On a quiltart post this week someone asked about links to fibre artists working with  primitive style stitching in their art.  Of course, it all depends what you think of as ‘primitive’.   In the mind of a quilter, does this mean switching attention to a thick thread and sewing large stitches with a big needle? or is it something more? I suggested to just either take up a needle and thread and begin doodling on a cloth, (sample making) or thinking of each line as a straight stitch (the quintessential primitive stitch) begin making pencil marks on paper in various combinations and patterns – in other words, to just get started.

But I also suggested the quilter do a bit of thinking about what she considered the essence of  ‘primitive’ and think about what she wanted to do with primitive style stitching in her work.  The suggestions were well received by the original writer on this subject, but further comments from others set me thinking  about what I myself see as the essence of primitive.  As some more links rolled in from others on the list, a number of artists were suggested  and although I love their works I wouldn’t describe as them as primitive in the way the original questioner seemed to be thinking.   So then I got into a dictionary and then wikpedia,  and found the whole field an overlapping zone of confusing definitions bringing in terms such as rudimentary, primordial, untrained, naive, folk art , ‘primitivism’ – covering everything from art to anthropology and biology, none especially connected to stitchery but a good starting point for considering art through stitch.  People began to talk about several ethnic embroidereries employing running stitches,  such this one a work which I have not given a title to yet despite it being 3 years old and twice exhibited….

This next one is “Desert Tracks 3”

And next is “Desert Tracks 5”

So, although I didn’t have  ‘primitive’  in my mind when I was doing these pieces 2-3 years ago, perhaps that was part of my purpose.  I am not a great journaller and so didn’t record  much about them at the time apart from thinking of them in terms of ‘tracks’ left across surfaces.  

But in relation to the untitled one, I was really focusing on the very very basic pattern of a square within a square, primordial not just o early patchwork patterns but primoridal in a human design sense; and in that context I wanted to present it as ‘unskilled’  – one of the terms I found comes up in the plethora of words surrounding ‘primitive’ in the dictionary.  Now that I think about that, this does have more than a touch of the primitive about it.  Anyway, regardless of my largely unrecorded contemporaneous thoughts, they all certainly  influenced the development of  more recent works, which you can explore in the Tracks gallery on https://www.alisonschwabe.com

Another point that was discussed recently was how looking back over your work, and also writing about it, can give new insights even when you think you know or knew it well at the time.

Following on from the previous post (october 22nd)  showing the stage where gold arcs applied to the almost-black fabric were then removed until a satisfactory design balance was achieved, this next photo shows  the arcs being sewn down.

And after the various stages outlined in the previous posts were done, the final stage, burning, produced texture like this.

Now I am in the process of burying threads from the back to the inside or sending gold threads caught up between layers through to the front to hang; and once that’s un-tidied up , I’ll add a sleeve and it’ll be ready to be photographed.

Last sunday there was a national election in Uruguay.  For weeks political parties and supporters had been vigorously campaigning with public rallies in key spots, lots of noise and flag waving particularly on weekends and evenings.  In addition to a 48 hour media blackout before voting day, (welcome but it didn’t have much effect on the noise and printed leaflets pollution) another feature was the ban on liquor sales from the evening before until after the close of polls.  Which was probably a good thing – things  were lively enough (but very orderly) without that complication.  I don’t know how all restaurants handled this but where we had lunch on sunday, when we asked about having wine, were were told we could buy a bottle but it could not be on the table and would have to stay out of sight in the bar,  and it would come served in coffee cups… which we found interesting and quite acceptable.  So this is us just finishing off our meal; we did not stay for coffee and dessert as there was some fresh icecream waiting at home… ;-p  Interestingly there was only a fraction of the usual number of sunday lunchers there, and I later heard a news report that most people voted as early as possible and then spent the rest of the day with family (sunday custom) at home having an asado/BBQ – and the weather was perfect for that.  The result?  no party gained the 50%+1 votes and so there has to be a runoff election at the end of november – all has been pretty quiet this week with behind the scenes alliances being formed, strategies planned and so on between the two front runners who will face off – but very soon the noise, colour and movement will accelerate again – wonderful news for the printers and admen who have been working overtime these past few months…Whoever said an election was good for the economy seems to have made a reasonable claim.

A couple of years back we were in Egypt, and while spending time in and around Cairo with my friend Jenny Bowker, we enjoyed a camping trip out through the Black Desert into the White Desert SW of Cairo.  Most of the party slept out on the sands enjoying the constant gentle cool breeze after a delicious dinner and campfire cameraderie to close off  an interesting day.  By bed time we’d all had glimpses of at least one of these shy creatures who kept mostly to the shadows around our campsite, but even by the time we went to bed their tracks showed  they had ventured into the quieter corners of the campsite, and were on the lookout for food.  We heard several of them squabbling out in the dark over bones and left overs they’d snatched  from the bits and pieces the beduoin driver/guide/cooks  had put out their way after we’d finished our dinner.  Lying wide awake just before dawn, I watched one of them warily tip-toeing around a neaby sleeping body( Esterita)  but outside sudden-flung arm’s reach … and then !flash! Mike captured this guy on, um, digits.  Inside a tent, he ‘d quietly managed to reach his camera and get this lovely shot of the desert fox, feneeq. 

As the sun came up and we began moving around there were an amazing number of tracks cross crossing the whole camp site.  Knowing the German WWII commander in the north afrrican desert, Erwin Rommel, had been nicknamed ‘The Desert Rat’  by the British, I googled some bios to find a photo but his ears were very normal looking – so the nickname must have referred to his stealthy cunning, because he was legendary in tank and strategic deesert warfare all across that arena. 

This experience is just one of the things I think about each time I approach my ‘Tracks’ series to start a new work.

A new Timetracks work, stage 1 – lame arcs stitched with gold machining to almost-black .  About 1.25m showing.

Stage 2 –  removed some/lots of the gold – see bits on the floor

Stage 3 –  some gold mesh arcs added  –  a little subtlety.

Stage 4 – added a layer of black netting with little gold sparkles

Stage 5 –  added black nylon organza layer; lots more gold stitching.

Stage 6 – wood burning tool begun- at least 10 more hours needed