Textílsetur Testimonial

I wrote a testimonial for Textílsetur Íslands and it's currently featured on their website. This paragraph was easy to write on one hand because I had the most incredible time, but it was also very challenging to sum up all the things that happened in just a few short lines. Here is the piece now, and I hope you will also visit the website and learn more about this wonderful place...

“The month I spent at Textílsetur Íslands was one filled with quiet studio time, long walks, and solitude in the landscape of Iceland. I came to the residency to create an embroidered piece about the darkness of life and spent the entire month stitching the piece. It is an island composed of thousands of knots in black and gray thread. These knots and the dark colors represent the sadness and heaviness of life, the difficulties and challenges, the other half of the human experience. The nurturing environment around me both inside the residency and outside in nature gave me the space and time needed to make this piece. I truly enjoyed every day I was at Textílsetur Íslands and will long cherish that time as inspirational and worthwhile.”

You can read other posts about my month-long residency here and here... and more, on the blog.

Thanks for reading.

Textílsetur, Part 3

mountains and hills on a snowy day in Vatnsdalur 

I have gone on a bunch of day trips and little outings in just the last two weeks including a tannery in Sauðárkrókur, a drive through Vatnsdalur, and a tour of the wool processing factory here in Blönduós. I have learned a lot of interesting things and seen some really cool stuff. The director of Textílsetur Íslands, Jóhanna Pálmadóttir, has been very generous to drive the January interns and me all around while sharing her extensive knowledge of the area. From getting acquainted with 250 sheep to hearing about how fish are being studied at a research lab to the undeniable landscape that is all around, I am inspired in big and small ways. 

sheep pelts at Sútarinn, the tannery in Sauðárkrókur

the vault of Þingeyrarkirkja with 1000 stars, 1877, Vatnsdalur

hanging out with a lamb on the farm of Jóhanna Pálmadóttir

close-up of Kattarauga (Cat's Eye), 

a deep, warm-water pool with two floating islands, Vatnsdalur 

detail of a textile pattern at the Textile Museum

bags and bags of wool waiting to be washed at Ístex, a wool processing factory in Blönduós

detail of a frozen Lump fish, the skin is used in research at BioPol in Skagaströnd

See more pictures on Flickr.

Thanks for reading.

Textílsetur, Part 2

Since my arrival I've been working on a black version of my white Island of 14,264 Days. I'm using a similar process as before with a few changes and will be sewing my last knots on the new piece in the next few days. The piece is about darkness, the sadness and heaviness of life, the difficulties and challenges, the other half... I wanted to be here in Iceland in the winter in the dark to make this piece and the season and lack of light has proved very inspirational. I'm not ready to go into greater detail or show images right now... I want to keep this one to myself for a little while longer. However, I'm happy to share some of the things I've been listening to, looking at, and reading over the past month including a few podcasts about different kinds of darkness, some articles, a map, and a beautiful poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

Seeing in the Dark on Radiolab

Dark Side of the Earth on Radiolab

The Secret History of Thoughts on Invisibilia

Jasper Johns: ‘Regrets belong to everybody, don’t they?’ 

by Julie L Belcove

Jorge Manilla: Oscure Sacrifices by Susan Cummins

a map of "what the world would look like if it were only made of islands." 

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A Psalm of Life by Longfellow

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, 

        Life is but an empty dream! — 

    For the soul is dead that slumbers, 

        And things are not what they seem.

    Life is real !   Life is earnest! 

        And the grave is not its goal; 

    Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 

        Was not spoken of the soul.

    Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 

        Is our destined end or way; 

    But to act, that each to-morrow 

        Find us farther than to-day.

    Art is long, and Time is fleeting, 

        And our hearts, though stout and brave, 

    Still, like muffled drums, are beating 

        Funeral marches to the grave.

    In the world's broad field of battle, 

        In the bivouac of Life, 

    Be not like dumb, driven cattle! 

        Be a hero in the strife!

    Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant! 

        Let the dead Past bury its dead! 

    Act,— act in the living Present! 

        Heart within, and God o'erhead!

