Today a textile/fiber artist asked a bunch of the rest of us on a list if anyone had suggestions or knowledge of how to modify potato crisp packages for use in textile projects, and although I replied with a light touch of irony and several actual sugestions, it led me to thinking about why people choose particular materials to work with, and I spent a little time thinking about the non-traditional materials I have worked with in the past few years – and I mean, why leather? (because I developed a symbolic meaning for it) and why lame/glitter ? (aside from genetic attraction to anything glittery! – to me something gold and glittery indicates preciousness or intrinsic value)
This request was posted a couple of hours ago, but already there are several references to websites or articles on using these packets in craft projects, ranging from folding and sewing the folded units to attach to another surface, or cutting into long fine strips and making bracelets ….and I am sure there will be more as the day continues. So how to use them and how to shrink and otherwise modify them is acessible knowledge out there when you GTS. And I presume one would thoroughly wash them to remove all traces of oil salt and potato odour that would attract bugs to any natural fibres in the work.
But to me the most important questions are on these lines: In using modifed crisp packets, would an artist be saying something about the waste of resources for such packages and the rubbish we leave around? Or does the choice of material not necessarily say anything at all about it’s actual original purpose. ie once it’s done containing crisps, so it just becomes an empty container made of a certain material? And does/can how you use a material take it beyond a ‘craft project’ necessarily? I have been thinking a lot about what we discard – the recycling rubbish scheme here doesn’t work well for various reasons; and just lately foreign tourists have written to local media about how certain places or experiences here have been spoiled by the poor rubbish disposal habits of uruguayans… and I have taken quite a few pics ( see recent blog posts) which either accidentally or deliberately feature rubbish, especially the enduring plastic kind.
The above pic is of a bunch of predomantly plastic rubbish exhumed by wave action recently on a dune of our local beach. More pics elsewhere close by on this blog page. I don’t know the archival qualities of potato crisp packets, but I feel they must be pretty durable. I am wondering though if I should focus entirely on using more ‘waste’ material combining it with fabrc and stitch, or even ditch the new fabrics new fibres thing altogether? Nah… or at least, I’m not in the right frame of mind for that just yet. But there is food for thought, and while considering all this I remembered the fabulous scuptural textile-like work of the Nigerian artist El Anatsui – check out the fabulous, massive curtains of linked bottle tops…. but it’s not just about bottle tops. In Quilt National in 1997 was a terrific quilt by West Australian artist Janie Matthews, entitled “American Icon” it was a large US flag design made of thousands? of applied 1″ squares cut from Pepsi and CocaCola cans, each predominantly red blue and white square placed to give the design its form. In this work, the symbolism and irony and sybolism with in this approx. 1.5 in length work were clever and interesting – it wasn’t just about the design of the US flag, nor was it just about the two giant soft drink companies. Those of you near your QN catalogues can look it up….but I don’t seem to be able to find a pic of it anywhere online.
English
So this attraction to gold and glitter – does this mean that you’re a “gold digger” then Alison ??!!
Unabashedly so – you picked it in one ;-p
I too read the post and your reply on the Quiltart list, and suspect that the original poster did not have anything meaningful to say about wasted resources or rampant consumerism, but saw somebody else with a bag made from used junk food packages and thought that would be so cute. It’s disappointing to me how many people are willing to wear or carry brand names, logos and actual packaging from consumer goods as their clothing and accessories. We’ve clearly been so co-opted and brainwashed by the retail sector that we’re willing to act as their unpaid billboards. (Well, not unpaid — most of the time we pay them for the privilege of advertising their brands.)
I like to pick up junk on the road when I take my walks as much as the next person, but I generally stick to the stuff with no logos.
Thanks kathy for your interesting comment, an angle that hadn’t entered my head. Janie’s flag as I recall did not have any actual logos on it , or if there were they’d be only the odd end letter or something – I haven’t seen it in years – an American bought it. I must raise this with her next time I am I’m in Aus.
You might want to take a look at the website of a friend of mine who has been foraging on beaches for years and puts all this flotsam to good use…at least galleries and museums think so.
http://jerrybarrish.com/
Thanks Janet, interesting. Jerry’s statement clearly shows the influence the material has on each work, that it usually dictates the direction the work takes, which is the whole other way round from looking for recycled things to embellish something like a quilt or a bag.
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