Weaving and Spinning...

'In the ebb & flow,
In warp & weft,
Cradle & grave,
An eternal sea,
A changing patchwork,
A glowing life.
At the whirring loom of time I weave
The living clothes of the Deity'

Goethe,'Faust'.
 
In all mythologies,the art of weaving is originally found in the divine world. Some small mistake must always be woven into the pattern to remind us of imperfection in all created life.

In spinning our own lives,intertwined threads woven together become our own tapestry of life...and we have the ability to create,and make something using those threads of fate.....

This is one of the panels in my completed box-work 'Verdandi'.I've used mod roc on hessian mounted on plyboard. The relief shape is made of sand and modelling paste with Egyptian paste beads.Acrylic paint and inks were then layered...The image is based on a Viking calendar stick which marks important dates and events but is also symbolic for the passing of time... 

'Verdandi'

'All begins with a single thread,wound on the spindle of a revolving cosmos held in the lap of women,spinning the destiny of the world into being...'   Plato.

I've been really busy completing two pieces for the Spring Fling Pop-Up Taster weekend (29-31 March) with the Launch Event on the 28th March,all at at Gracefield Arts Centre ,Dumfries.All pre-cursors to the Open Studio event which takes place across Dumfries & Galloway on the late May Bank holiday weekend of 25-27 May.

Urd,Skuld & Verdandi are the Three Norns ( or Fates)who live by the Well of Urdr at the base of Yggdrasil.
In the Norse poem Voluspa,a seeress sings the story of the world using poetry in weaving,spinning,lacing & binding the stories.....These are the activities of the Norns,spinners of destiny.

My new work entitled 'Verdandi'is a box-work incorporating 4 panels.The above is a detail of 2 of the smaller panels.

 This panel is mod roc adhered to hessian & mounted on plywood.The spirals symbolize the threads of destiny & are here yet to be painted.The beads are Egyptian paste.
I'll put up an image of the completed piece  soon....when the Taster Exhibition opens.....