Looking around TextileArtist.org’s site yesterday I came across a good article about artist Melissa Zexter who stitches on photographs. This leads me to the question of embellishment as decoration and the fine line between it being more, or less, than that. Zexter’s images are partially covered, bits hidden under stitches of abstract patterns. I wonder how she chooses what to cover and what to leave revealed? What to stitch? Is it all decoration? Do the stitches have meaning in terms of the types of marks used to create them? When I embellish something, it is to usually develop texture and form on the surface, and fine tune color choices, resolving design issues that have survived through the final step. Some of the stitching in Zexter’s work doesn’t seem to relate to the design itself, except to cover parts of the photo. Hmmmm. It is interesting as the images are compelling. I am not sure what the stitching does to add meaning to them, if the stitching is not there to enhance overall design. The article says the act of stitching allows her to meditate on the image (indeed!) and reinvent it. But what is it becoming? This is an interesting series from her website featuring interplay between photography, drawing, and stitching. The fact she is stitching into paper is really amazing! Not sure I can understand the apparent randomness of the stitch, but maybe my antennae aren’t tuned to the right frequency to hear this music. I sip again.
It is darker outside now. The cats heard me come in. They came down to see if I’ve refreshed their wet food yet. The “new” food that they were crazy about last week is being left alone, uneaten. I receive dirty looks for my lack of action on this matter. I have to go out later and get them the “old” stuff so they won’t starve. Oh, cats. I could be napping with you now. Boo. The coffee isn’t helping very much. I am cold. I'm going for a nap now. At least a short one. At least I posted a blog post!