does anyone else think that the term ‘branding’ is just plain ridiculous? i can say that my nicely designed and made clemes and clemes hand cards (i pick on these because they’re sitting here on the same table that my computer, shares) are something well made, useful, tools that work for my purpose (hand carding wild indigenous silk. i bought them because i found the right size and shape for my hands for the job. not because of the brand. of because i needed to somehow ‘possess’ the brand. i needed small, clean, well designed, lightweight hand cards.
Consider, edition of two, sharing lawn space last april. in Consider, i ask the reader to think, to live with intention. the book itself reflects that. it’s small, hanji (korean handmade paper) shifu woven on the first stump loom, about 2.5 x 2.5 x 1.25 in. each part of this book was intentional, but not necessarily made for the book. the fish skin parchment covers were my haddock suppers, the first two fish parchments i prepared. I kneew they would someday cover books. the hanji was left over from the Hanji Edition work that i made, the loom was leftover from building my back stoop at my old farm. the red parchment straps or tapes i sewed the text block were a gift, unfortunately i can’t recall the giver. but most of all it was my friiend lucia harrison, who made a piece asking the viewer to consider how they live. as do i. and i pass on that question.
i am not a brand. when i was still a fiber design (bs design, textiles) student people would ask me what i was going to be. ‘a weaver,’ i said. sometimes i said ‘a fiber artist’. i got teased for that. (‘a cereal artist?’) recently someone asked me (since she knew i was a maker and retired from ‘regular’ employment) ‘you’re an artist, do you have to have a license for that?’ i was astonished. is ‘artist’ a brand? does it require a license?
two cecropias, fertilizing eggs before they are laid, and these two mouthless adults die, within one week of this event.
words mean things, and i try to explain, but it’s uphill work. anyway. i want to spend my limited time on making meaning and asking questions, and understanding even a little bit more why this world is so beautiful and why humans want to wreck it all. and maybe in doing this ‘making’ work to the best of my ability i can contribute, perhaps make someone stop and think about how they live (as i do all the time). when i become overwhelmed by it all (i haven’t addressed the recent events in politics, have i?) i go outside and see what the beautiful earth is up to. or i call my adult children, who remind me of who i am with love, humor, and fearlessness.
