“Spaces Between” is an installation at the Green Raven Clinic on Salt Spring Island.
Reflections:
Warp – I am the warp. I am black and I am strong and I hold all these pieces together. Without the warp she could not weave. I am dark and in the background so that all the colours of the weft can take centre stage. I am straight, usually. This time, she took out the reed and moved me from side to side at will. Usually the reed keeps everything under control and in straight lines – but the reed was nowhere to be seen. At one point she started pulling some of me out! I felt vulnerable, but I held everything together anyway.
Weft – I am the weft. My colour changes by her will and whimsy. I am often blues and greens, the colour of the island, but now I am grey and soft, red and strong, black and dark. Usually I go across and back, across and back. But now, she stops and starts, changing direction, changing colour, leaving holes and spaces. Leaving spaces between.
Black – I am black and dark. Black and strong. A background colour. A bold colour. No colour. I reach into dark places and call things up for exploration. I am the colour of the west and the storm clouds, but they also bring the cleansing rains. You may see me as solid, but look closely, I am only threads woven together, absorbing the light.
Red – Bold. Strong. Startling. Stop. Look at me. Her Aries colour, seldom expressed by her. I think I am not her true colour as she feels jolted by me. I stand out. I draw your eye. I call to you, to women.
Grey – Soft, woollen grey. Gentle lines, moving, bending, blending in. Making you feel relaxed and soft. Warm and cozy. I rest your eyes from the other strong colours. I withdraw into myself. I balance the other colours, leaving a more peaceful feeling.
Wool – I am little bits of wool. I am scattered here and there like little bright spots. Soft spots. I make you smile when you see me. I am texture and unexpected. Playful.
Waterfall, 2009
Blue Cashmere Jacket, 2018
Spaces Between: Flow, 2018
Spaces Between: Apart & Together, 2018
Spaces Between: Missing, 2018
Spaces Between: Crossroads, 2018
Artist’s Statement
These 4 pieces were woven as I started yet another year with Chronic Health Issues.
“Spaces Between” was my search for answers. I wasn’t sure when I started weaving what the spaces were about. Were they the spaces, the moments of good health, the good memories? Or were they the spaces of darkness and ill health? Were they breathing spaces? I wove and I wondered.
When I showed one of my pieces to a friend as I was asking this question she said to me “It really doesn’t matter which they are, as when I see the whole cloth together it is beautiful. If the spaces are the good places or the broken places, they all work together to make the whole tapestry of your life”.
Each piece is different and it was clear when it was finished. I unrolled them and they are all of a similar length, a chapter of the story.
As I was finishing the last piece, just near the end, a piece of blue wool called to be put into the weaving. At that time I knew that this was the last piece of the series as I was being called back from this journey and search.
Then I was at a clinic day at Green Raven and a question came to me “Where am I in all of this?” – it felt like something outside of me. Like I wasn’t present. It was at that time that I realized I had to add to this exhibit some pieces that are me, that reflect who I am. The two pieces that I chose are blues, of course. One, called “Waterfall” was woven early in my SAORI weaving journey for an exhibit in New York City, before my illness started. The other “Blue Cashmere Jacket” is a piece that I just finished.
I am now weaving with more ease, more breathing room, more spaces to allow things to be how they are.
Happy Weaving,
Terri
