AMY MEISSNER
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Mother Thought of Everything
    • Inheritance
    • Reliquary
    • Public Art
  • CV
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

A third box of mystery.

11/27/2015

12 Comments

 
"No object is mysterious. The mystery is your eye."

Elizabeth Bowen
Amy Meissner, textile artist. From the post A third box of mystery. www.amymeissner.com/blog/a-third-box-of-mystery
Origin: Scotland, Maker: Unknown, Circa: Unknown

A woman I have never met, who I know appreciates fine cloth and good gin and is an extraordinary book binder, has sent a box from England to the darkness of Alaska, knowing that the contents will be appreciated.

​How can this trust exist? Perhaps this is the biggest mystery of all.

Amy Meissner, textile artist. From the post A third box of mystery. www.amymeissner.com/blog/a-third-box-of-mystery
(Many lives changed on the day this box was postmarked. The interconnectedness of all things should never escape us.)
​
I contacted Kate Bowles over a year ago -- I'm not even sure why, maybe just to say, "I love your work" -- and we've kindled a small relationship based on common interests and a kindred spirit of appreciation for the old linens, mending and handwork. I participated in a blog hop last year and she was one of the artists I passed the hop onto. In response to an online request I recently made, she contributed items that she doesn't need or want, has tidied up her cupboards, and inserted some excitement into a cold, dark northern afternoon.
​
Amy Meissner, textile artist. From the post A third box of mystery. www.amymeissner.com/blog/a-third-box-of-mystery
Amy Meissner, textile artist. From the post A third box of mystery. www.amymeissner.com/blog/a-third-box-of-mystery

Many of these doilies are likely Scottish in origin. I'd like a magnifying glass for some of the work because it's so fine, the gauge much smaller than the pieces that have come from my own family.

Kate said doilies make excellent kindling. She said this twice, but I'm going to assume she doesn't know about this first hand. We did find some fantastic things to do with these doilies right away and still managed to warm up the house without setting anything on fire.
​
Amy Meissner, textile artist. From the post A third box of mystery. www.amymeissner.com/blog/a-third-box-of-mystery
Amy Meissner, textile artist. From the post A third box of mystery. www.amymeissner.com/blog/a-third-box-of-mystery

Kate's work* was recently featured in Claire Wellesley-Smith's book Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art. This book highlights work by a number of textile artists I greatly admire, and if you haven't picked up a copy for yourself, you probably should (or at least have a frank conversation with Santa). 
​
Amy Meissner, textile artist. From the post A third box of mystery. www.amymeissner.com/blog/a-third-box-of-mystery
Amy Meissner, textile artist. From the post A third box of mystery. www.amymeissner.com/blog/a-third-box-of-mystery

If the eye holds mystery and objects do not (as Elizabeth Bowen claims in the quote above), then my eyes hold and look for mystery everywhere. I want to know about other makers, current and past, and see evidence of their lives in the items they've created. Much of the current generation doesn't hold these items in high esteem. They are seen as garish, frilly or vestiges of a time when women's heads were bowed and their thoughts silenced, buried and stabbed into these time-consuming symbols of domesticity and uselessness; but look past this and know the great beauty is in the intent. As a contemporary maker, my own intent is to gather this energy and channel these voices into new work. To this end, I'm gathering the unwanted, the discarded and obsolete and giving them all a voice, honoring as much history as I can, even if their history is labeled "unknown."
​
Amy Meissner, textile artist. From the post A third box of mystery. www.amymeissner.com/blog/a-third-box-of-mystery
Origin: Sweden, Makers: Unknown, Circa: Possibly 1950-1970.

If you are curious about this work, or have toyed with the idea of setting fire to your own mass of burdensome domestic linens, you can contact me and I'll send more information on what I'm seeking and how to cathartically contribute. 

If you think this is insane and you'd rather sit back and watch all this unfold, that's super, too. Just know that while we light plenty of fires around here, none of these boxes of mystery will find themselves in the box of kindling.

Amy Meissner, textile artist. From the post A third box of mystery. www.amymeissner.com/blog/a-third-box-of-mystery
Maker: Unknown, Origin: Scotland, Circa: Unknown

Kate Bowles, book binder. From the post A third box of mystery. www.amymeissner.com/blog/a-third-box-of-mystery

*Kate Bowles uses recycled fabrics, papers and assorted vintage haberdashery ephemera to create hand-bound notebooks and journals. She lives in Yorkshire, England.

