Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Earth day, art day

I have been lying low. I had oral surgery yesterday and while it was relatively minor, my mouth is achey and uncomfortable and it makes eating and talking difficult. I have a plastic stent covering the roof of my mouth, protecting the wound where tissue was cut out for a graft. ( I know—gross. Sorry I mentioned it...) so I am thpeaking with a lithp ath well.  Avoiding people contact.  This afternoon I felt up to a little art project.

I have a couple bags of stuff that are the remains, cut from the shirts I have been taking apart to use in my quilts. I intended to toss that stuff out, but somehow have been unable to part with those bags of collars and plackets and the flat-felled seams from all those shirts. 


Today I pulled out a big handful of seams and a buttonhole strip and decided to see if I could come up with something to hang outside. I like the idea of bits of art designed to hang outdoors to be affected by, and eventually succumb to the sun and wind and weather. I made weather grams in a class years ago and hung them in the garden and watched them weather and fade. They are a lovely tradition that originated many years ago here in Portland, by the famous calligrapher, Lloyd Reynolds. You still see them around the city. They were in the back of my mind, as well as Tibetan prayer flags, that are left out to the weather. 

I took my scraps to the studio and, along the way, picked up a couple sticks that I attached some to.

Then I pinned it up on my design wall and used more of the long seam "strings" to weave across the piece. 


I strung some of the buttons I've been cutting off the shirt onto a heavy thread and appropriated a little stitched heart that has been pinned to my wall for several months, and added them. 


Then I nailed it up on the big ash tree next to the bridge. 


I will see it coming and going from the studio to the house. I wonder how the elements will change it. My little recycled Earth Day banner. Maybe I will make more. 


32 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:13 AM

    I love this! I also use shirts for my quilts--I'll be saving those bits!

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  2. Hope you are healing well still. Love this use of scraps, especially parts that would normally be thrown away automatically. I have so many scraps that I just don't want to see go to the landfill, and I have so many trees...thanks for a great idea!

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  3. I like that. I don't have buttonhole strips, etc., but I am sure that I can find something that will do. I hadn't seen these before. Great idea.

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  4. Anonymous5:30 AM

    I love your little recycled tree hugger, what a great way to honor Earth Day. Julie

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  5. I love this banner, the story behind it, and as ever, your visual sensibilities.

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  6. I really love what you did here!

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  7. Anonymous8:01 AM

    What a terrific, fun idea! I'm going to do something like that too!! And when I see mine, it will remind me of you!! :-)

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  8. Very cool use of strings! And it looks great against the tree! happy Spring, cheers, Claire W.

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  9. I LOVE this idea. I just might have to steal it...:)

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  10. Clever clever clever! And how lovely it looks on the tree, how satisfying it must feel seeing it there on your journey to & from the studio. I 'fe been trying to come up with something that could hang on the front of my townhouse to differentiate it from the identical buildings up & down my street. There's space under the house number but it gets full afternoon sun. Thus I've not gone forward with the idea thinking I needed to find materials that would stand up well to the outdoors. You've given me a new perspective on how I could approach this.

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  11. oh I like this. and even more because they are scraps of scraps.
    hope you feel better soon.
    Sandy in the UK

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  12. Anonymous12:30 PM

    Love this, dresses up the tree very nicely too
    Z

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  13. A most wonderful Earth Day piece...I love the re-use of shirt fabric and the inclusion of buttons...a lovely visual for your walk to the studio. Kristin

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  14. My husband had gum reconstruction and it didn't take too long to feel himself again, good luck. The artwork is just as sensitive, pretty and interesting as you are. I like it and the reasoning behind it.
    LeeAnna Paylor
    lapaylor.blogspot.com

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  15. Anonymous2:00 PM

    Really really really really neat!!

    Regards from Sue in NE Penn

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  16. Thanks for sharing this, Terry. It's lovely and meaningful.

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  17. Thanks for sharing this, Terry. It's lovely and meaningful.

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  18. Anonymous4:21 PM

    Beautifully woven, thank you for sharing this piece. An inspiration.

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  19. Trying to think of an orginal way to say "I love this!"

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  20. Anonymous7:22 AM

    beautiful!

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  21. That is absolutely wonderful!!!

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  22. I love it! Such a happy little piece to pass by. I hope you feel better quick-like. If it's a sore toe, you have some distance, but problems in your mouth, man, it just affects everything.

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  23. Terry, I really think your Earth Day Banner is lovely and what a great idea. Maggie Winfield

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  24. What a great way to honor the earth, your art and your spirit! Can't wait to see it! And glad you found a way to feel better!

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  25. So old and yet so fresh.....inspiring! I think I'll try some.

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  26. So inspiring! Feel better soon.

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