In my early teens I took upon crocheting. It brought me certain comfort and mental relaxation. So much that I used to crochet in class during the long high school lectures that I totally despised such as math!. The result of many years of crocheting squares was a very nice -king sides wool blanket, that I am still using.
But ... really, my crochet enjoyment began at the edge of elementary school, when I decided to work on a series of "escarpines" (bootees) for my father to sell in my behalf so I could have my own money!
The oil painting "Escarpines" from the series "Memories on Canvas", speaks about that moment in my life, as a slice of time frozen in that little bootee, that held the promise of having my own money to spend.
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| "Escarpines"-detail. BL 2015 (c) |
Since those days, the crochet skill was dormant until this past January 2017, when the 45th took the oval office.
Listening to the news has been a source of extreme distress, some times more and some time less, emotional and intellectual distress. I began wearing earplugs to avoid listening to USA political news, covered my ears with my hands, or left the room where the TV or radio was on. None of it brings a sense of living in a rational/logical/normal space!... (topic for another discussion...)
It was then that I brought out of the closet my crochet needles .... I thought about the knitting my mother used to do every year, with two long needles... She used to knit us sweaters and scarfs mostly. Her image, the sound of the needles hitting each other while she knit, the silence surrounding the space she sat ... all that resonated in my mind as a single musical note... meditative note... focus and concentration.
It was then that the "beanie hat project" began. I embarked in the "beanie hat project" with my dear friends in mind. Each of them were going to receive a beanie hat crocheted by me!.
I began by asking my closest friends about the colors they liked the most, and then slow I began working on it- one beanie hat at the time. I noticed how relaxing my mind became; how comforting it was to have the news in the background but not being taken by them.
Since then, many of my dear friends, based in USA and South America, have received one of crochet beanie hat. And for their pets, there were also crochet treats - small scarf.
This "beanie hat project" is an ongoing project for me. It comes and goes like waves. Out of the blue, in conversation with a friend, I may ask the question "what color do you love?...", and their responses bring a smile to my heart. I know then that, if my heart is smiling, a beanie hat will be on its way to her/him.
But there are other project with crochet that I am involved with now ...
Next time, I will tell you what I am working on right now. For now.
I leave you with some images for you to guess...
Almost immediately I encountered Michael Rabowitz's exhibit "Backstroke of the West" (https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2017/Michael-Rakowitz). I read that Rabowitz is a Chicago-based artist and that this is his "...first even museum survey..." who makes work "...that explores recent contested social, political, and cultural histories..." I learned that he grew up with an Iraqi-Jewish mother and a NorthAmerican father.
With the many paper cache sculptures he revives "destroyed and looted objects"and post the question of how art can heal bleeding wounds.
As an artist and art psychotherapist, I can see how the work exhibited could have been a healing space for the artist. I do question though, viewers participation in the artist's healing space .... I left the exhibit wondering about the impact of the show on the viewers ...