Kate's ideas & inspiration are dictated by the discarded & found materials she uses. Her love of vintage haberdashery items and papers (much of it with little commercial value or status) compels her to salvage and reincarnate these items into functional, beautiful books. Most importantly, these pages are meant to be filled by others, so the creative process continues when they leave her hands (for her this is “the best bit”). 

Exposing the stitching on the spine, plus embroidering and darning the book cloth, is her nod to women of the binderies in the 1800s.

Awesome.
12 Comments
Kate
11/28/2015 12:19:17 am

They really do look much prettier under your light than mine, enjoy! K x ( a teeny tiny spark of fun on a truly dark day)

Reply
Amy Meissner link
12/1/2015 09:40:07 am

Kate,
Thank you so much for the lovely package. I can't even recycle the box because it's come so far. On another shipping note, I keep perusing your Folksy shop looking for just the right handmade book...I think I've found it. Alaskan orders work, yes?
XO
Amy

Reply
katehbowles@hotmail.com
12/1/2015 01:07:51 pm

chuckle ... yes they do ... :)

Sharon Tomlinson link
11/28/2015 02:39:57 am

I'm going to enjoy following this huge project. And I think I have some very similar doiles like those from Kate down here in Texas that have been passed down to me.

Reply
Helen Geglio
11/29/2015 08:58:15 am

Count me in as someone for whom this project resonates, and send details about how to get needlework to you. I also think about the nameless women who made these beautiful, labor-intensive things that I find and keep, and I wonder about them and their lives.

Reply
Amy Meissner link
12/1/2015 09:33:08 am

Helen,
Thank you so much for reaching out here. I very much admire your work and count you among the "thinkers" in this genre. I look forward to fostering a new relationship.
XO
Amy

Amy Meissner link
12/1/2015 09:37:09 am

Sharon,
Thank you so much for the fist pump about this project. Folks either don't get it or deeply understand, there is no in between. I very much look forward to hearing from you and I'm happy to send further instructions when you're ready -- just drop me a line through the contact page: www.amymeissner.com/contact
All the best,
Amy

Reply
Mo Crow link
11/30/2015 08:16:57 am

Kate is brilliant and so are you!

Reply
Amy Meissner link
12/1/2015 09:42:14 am

Mo,
Can I just say (and I'm sure Kate would agree) -- you are brilliant too! Now we just need some gin to slosh all over the place while we pat one another on the back. Thank you for your sweet words and for taking the time to read, follow, and comment!
XO
Amy

Reply
kate
12/15/2015 12:02:32 am

Yes ... yes I do indeed agree!

Jenny M
12/3/2015 06:58:42 pm

I look forward to following your creations. I have become keeper of some of my dear MIL's lace & linen tablecloths. She is 90 years old, was downsizing to move in with her daughter, no one in the family wanted 'these old things', but as I am a quilter and love the thought of someone going to the effort to produce something so beautiful, I couldn't let these tablecloths & doilies be left at an op shop! One tablecloth had been used by her Mother, how could I not become it's 'keeper'? But I wonder who will want these cloths/doilies when it's my time to 'downsize'?
I have the book Slow Stitch, love it! from Jenny in sunny Australia (today it is 29c and to be hotter on the weekend!)

Reply
Amy Meissner link
12/11/2015 01:45:33 pm

Oh, Jenny--
YES! You are supposed to be the Keeper of these items. They've been waiting for you. Please write down all that you know about them so that when they go to the next person the information will not be lost. There are far too many "Makers Unknown" out there in the world.

(Here in Alaska it is 23 F, snow tomorrow, with very short days heading into Solstice).

Thank you for reading and commenting!
XO
Amy

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Amy Meissner, textile artist. Photo credit Brian Adams, 2013. www.amymeissner.com

    Amy Meissner

    Artist in Anchorage, Alaska, sometimes blogging about the collision of history, family & art, with the understanding that none exists without the other.

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Alaska
    Artist Profiles
    Beach Work
    Book Illustration
    Boxes Of Mystery
    Children
    Embroidery
    Fear
    Find Your Teachers
    Former Lives
    Found Objects
    Gallery Shows
    Girl Story
    Histories
    How To
    Illustration
    Inheritance Project
    Interviews
    Louise Bourgeois
    Mending
    Motherhood
    Natural World
    Photography
    Process
    Public Art
    Quilts
    Reliquary
    Textile Art
    Traveling Eye
    Vintage Linens
    Wedding Gowns
    Wool
    Workshops

    Archives

    February 2019
    May 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

  • Home
  • Projects
    • Mother Thought of Everything
    • Inheritance
    • Reliquary
    • Public Art
  • CV
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact