The People's Reef - Made by the People of Ireland
I have spent the past few days thinning down my mass of Crocheted Coral Reef photos to 38 I can't live without. (You can see them here on Flickr, in their own special folder Crocheted Coral Reef Exhibition).
I have to say I am still recovering from the buzz of the exhibition, and the sheer excitement it has given me both working on the project and meeting such wonderful people. I first came across Crocheted Coral over 2 years ago, and have been pretty obsessive about it since. I have always been a timid crocheter, afraid to tell people what I really did, what I have made, and what I wanted to make, and it's working on this project that really gave me the confidence, (and the excuse!), to become the stitcher I am today. I feel Ireland has finally caught up to the potential of textiles, the kind I have wanted to see, to hear about, and, basically, to talk about. Because anyone who has met me, knows I can talk about it!!
These are the models that started it all. The original models by Dr. Dainia Tainina, the Holy Grail of Hyperbolic Geometry. I almost felt like bowing in front of them. They opened up a world of possibilities not just in scientific terms, I won't even pretend to understand it all, but in the opening up of the possibilities of textiles, of its usefulness, and resourcefulness. And I honestly felt awe when I stood in front of them.
It's because of the Coral Reef exhibition I also got to meet with one lovely lady, Mitsuko Tonouchi, a fellow member of the Freeform Guild, and woman of astonishing textile skills. I have been reading her blog on and off for a few years, so it was amazing to meet her in person. I have always been very partial to Japaneses idea's and textiles; amigurumi, kumihimo, shibori, sashiko, I even have a book on Wabi Sabi and Japanese gardening!! So, it was interesting to hear how she had an affinity with Ireland and has always wanted to travel here. We both agreed that there are strong, well, something, hard to describe, to put into words, aesthetics?, between Ireland and Japan.
We had a lovely day, went to see the Book of Kells in Trinity College, which I had never actually seen before, but was always intending to, then the National Museum of Archaeology, and finally a few lovely hours in The Science Gallery, where we oohed and aahed over the Crocheted Coral Reef.
She even brought me a lovely present which I was not expecting. A tea towel and a handkerchief which, Mitsuko, is not going to be used but hung on the wall!!
ありがとうございます (I hope I got that right)
1 comment:
DH and I went to Japan on our Honeymoon and I remember thinking that Japanese would love Irish aesthetics esp cables and music. This was before I was the crafter I am now and learned about Japanese knitting and crochet.
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