Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Textiles and Tea, Karen Hampton, also clams

 Yesterday's Textiles and Tea featured Karen Hampton, about whom I've written before, a wonderful woman, former anthropologist, 

Dr Hampton examined the (lack of written) history of black weavers in the American South, in order to retrieve the stories and add her own. Now, in retirement, she's a full-time weaver studying and expressing the history of weaving and her family.

She works in cotton and indigo, and other natural dyes, even visited a plantation in the course of her studies, which a lot of black weavers won't because of the history. But she believes you should look history in the face to conquer its hold on you.

She honors her ancestors from Florida, black and white and treasures what photos she finds recording them. She uses photo transfer images superimposed on her weaving, and echoes the repetition of Andy Warhol and other modern artists working in prints. And she uses symbols to record the brutal history of her family's endurance. 

Her work ranges from large to huge, and she says it will be bigger yet.












And she stitched this piece to honor her grandmother's dressmaking skills 

 Definitely a weaver to study and honor.

Then, several food related visits from Gary. His houseguest wanted to bake a batch of lava cakes before she left. 

This involved one visit to get three eggs. Then another to borrow the muffin pan. Then, later, another with a sample cake, pan to follow later.

Finally last evening, a shared dish of littleneck clams and lemon juice. He'd cooked them, and ran in with them still steaming.  He'd earlier come for ice cubes but borrowed my Misfits ice blocks instead. The clams explained why the sudden need for ice.

Never a dull moment! 

Happy day everyone, warping today, for skirt panel three. 

The air quality not being great, smoke from Nova Scotia fires this time, I may give the outdoor discussion group a miss. But a local trip to change my jigsaw puzzle might be on.

I'm glad the current word puzzle is being suitably annoying!



23 comments:

  1. She does fantastic work! She is a strong woman. Gary sure is lucky to have you! And you to have him.

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    1. She's lovely, also very good humored, a happy woman.

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  2. The weaver seems like a most interesting person.

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    1. She's a great storyteller, needed a lot more time.

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  3. What a wonderful and courageous woman. Some truly amazing work there

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    1. She's hugely gifted. Such integrity, too.

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  4. Very nice clue on the puzzle Boud. It is indeed odiously or disgustingly objectionable : highly offensive, like the new little house guest we have. Charlie is a small white dog, cute as all get out, who has a sharp annoying bark and can pee great quantities on the rug. Sigh. He is indeed the solution to your puzzle.
    Tom

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    1. Is Charlie temporary? He sounds a bit of a handful.

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  5. Brave woman tackling history head on - there are a lot who will disapprove of the act without understandnig the reasons. (And probably not hang around to hear or consider them.)

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    1. Yes, she has great moral courage in going against the grain of her own people.

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  6. What an amazing woman Ms. Hampton is. I love how she uses her art to face the truths of her ancestry with such strength and skill.
    Sounds like Gary's latest guest may have some real feelings for him. I mean- baking him lava cakes to leave him with? Hmmmm...

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    1. There's a back story, well saga, around her, and I wasn't surprised that she and the red convertible appeared together..there are many ramifications in his social life, which don't belong in my blog, but give me huge amusement.

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  7. I can't even remember the last time I had a lava cake! They are fun and delicious.

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    1. I don't know what they are! It was a mix, and the sample he gave me was a chocolate cupcake, I think. Nice enough, but I guess I have to look them up.

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  8. The superimposed photos are interesting, and I love how she uses weaving to explore heritage.

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    1. She's a great artist and historian. Her Florida roots go back generations.

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  9. The haze in the air here today is from Nova Scotia. Such a tragedy on-going there!

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    1. We had smoke from Calgary last week, Nova Scotia now. It's always surprising how far smoke can travel and affect air. We've had odd colored moons, too, same reason. Pink and orange.

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  10. Beautiful work and obviously done with intent to honour her history.
    I wish we had a neighbour like Gary - he's one in a million I think and you're lucky to have him.
    Air quality here is poor too and although it's sunny today it's hard to tell.

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