Interconnectivity

The tailspinning must stop. Despite having said it 100 times on this MA I still needed reassurance from JK that the end of the course is not some huge finale to stress about, the video is a little update on the previous one and the final show is a snap shot of where we are, wherever that is. I have so many tabs open - on my computer, in my brain and in my art so I need to return to my work plan to focus and stop trying to chase multiple birds and catching none.

I find I have my best thoughts and ideas at yoga as it’s the time in the day when I stop still, breathe and allow. This sense of clarity happened this morning and I feel ready to approach the time I have left with positivity and action.

I have started crocheting wire, which is exciting because

1. I have actually stopped thinking about outcomes, genuinely, not pretending, genuinely not considering why I am doing things but just going with a feeling that something is the next natural step

2. I love making in small ways, which painting is not

3. One of the things I have always found fascinating about knitting and crocheting is the principle of a single thread. Unlike sewing, which is an assemblage, a single thread becomes a metaphor for life, time and connection

4. It’s cheap and easy unlike so much of the other stuff I am doing like the papermaking and casting, which is wonderful but takes forever and means I can’t use my kitchen or utility room for days on end.

I rather like the wire as is and maybe I will make a bowl out of some thicker wire or threads. I also like the idea of dipping it in paper pulp and seeing how it becomes something else. Or maybe I will print with it. I am enjoying the disc shape that has emerged with the paper and I like how that supports the general ideas around interconnectivity and place.

I have been reading around ideas of Quantum Entanglement and the idea that separation is an illusion. I feel like the crochet echoes this idea nicely, the individuality and specialness of each loop or stitch is lost to the greater unit. A concept of brutal kindness I have been exploring, a self/other love that moves away from uniqueness or individuality into a sense of wider trust. The crochet wire is in this way a sort of hive where each loop contributes and is forgiven its differences, bigger than average or smaller than average, more loop like or less loop like, doesn’t ultimately matter as the whole forms a single unit of kinship.