Thread and Tape and Glue and Medium (to the beat of Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll)
In direct contradiction to the Sesame Street song, none of these things is not like the others. Their oh so important to me shared quality is that they serve to attach, making as one things that are currently two, reuniting things that have been torn asunder. Or, what the Kabblah calls repairing the world. I use all these materials often and for those reasons. I am moved by a stong need, nay, an ovewhelming and unstoppable urge to put things together. In fact, just between you and me, I'll sometimes tear asunder just to create the need to repair as in the painting Mystery.
What is this irresistable desire to attach about? Might it relate to Winicott's psychological attachment theory re an infant's needs to attach to parents and the need to make repairs when such attachment hasn't transpired the first time around? Maybe. But what I feel as I work is that I have to join, say, X piece and Y piece together to compose what I see as pages in an abstract book. Part of the feeling arises from aesthetic considerations; I can draw a line and/or add a touch - or more - of color as needed by sewing. I can follow the question posed by the piece: What would a fabric grid look like here? How about a violet organdy layer that slightly pops part of this pink? At least equally important in my sewing is the very joy of stitching, the tension and accomplishmentt as I repeatedly plunge needles through the heaviest Arches paper; think shedding blood for art's sake. Or when the weight of fabric or paper is more yielding (as it has become, got tired of bleeding), the rhythm of sewing throws me back into the calm elementary school (PS 179) worlds of reverie while sewing sewing cards or weaving through dixie mesh.
Tape - Magic Tape, need I say more - changes color and the extent of a surface's glossiness and matteness. While not as physically satusfying as sewing, tape brings its own surprises, especially since in the chaos of the studio it picks up little bits of flotsam and jetsam in the form of paint, glitter, and sequins, when the same piece is used multiple times as in Book of Life. Glue lacks the excitement factor, but its excellent name - YES - serves as partial compensation. Medium is utterly useful, but as far as physical delight, visual excitement, and moniker with moxie, it falls short and must settle for the most useful means of attachment award - which ain't bad when so very much attachment is needed.
