Cloth (and Thought) Winding and Weaving

Work in Progress this week:

Work in progress state 4 ©Ayn Hanna

It’s evolving.  Here’s the previous photo I posted of this piece a couple weeks ago:

Work in progress state 3 ©Ayn Hanna

And I’m continuing on my first attempts at cloth weaving.  Here’s the first of the woven blocks that I have finished hand-basting and doing some hand-stitching on:

woven and hand-stitched block

Working in this new way, weaving and hand-stitching has helped me slow down and take the time to consider some things.

#1 – As I’ve gotten “stuck” on what to do next toward resolving this latest work in process above, taking a break from it, sitting and doing some hand-stitching and weaving, gave me the necessary space to come back to it later with fresh eyes.  With benefit of that break (along with some feedback from my partner) I now see more clearly what the piece needs next.

#2 – I’ve always been so driven to keep producing work, with career goals always in the back of my mind.  That’s all still there, but something I’ve been thinking about (while hand-stitching) is: How much does an artwork suffer in our drive to “get it done” and get on to the next thing, pressured by the need to develop that body of work, get things ready for shows, etc?

Sometimes a work needs to simmer a bit, be set aside and worked on more slowly over time, as the next steps reveal themselves.  One of my earlier pieces, Wall Drawing #1, took me almost 5 years to complete.  During that time, it rested on my design wall which I walked past and looked at every day, yet entire months/year past without me actually working on the piece.  Through periodic flashes of inspiration, I took the piece down and worked on it, then let it rest again until the next steps became clear.  This piece came together quite slowly and naturally, with no deadline pressures.

Wall Drawing #1 ©2010 Ayn Hanna 36"x45"

Much as it might be nice to work with no deadlines, its just not practical when approaching making art as a business.  Whether driven by deadline or not, each piece I make is packed with a lot of me, my spirit.  The challenge is to balance getting things done with doing really great work.

Have any thoughts to add on this topic or other challenges you’re facing with your artwork?  Please share in the comments below.