This time of year is always a time of reflection for me. The company has gone home, the leftovers still comprise a meal and the hours are open for quiet time. I am back at hooking my big rug, realizing just how long each of those paddles of coloured circles takes and how much time I still have to devote. There is little actually creative now, apart from combining the colours, but it is still a pleasure. And while hooking I am thinking about the past year. These photos and notes are the record of my perfectly imperfect life, the days and the creations. It was a big step for me, this public record, but overall, I think a good one. I would never have documented each product, each event, without it. And I would not have encountered so many lovely people through comments and notes. Thank you all so much for your support and interest.
Below is a poem about the beauty and necessity of imperfection by Molly Peacock and then a quotation from a recent blog entry by Danny Gregory, one of my favourite creators, reflecting on his son’s application to RISD. I hope you enjoy them and are encouraged to let your own red bird fly.
The Flaw
The best thing about a hand-made pattern
is the flaw.
Sooner or later in a hand-loomed rug,
among the squares and flattened triangles,
a little red nub might soar above a blue field,
or a purple cross might sneak in between
the neat ochre teeth of the border.
The flaw we live by, the wrong color floss,
now wreathes among the uniform strands
and, because it does not match,
makes a red bird fly,
turning blue field into sky.
It is almost, after long silence, a word
spoken aloud, a hand saying through the flaw,
I’m alive, discovered by your eye.
Molly Peacock © 2008
Used with permission of W.W. Norton and Company
“If a half-century of living on this sphere has taught me anything, it’s that regret is a waste of time, that one should seize every opportunity that comes one’s way, and that the fear of the unknown is just a one-way ticket into darkness. Fortunately, my son is braver than I am, less damaged, brighter, more confident in his abilities to change the world. He is my greatest work of art, of course I can’t claim all the credit.”
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