Friday, November 21, 2008

Thread Medley Moroccan Style

More interesting things to come! I was delighted to see another post on Jan's new blog about the adaptation of Moroccan textiles to needlepoint - and am so looking forward to watching her way of doing this, that I'm sacrificing my lovely book on African Textiles - it's on its way to her house! I knew the picture looked familiar, and then realized it is the same style as a Moroccan embroidery I had posted some time ago.

When I was in design school a very long time ago, we were told in a course dealing with the history and development of decorative accessories, that one must never force a medium to do anything not inherent in its nature. The medium should be exploited to make the most of its own kind of potential for beauty - so when needlepoint became my own medium, which it has been for the past 40 years, I sought not to COPY a thing (in my case, mostly antique Japanese porcelain), but to ADAPT the design and feeling to needlepoint canvas. Jan has chosen, with needle and thread, to adapt woven textiles onto canvas. This is so appropriate, as the canvas itself is a woven fabric - an openwork scrim through which colored threads may be worked for wonderful effects!

She is planning to begin the research and development (lots of research!!) - and to explain the method - of adaptation of the Moroccan weavings and embroidery, so do tune in and watch the process! (See her at Thread Medley.) I also have planned - hopefully on Sunday, to explain my own way of adapting ceramic designs to needlepoint, which seem to inspire me more than the textiles do. I have been studying intensely, and with great interest, the Pueblo pottery of the Southwest, and am amazed at the history and beauty of these ceramic pieces.

The world of design is never boring, if one reads and does the research - always something new to discover! It's good to be busy.

1 comment:

NCPat said...

Wow! What else can we say?