Thursday, 5 March 2020

Thinking about stitch

Stitch is a means of embedding narrative into the surface of the cloth and articulating the maker's voice.It can refer to transitory moments of observation and reflection. Stitch can suggest calm, be 'haptic' in nature; but can also be vital, alive, raw,opinionated.
The calligraphic effect of the stitch mark suggests the narrative and the rhythm..
The sewing machine makes fine freely drawn lines which can be manipulated by change of stitch length and tension to alter the structure of the surface of the cloth.
Hand stitch might puncture the cloth surface, suggest movement. It takes the viewers eye across the surface of the cloth, involves them in the story the cloth is telling.
Rhythm is an important factor both in the putting together of pieces of cloth and the mark making whether with brush or stitch.
I see the movement of thread and cloth as analogous to moving through the landscape; to others a different story will be told.
             
 The Snow Storm Victor Pasmore 1950
The Snowstorm: Spiral Motif in Black and White Victor Pasmore wrote: "As the rhythmic divisions of time and sound in music find an echo in the deepest recesses of the mind, so do the spaces, the tones and the colours of painting." Is this also true of stitching?  




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