11/02/2009

A Needle Woman



It's Monday morning but at least the sun is shining. I have a cold/flu and am still not feeling entirely human but I made it to work today, so that's a start. I spent most of the weekend horizontal on the couch, sometimes knitting but not pushing myself too much. Sometimes you have to step away and look for inspiration other places. I was watching a lot of PBS and caught the latest episode of Art 21. It's a series on art in the 21st century and this weeks episode was on Systems. You can watch the entire episode here and any other episodes from this season.

With my Masters in Counseling I've done a bit of reading and study in systems. Systems as it applies to psychology is different but it's all related to how things interact with each other and the different parts of a whole. All of the artists in this episode are creating their own systems and logic through their work. The most fascinating to me was Kimsooja who is a Korean artist who works primarily through videos and installations. She is also a textile artist and her roots in sewing show through in my favorite of her work "A Needle Woman". You can watch the clip of the show that absolutely mesmerized me above or you can see a slide show of her other work on Flickr here.

In "A Needle Woman" 1999-2001, she stands with her back to the camera, facing the flow of people and records the reaction of those who cross her path. She is the fixed needle in the metaphor, and the people are the flow of the object that she interacts with and changes in some way. She has stills on her website from all the different videos from all over the world that she has done.

One thing that Kimsooja talks about in her interview on the Art 21 blog is how she discovers “artistic questions and answers from our daily life activities.” I can't fully explain how this helped to inspire me but suffice to say that it gave me some renewed vigor in my work. I'm thinking again about how I can combine different fibers and textures in my knitting and I'm also thinking about some different artistic avenues using fiber. I'll talk more about this later after I've had time to think about it more and have a better visual picture of what I want to create.

6 comments:

WillOaks Studio said...

So sorry you're under the weather. About my photos--thanks so much for your encouragement and I'd be very happy if you link back to my blog and use a photo to do this! Thank you! & get well soon!

Anonymous said...

OK...I HAVE to comment before I read...I clicked on this post on the sidebar of my blog because I knew exactly what you were writing about! I've been obsessed with art 21 since college when we watched it in Sculpture class and I just saw that last week. It was an intense episode and I pined over every moment of it as my longing for art grows!! OK, now to read...

Anonymous said...

I would like to add to my above comment:

Those days when you are sick but not enough to stay home from work because it's just easier to go really really suck! Sorry you're feeling badly. Can't wait to see what you are cooking up though inspiration wise!

One Creative Queen said...

I'm sorry you're not feeling good. :( I'll pass you the Sudafed, Advil, chocolate chip cookies and tea. Poor thing!

I saw this - and was inspired by her as well. It seems like a cool series. I'm not getting much out of Quilting Arts on tv anymore - so this was a great break.

I can't wait to hear what you're thinking about - your mind is brilliant with textiles! xx

selahestelle said...

I've never heard of this series, so thanks for sharing about it. I'll be sure to check it out. Inspiration is a funny thing, but then again, so are artists! I find Pina Bausch to be incredibly inspiring, but I don't make anything even related to what she does. I found my artistic muse later on in my life as an artist and it's pretty basic. I think it is an artist's duty to create. If you can put something beautiful or thought-provoking or meaningful into the world, then you should. I think that's the level that Pina inspires me on. I prefer the more obtuse, not so obvious inspirations anyway.

Femmepower said...

Hope you'll feel better soon.It's so hard to get sick when there are lots of things to do.By the way, thanks for the info about Art 21.It's my first time to hear about it.

 

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