I started thinking about costume this morning as I was idly picking at the holes in my sweatpants. I was wondering what on earth I was going to wear to my physical therapy appointment this afternoon and realizing that my normal costume is blue jeans and an informal shirt which definitely does not lend itself to a workout. I used to only wear old printed t-shirts from places I worked and have visited, but sometime in the last decade realized I wasn't 13 anymore (I am 23 if anyone asks). Now the t-shirts are the same, most of them just don't have printing on them and a few actually have collars.
I am going to physical therapy for an ongoing knee problem in the hopes that I can get back on the long-distance hiking circuit in the next couple years in a serious way. What that really means is that I want to go backpacking again and I don't want my knees to feel like a little troll is stabbing the outsides of them with a very sharp cocktail sword (sans cherry) with each downhill step. That can be very uncomfortable.
Although I am a fiber artist, I know nothing about fashion or couture (I had to look that word up to spell it right if you have doubts, but probably the jeans and old t-shirt example above has already quelled them). I was just wondering about what we put on every day, how it makes us feel, and how it changes how other people see us either because it makes us feel great and so we look great, or because of the costume itself. And then I started wondering if there was any connection between these thoughts about costume and the sort of fiber art that I do.
I think the connection I need to make today is the one about feeling great. If I believe in what I am doing, I believe in the art, and the piece might even be great. Even if it isn't, if it comes from a place that is important to me, it is much more likely to be something I enjoy making and looking at in the (hopefully) short time it stays on my studio wall. And I will be enthusiastic about it when people inquire about my work and they will also believe. I think this is kind of how the world works in general. What is real is debatable, but we believe what has meaning to us or to the person influencing us.
So I'm headed to the studio now to get things ready for the opening on Saturday and the following tapestry design class. I believe it is going to be great. Actually, it already is.
I am going to physical therapy for an ongoing knee problem in the hopes that I can get back on the long-distance hiking circuit in the next couple years in a serious way. What that really means is that I want to go backpacking again and I don't want my knees to feel like a little troll is stabbing the outsides of them with a very sharp cocktail sword (sans cherry) with each downhill step. That can be very uncomfortable.
Although I am a fiber artist, I know nothing about fashion or couture (I had to look that word up to spell it right if you have doubts, but probably the jeans and old t-shirt example above has already quelled them). I was just wondering about what we put on every day, how it makes us feel, and how it changes how other people see us either because it makes us feel great and so we look great, or because of the costume itself. And then I started wondering if there was any connection between these thoughts about costume and the sort of fiber art that I do.
I think the connection I need to make today is the one about feeling great. If I believe in what I am doing, I believe in the art, and the piece might even be great. Even if it isn't, if it comes from a place that is important to me, it is much more likely to be something I enjoy making and looking at in the (hopefully) short time it stays on my studio wall. And I will be enthusiastic about it when people inquire about my work and they will also believe. I think this is kind of how the world works in general. What is real is debatable, but we believe what has meaning to us or to the person influencing us.
So I'm headed to the studio now to get things ready for the opening on Saturday and the following tapestry design class. I believe it is going to be great. Actually, it already is.