"Walking happens, but we're just rolling the world around with our feet"-Sunheart
Let us consider the sock. Socks can easily be spit out of big factory machines far faster than anyone could ever hand knit them. And they can be made much finer by machine, with thin yarn, even thread, with subtle strengthening fibers like nylon, so they will last much longer, be stretchy and easier to wash, and be more comfortable. Finally they are way cheaper to make by factory.
So why in goddesses' heck do I want to make my own socks, I wonder.
It seems the lowest of low art. Here I am, making art to walk on, to deliberately destroy. To....use? Sure, right? What about the art of cooking, say, in which the product is consumed? Made to use up. Made to change, just like all things. Ah! The artist is making a statement about consumerism?
Maybe it's not even art anymore.
Or maybe it is the deepest, realest, most relevant kind of art.
I wonder if what is driving my effort is a desire to go all the way down and really ground my art in its roots. From fiber art to fiber optic.
Now that the leaves of my art shimmer on electrons in my ipad art, do I now yearn to don my own wooly handmade socks and wiggle my rooty little toes in their physical ness? Is this how my art is coming around full circle?
"In the glare of your mind, be modest. And beholden to what is tactile, and thrilling."
-Mary Oliver
"The really wonderful task of humans is to bring cosmic love, all the way down to our toes. To ground it, not just intellectually, and not even to the heart level, but all the way down to our toes. To bring cosmic love to Earth, fully embodied."
-Elisabet Sahtouris