    Lives of great men all remind us 

        We can make our lives sublime, 

    And, departing, leave behind us 

        Footprints on the sands of time;

    Footprints, that perhaps another, 

        Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 

    A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 

        Seeing, shall take heart again.

    Let us, then, be up and doing, 

        With a heart for any fate; 

    Still achieving, still pursuing, 

        Learn to labor and to wait.

Thanks for reading.

Textílsetur, Part 1

So much has happened since I arrived at Textílsetur Íslands, so much that it's been hard for me to keep up on the blog between working in my studio, taking my long walks, and going on day-trips. Over the next three days I will attempt to share some highlights, and today I want to begin with the space itself...

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Textílsetur Íslands is located in Kvennaskólinn, a former women's school, situated at the estuary of the Blanda River and Húnaflói Bay. The second floor of the building is dedicated to the residency and includes private bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, bathroom with laundry, and two large shared studios, one for weaving and one for other textile arts. There is such history here and I love the feeling or the energy that immerses all the rooms. Photographs of classes from years passed line the walls and the original furniture is still in use. I have met many women who went to school here and also met a former headmistress. I have my own private room and studio and feel being alone in this small space has been beneficial to my work. I have needed the silence and solitude for this piece specifically. (More on that soon.)

Thanks for reading.

The Sweetest

just some of the ladies at my lecture last night

I'm pretty sure I gave the sweetest lecture ever last night, or at least to the sweetest audience in the sweetest environment. I spoke to a crowd of Icelandic women during their monthly knitting club night as well as the four other resident artists, all textile artists from Denmark. Jóhanna Erla Pálmadóttir, director of the residency, translated for me as I showed my images, and while all those ladies knitted. As they worked, they would look up at the screen, look to me, knit, nod their heads, and occasionally say já, Icelandic for "yes." I spoke in a simple way so that Jóhanna could translate easily, which was also good for me. I tried to find just the right words, to say the most important stuff. When it was over, there were some questions and comments and I enjoyed connecting with them a little bit more. Jóhanna told me that even though some of them couldn't understand everything, they could feel my emotion. They said they could tell I was giving them a lot. This felt amazing and made me a little bit teary. Then I grabbed my own work, the embroidery I'm working on here, and sat with them for about an hour, all of us working on our own projects and chatting. We talked a little bit about the volcano that is erupting right now and about Eyjafjallajökull, the volcano that erupted in 2010. I was congratulated on how well I pronounced it and then was taught to say a few more things in Icelandic. I was also told my new embroidery reminds them of lava, and I took that as a very high compliment.

Last night is now among my favorite moments in Iceland.

Thanks for reading.

Little Studio

Just a few images of my little studio at the residency, my first stitch on my new piece, and the view one afternoon last week... I feel pretty fortunate to be working in this space with this view. My work is going well. I work in one or two hour increments and take breaks in between to move my body and use my eyes in different ways. I usually take a walk at some point, do some reading, or work on my computer. I often work in silence, which feels luxurious, but sometimes I listen to music or podcasts. The days go by in a quiet way and I am enjoying every moment.

Thanks for reading.

Texílsetur Íslands

Currently, I'm living and working at Texílsetur Íslands, the Icelandic Textile Center, in Blönduós, Northwest Iceland. Texílsetur is housed in Kvennaskólinn, a former women's school, situated at the estuary of the Blanda River and Húnaflói Bay. It occupies the top two floors where there are private rooms and two large shared studios. I have a private room and studio and feel very fortunate to be making my work in such a special place, a transitional place, where the river meets the sea. I have long been fascinated by estuaries and brackish water, and given my most current work, In Between, which is about transition, being here at Texílsetur seems very, very appropriate. I'm also curious about the history of the school and like thinking about the years of women who lived and learned here, too.

I will be here for a month and will be creating a black version of "Island of 14,264 Days," something I've been wanting to do since I first made that piece in May, 2013. I came up with the idea then, to make a companion during the darkness of winter, the opposite of when I made the white version. I began working yesterday and will complete the piece by the end of the month. Other plans include walking and documenting my observations outside, but also studying the interior of this building and taking pictures of what I see inside. I also have a lot of reading to do.

the view from my room on my first day

Thanks for reading.