User:Ruby/Notes
I black-smithed today for the first time in nearly a year. I've got the little bud of a blister blooming on my thumb and part of a water bucket handle made. Blacksmithing has been a revelation for me about materials and my own artistic practice. I'd like to discuss it here since it's part of the impetus for the MI Makers group. I’m interested in making stuff and what is going on when we do it.
There's been interest expressed among my classmates to learn blacksmithing, so today as I pounded away I imagined how I would explain it. It occurred to me that it was kind of like teaching people to knit; so much of it is in the muscle memory- the body learning the stuff the brain won't process. It's like you're meeting this new material for the first time and have to get to know it. Sort of like a blind date, but I suppose most people don't show up for blind dates with a hammer and safety glasses (depending on the date, I guess).
The iron is inanimate, yes. However, its in-animation does not negate the influence it's properties will have over the interaction. And it is an interaction; it's a give and take. I give the material shape, but the more new materials I try the more I realize that they shape my body with new muscles, calluses and blisters as well. The more I work with a material, the more it works with me. It's a physical thing, but it's a funny method of learning as well.
When I learn to knit, or smith or whatever else I learn, my brain doesn’t store the knowledge exactly- my body does. The information gets stored in my hands. It's like regular education where one acquires a new vocabulary and learns to use it. My hands acquire new vocabularies and therefore become more articulate. I feel that art is at least partly (if not largely) dependent upon its ability to communicate, and a large part of that for me is making things. Being able to speak with my hands.
I think this isn't true for everyone, though. It really makes me wonder about other people's experiences with making things. I know I have these ideas about working with materials, but I think for others different things are going on. For some people it seems like a way to bring about order, or transformations. I think other people just need a visually appealing medium for a story or a message and the material interaction is secondary to the effectiveness of the communication (sort of Scott McCloud idea, I suppose). Some people are just fidgity, perhaps.
It's good to have a quiet evening after blacksmithing and thinking about it too much. I want to have conversations like this with other people, but it's hard to pin down. It's hard to pose the question. Why do you make stuff? Maybe I'm hesitant about the answers I'd get. I feel like I've thought about my own process quite a bit and have only now begun verbalizing my theories. I guess I wonder if other people wonder about this sort of thing too! Ha! Perhaps I should think up a way to test it, like a survey or interview, something like that...
Ruby 20:23, 17 July 2007 (EDT)
Tuesday night I went to see Casiotone for the Painfully Alone at the DACC, and Stephanie was there! She organizes stiching parties, quiting bees and such and I guess is sort of the grand organizer of sewing activity in GR. So I told her about this idea, and she's excited as well. Progress.
I'm getting to a sort of point with this where my crazy ideas need a little pinning down, a little physical realization. I'm thinking of organizing a meeting for thursday to try and lay the framework, since I'm not really good at that part. I do want organic progress, but I feel like organicly progressing groups need frames set up to support what they've got solid as they go, like a pole for the beans. It's time for some poles.
Ruby 11:34, 14 July 2007 (EDT)
Today Geniene and I went to visit Rita. Rita is a dyer/knitter/other cool stuff-er who runs her own yarn business called Yarn Hollow. As chance would have it, my friend Dan bought a skien for me from her last Christmas and I just made the connection when I met her! It's great stuff, by the way- she's brilliant with color.
Rita is probably the youngest member of the Weaver's Guild, and so I wanted to talk to her about the Michigan Makers. She is currently counted as enthusiastically interested and had some good info about the benifits of the Weaver's Guild and advice for getting this started.
It looks like structure is going to be important. A president/vice-president/secretary/treasuer thing. I'm not good at the organizationial aspects of these sorts of things, but I feel like I try to let some things be too organic. Large groups of people trying to make decisions about infrastructure seems like possibly a bad idea. We'll continue meeting, and I'm going to probably try to be a NEST keyholder soon, but I think actuall membership won't begin until we have some sort of goals/methods and by laws and regulations about dues and such. Geniene is really optimistic and believes this thing can become "as big as we let it". I'm optimistic too. Ideas are getting fleshier and talking to more people is covering gaps I hadn't thought of.
I guess I'm sort of the natural first "president", if we go that route with the organization, but I feel so green about this sort of thing. I'm not even really familiar with what options of this nature are out there right now for makers. Rita is more familiar with that, and she feels that there is a void this kind of thing needs to fill. I feel like that too, I see a lot of energy around me and I feel like if that could be organized it could be fruitful for all. I think sometimes it's hard to stay inspired and motivated to do stuff if one is doing it all alone. Hopefully this would help.
This is my current daydreamy doodle for a possible logo or whatever.
Ruby 22:53, 5 July 2007 (EDT)
I have an idea I'd like to share.
In civic studio of 2006, myself and two classmates started a stich n' bitch project combining traditional knitting with somewhat conceptual art aimed at sharing the joy and connection of it with others. In spite of my general crankyness throughout the semester, it was remarkably sucessful. We connected, some individuals discovered a love of knitting and I discovered that I really enjoy teaching it.
In a very casual sort of way, I re-kindled it for this summer with an offer to teach those who wanted to learn. However, in doing so, I've realized how many of my friends do not know how to knit or crochet and have no desire to learn. But they enjoy making things in the company of others, and showed up to the first stich n' bitch anyways to work on other projects. Because of this, and a few conversations with others, the current name of my modest endevor is the Michigan Makers. Mm... And all 'makers' are welcome.
Why 'makers'? I feel that 'crafters' and 'crafts' innacurately decribes what many people are doing. The same problem applies to the word 'artist'. These words have their place, but they both miss the mark in some ways for some people. The term 'maker' actually needs to be credited to my friend Andy, who says it's a clumsy translation from the dutch word for 'crafter'. Anyways, the point is that when he said it, I felt like it was a more appropriate word for what I am, and what many of my friends are, than other terms I'd heard.
I feel that the old traditions are changing in significant ways and techniques are blooming that defy the usual categories, and the usual categories are being revitalized in their own ways. Alternative materials are coming into play and people are making decisions about what to use/make and how to use/make it based on new concerns and towards new ends. I'm interested in this.
What I hope to do this summer is look into the history of craft and craft guilds and try to get to know the current community of traditional crafters as well as the budding community of makers. I want to know if organization would be benificial to GR makers. Could we help each other, and how so? Do the makers who are regular boothers at local art/craft markets and makers who simply spice up their own wardrobe in a DIY way have similar needs? What exactly is a guild and what do they do?
I've got a short list of people I've been trying to reach about this to get some direction. A few GVSU professors are on it, as well as the City Knitting folks and the Weaver's Guild, but largely I'd like to know what the makers of GR want. I think my strength and weakness in the face of organizing anything is trying to get a lot of information about the desires of the participants and experiances of the wise before I begin. So, I'll be reading, writing and talking about this for a while, and I'd appreciate any feedback/advice/direction anyone wants to toss in. I'm just sort of taking inventory of options and imaginings at this point.
Just to give you and idea of the sort of thing I've been fantasizing about potential activities for group like this (in addition to us all making stuff together)- 1. Show-and-tell 2. Member workshops 3. Shows (art/craft hybrid) 4. Trips to things like the Michigan Fiber Festival 5. Public group projects
p.s. I'm still shakey on this whole wiki thing... Will people be able to respond/discuss on this post? If not, how can I enable that? I'm reading over the cheatsheets, but I haven't found it yet... If you teach me how to use the wiki, I'll teach you how to knit!
Ruby 05:09, 30 June 2007 (EDT)