Saturday, May 30, 2015

Weird from Weird

Have you ever heard the expression Deaf from Deaf ?  Carny from Carny?  I got the first from Andrew Solomon and the second from Stephen King, but in both cases the expressions refer to someone who is a second generation of a category such as carnival worker.  I suppose you could say lefty from lefty, redhead from redhead, and smarty-pants from smarty-pants, too, if you were so inclined.

How about weird from weird?  My newest piece, Tree Spirit, could be called that.  Look at the weird image that inspired it:





This is a root growing out of a hole in the base of a tree growing along Trout Brook, a watercourse near my home in West Hartford, Connecticut.  With its knoblike head, jutting chin, multiple tentacles, and simian crouch, it reminded me of a creature from a fantasy universe, like those created by  JRR Tolkien or JK Rowling.  Capitalizing on that weirdness, I used all kinds of textile arts to create this piece, based on that image:


Here are a couple of closeups: