confidence and deepened my love for the melodic intensity of the Spanish soul.

Loli taught me a number of cantes de Huelva - songs from Huelva, a province of Andalusia which I had actually travelled through 9 years earlier (and discovered it to be the home of Spain's best jamon iberico). Mi sino is an Antiguo Valiente de Huelva, about a young man asserting his independence. The themes of other cantes were waiting in vain for lovers, unfaithful love, holding out under oppression and keeping quiet when your father is angry.

It was the cantes about fighting, destiny and oppression that resonated with me the most as I visited the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (Andalusian Centre of Contemporary Art). I saw two exhibitions there.

In the exhibition No Singing Allowed - Flamenco and Photography, gritty photos of strong passionate singers, guitarists and dancers hung from the walls. The title comes from the time under Franco when signs were hung in the entrances of bars across Spain prohibiting the flamenco voice to be heard.

Then I moved to Miguel Trillo’s photo retrospective, Identities, which tracked the development of urban youth sub cultures from Spain’s transition to democracy until today. Trillo used the lens of fashion worn by alternative rock concert goers and also photographed young mods, punks, Goths, rappers and heavy metal freaks who he met on the street.

Amidst this anarchic celebration of freedom was a photomontage of political posters, graffiti, government signs, flags, a tattooed Spanish bull. They represented for me the quest for identity and freedom, much like Mi sino cries out for.

The two exhibitions, moving from prohibition to open experimentation and diversified political voices, the characters in both insistent on self expression. Mi sino is an apt echo, a thread weaving through both collections.

The feisty passion of Spain’s cantes and the artists who sing them, along with the diverse colours of the tribes and political movements which have decorated Spain’s release from dictatorship – these are embedded in my collage.

Mi sino,

Madre no me riñas mas

Dejame vivi mi sino

Que los piedras van rodando

Cada una por su camino

Y yo se por donde ando

My destiny,

Mother, don’t dispute it any more

Let me live my destiny

Like the stones which roll

Each one along their path

And I know the way to walk

Identities Photo wall, Miguel Trillo

Squashed in a tiny hot dressing room of a local peña, opened specially for a small gathering of Loli's friends, I make my flamenco debut!

L-R Loli's flamenco guitarist partner and husband; singer Pepe Rueda; myself; friend; Loli Moreno.

Photographer: Julian Carter

Sources:

Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, No Singing Allowed: Flamenco and Photography, pamphlet, www.caac.es/descargas/hoj_flamyfot09_ingles.pdf

Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Miguel Trillo: Identities, pamphlet, www.caac.es/descargas/hoj_trillo09_ingles.pdf

Mona Molarsky, ‘Review: No singing allowed—flamenco photography at the Aperture Gallery & Instituto Cervantes’ NY City Life Examiner, Feb 5 2010, www.examiner.com/x-907-NY-City-Life-Examiner~y2010m2d5-FlamencoPhotos