Threaded Tension

Threaded Tension

            Like a photograph, a drawing is a captured moment, an instant. It is a representation of a specific time and a specific thing in a specific place. In Threaded Tension, all of these distinct moments are bound together, both physically and metaphorically. They create a web-like structure, quivering with tension between them. Touch one, or even breathe too heavily, and they all shudder in response. There is inherent symbolism of connectedness in the images being sewn together, and too the quality of women supporting one another. But the meaning goes deeper than that, likening the bodies to prey caught in a web, capturing both the moment in time, but also the woman herself.

            The series is a collection of 35 sketches done on 3”x5” cream-colored cardstock. The installation is about 5’x4’ when hanging on the wall. Each sketch is a focus on a portion of a woman’s body. There are hands, feet, torsos, backs, legs, and shoulders, but never a face. The sketches have heavy outlines and are minimally line shaded, reminiscent of illustrations in old textbooks. The poses captured shy away from being sexual in nature, and instead tend to show bodies at rest or in simple, common poses: reclining, standing, sitting, etc. There is inherent vulnerability of the women in their nakedness.  The images are all sewn together using red thread. The sketches are pierced through the image itself, and tend to follow the lines that are already there, incorporating the thread into the visual. It either follows a section of the outline, or an instance of shadow. The pictures are tied together for support, hanging from the six or seven sketches that are pinned with tacks to the wall. They hang at different angles, some crooked, some falling forward.  

        I approached this project differently from my others. Most of my work is very concept driven; I deliver the concept first, and construct the work to fit my concept. With this project, concept came second to making it. So often I come up with a concept I’m happy with, only to dread making the actual piece. The activity of making the actual piece is not enjoyable. I designed this piece to function differently; make a piece in which I enjoyed making it, and find the concept after. When doodling, I often draw little bodies, or little pieces of bodies. I choose to draw bodies because I find it quite satisfying to draw something from life and find that it resembles life well. I chose to incorporate the red thread for all of the symbolism that comes with it as well as for the fun of using it. “Red” and “Thread” have such themes of passion, blood, anger, connectedness, binding, tangles, order, etc, that I expected it could be flexible enough to allow me to focus on concept as a secondary action. I also have a history with needlework and similar crafts. Over the summer I thoroughly enjoy my job as a summer camp counselor where a large part of my job is to teach kids how to knit and sew. Doodling and sewing are both warm parts of my past and present that I wanted to honor with this series.