Phu Tai indigo textile healing chimes
The process of making these three healing chime just came together effortlessly - through love, a sketch, and a poem.
HEALING CHIME ONE
“I love this” I say to myself. Can I really say that to something I’ve made? Sounds strange but it’s true. The love I feel is joyful and playful, a sweetness and innocence even. It’s a bit like the surprise of seeing something in my Instagram feed (where I see a loads of lovely things) and I just love it. “Love that” I will say and sometimes comment. But this. I love this.
The square Phu Tai indigo ikat textile swatches from Laos were the remains of a previous project from a couple of years ago that just died. I had hand stitched simple patterns on the swatches using natural indigo-dyed thread, also from Laos. They all waited to came alive again in this series.
The hanging dusty rose-colored eucalyptus leaves – that color distinct from the sage-colored eucalyptus leaves I've used recently – were found again in one of my old paper-wrapped collage boxes, waiting for their time, this moment.
The cinnamon-colored stems were also from my natural found object collection. I love their smooth texture, bulbous ends, and the slight curve they offer. I saw a few of these stems again in my backyard recently, which excited me to no end. Now I know where they came from and where to get more, but alas, I don't know the name of that bush.
The process of making this healing chime just came together effortlessly, as if this was how it was to be all along, as if the idea had been out there already formed. Then one day it came to me and said “you will love this.” And I do.
HEALING CHIME TWO
I made a sketch of this one before making it, something I’ve just started to do to organize my ideas and thoughts as they form.
And then my husband sees it and tell me what he sees, albeit upside down as he's across from me at the kitchen table, and without his glasses. “It looks like a circuit diagram”, he says. “Huh, how so?” the artist asks the scientist.
Exhibit A below – complete with a module, wire, resistors, and connectors!
HEALING CHIME THREE
jostling, jagged, separate stitches
indigo marks confined in rows
jostling their way upward
reaching to be released
leaping to the other side
then winding and wrapping
upon the smooth freedom together
I can’t help but wonder, what would the Phu Tai weavers in Laos think if they saw swatches of their traditional textiles in my art?
Would they appreciate a kind of collaboration as I do?
What thoughts do they have when they’re weaving, like the thoughts I have when I’m making art?
Do they love some of their finished textiles so much, as if to be surprised?
Do they sometimes see something different in the ikat patterns and motifs?
I can just wonder...
“Phu Tai indigo textile healing chime” was originally published as an exclusive post to my Patreon supporters in May 2020. Now it’s public and available to you, too!
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