Transcending
"Ito"
April 2020
As we enter into our current time and place, the virus we are all facing brings on thoughts and behaviors that reach both end of the spectrum...middle ground is where I choose to place my focus.
I find that to be aware but not obsessed and to balance it with things that bring me happiness.
Finding the middle.
For myself, it especially important to be able to step back and take a breath. To seek out and find the big picture...and mostly to be fully part of our human race.
I do believe we are all connected...we are all human.
So I find it a wondrous act of synchronicity that my posting is about my new collection of dolls - figures. Ito.
Red string of Fate...Akai Ito
There is a legend...from Japan and into China.
"The legend has it that there exists an intangible string of fate that binds the two souls that are destined to be together. It says that “an invisible red string connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The yarn can stretch or contract but it could never break.” No matter what path we take in our lives we will always be destined to meet a certain someone. According to the Chinese legends, the thread is tied around the ankle of the people who are destined to meet. And in the Japanese version, it switches place, here the red thread is tied to our pinkie. The pinkie is connected to the heart by the ulnar artery, and it extends to the person who you are destined to meet."
I started the process on this new collection middle of last year- with a scribble onto my Brain Dump board, so as not to forget what was not quite tangible but had a voice of destiny.
I had just finished The Gift- Bee and had come to realize that I had finished with that cycle of my life -Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey. I had faced and learned from my trials and brought home knowledge of my journey to be shared. It was complete.
And as I sit here typing away, I feel an incredible release...a renewed spirit.
I am now able to look back on my previous work without a traumatic reaction to my trials. I can see these pieces as part of my growth as a human and as an artist. I can now dip back into those studies of my beloved Asian culture and bring them into my present as a human... as an artist.
My hope is that I can express this now into the process of transcending in a beautiful and soulful way in my art and my life.
Reaching back to my Story Hat Butterfly to Goldfish and any others that make themselves known to me.
Yes, bringing them back but in this new depiction of who I am and to where my soul takes me.
ITO
She started with her head and my favorite silk fabric.
I am, now, devoted to letting my soul be my guide...and it brought me to Mehndi designs of India and China to be placed on her body not as the complete statement but as a design quality to enhance what else it to be stated.
I researched to find many beautiful designs.
I added the available designs into my photo program and then altered the color. I next stacked the designs in my Word Program to fit onto a sheet of paper so I would know what the measurements and size would be. I then stabilized my silk fabric and printed it from my computer printer onto the fabric.
It is a process that is very touchy and each printer is very different, so if you wish to take this on...it will be trial and error.
My results:
Scrap of printed fabric
Next was taking care that all was aligned to print properly onto my fabric so the pattern could be cut from it.
This is the end result.
Butterfly
Sculpted head with fabric overlay and sewn body with printed fabric.
I love research and I love process.
When this piece is complete the Mehndi design will be only a subtle reminder that this even took place! ...kind of like life!
And for the red thread? It too will be a gentle thread that will weave through the design to remind us that we are all connected.
