Strange Material: Storytelling Through Textiles

261 Pages·2014·6.186 MB·English

by  Leanne Prain

Strange Material explores the intriguing relationship
between handmade textiles and storytelling. Through
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text, the act of weaving a tale or dropping a thread takes
t
on new meaning for those who previously have seen “Prain reminds us that the stories which fi ll our lives are
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textiles—quilts, blankets, articles of clothing, and more—
not only spoken and writt en, but they are also made by hand
a
only as functional objects. This book showcases craft ers
and thread. These material stories are no less meaningful but
who take storytelling off the page and into the mediums n
they can suff er from under-acknowledgement. Perhaps they
of batik, stitching, dyeing, fabric painting, knitt ing,
g
crochet, and weaving, creating objects that bear their are so imbedded in daily life that they are easy to overlook?
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messages proudly, from personal memoir and cultural Whatever the reason, this book reminds us of the sheer T
O
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fables to pictorial histories and wearable fi ctions. variety of stories—new and old—told through textiles.” YM
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E
L
L
Off beat, poetic, and subversive, Strange Material will —Jessica Hemmings, editor of In the Loop: Knitt ing Now INGa

inspire readers to re-imagine the possibilities of creating T
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through needle and fabric. O
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“We all know that stories matt er, and how their meanings H
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intertwine with the material. But Leanne Prain’s cunning EXi
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and useful book has much more to say: We hear directly ILEa Strange Material
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from a fascinating array of highly original creators whose l
handmade work expresses narratives, ideas, politics, humor,

STORYTELLING THROUGH TEXTILES
imagination, and memory. Even bett er, Prain prompts—
or invites—the rest of us to participate, with intellectual
nudges and practical projects designed to convert reader to
storyteller. Edifying … and inspirational.” L
E
—Rob Walker, co-founder of Signifi cantObjects.com and A
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Unconsumption.tumblr.com
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E

P LEANNE PRAIN
R
A
I co-author of Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti
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Crafts & Hobbies (Fashion/Textiles)
ISBN 978-1-55152-550-1
$24.95 USA | $24.95 Canada
ARSENAL PULP PRESS
arsenalpulp.com
StrangeMaterial_coverFull.indd 1 14-07-09 4:57 PM
Strange Material

STRANGE MATERIAL
STORYTELLING
THROUGH TEXTILES
LEANNE PRAIN
Project photography by Jeanie Ow
ARSENAL PULP PRESS VANCOUVER
STRANGE MATERIAL
Copyright © 2014 by Leanne Prain
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced Design by Gerilee McBride
in any part by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechan- Edited by Susan Safyan
ical—without the prior written permission of the publisher,
except by a reviewer, who may use brief excerpts in a review, Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication:
or in the case of photocopying in Canada, a license from Prain, Leanne, 1976–, author
Access Copyright. Strange material : storytelling through textiles /
Leanne Prain ; project photography by Jeanie Ow.
ARSENAL PULP PRESS
Suite 202 – 211 East Georgia St. Includes index.
Vancouver, BC V6A 1Z6 Issued in print and electronic formats.
Canada ISBN 978-1-55152-550-1 (pbk.).—ISBN 978-1-55152-551-8
arsenalpulp.com (epub)
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the 1. Textile crafts—Social aspects. 2. Storytelling in art.
Canada Council for the Arts and the British Columbia Arts I. Ow, Jeanie, photographer II. Title.
Council for its publishing program, and the Government
of Canada (through the Canada Book Fund) and the TT699.P73 2014 746 C2014-904299-X
Government of British Columbia (through the Book C2014-904300-7
Publishing Tax Credit Program) for its publishing activities.
The poem “Day,” page 74, copyright © Laura Farina.
Cover photograph: Rosalind Wyatt
Author photograph: Nicol Lischka
Project photography: Jeanie Ow
Photographs on pp. 27, 51, 63, 160, 218 (top): Gerilee McBride
Photographs on pp. 88, 218 (bottom): Leanne Prain
This book is dedicated to Connie and Dan Prain, my parents, who
introduced me to the lifelong pursuit of making things by hand.
You both inspire me every day.

Contents
Introduction 9
Prompt: Write a Poem 63
Chapter 1: Making Meaning 13 Sleeping with Poetry: An Interview with Kerry Larkin of
The Safe Space of Textiles 16 Comma Workshop 64
Stitching Overlooked Stories 16 Public Interventions with Poetry Bombing: An Interview
Designing Your Own Narrative Textiles 17 with Agustina Woodgate 68
Freddie Robins on Craft Kills 18 O Project: Wear Your Words: A Poetry Scarf by
Binding Cloths: An Interview with Tamar Stone 19 Leanne Prain 72
Transcription through Cloth: An Interview with
Eleanor Hannan 23
Chapter 4: Textiles of Protest, Politics,
Prompt: The Button Jar 27
and Power 79
Little Tokens: An Interview with Maria Damon 29
Rugs of Resistance 81
Spinning for Freedom 83
Chapter 2: The Stories We Wear 35 Telling Stories under Dictatorship: The Chilean Arpillera 83
Clothing in the Asylum 38 ImBLEACHment and Public Satire: An Interview with
Clothing for Remembrance 39 Diane Bush 85
Clothing as Social History: An Interview with Rosalind Prompt: Make Your Voice Heard 88
Wyatt 40 Telling Community Stories through S.T.I.T.C.H.E.D: An Interview
Stories to Rattle Your Bones: An Interview with Teresa with Climbing PoeTree 89
Burrows 42 O Project: Resistance Mask by Sarah Corbett 94
Confessional Couture: An Interview with Noël
Palomo-Lovinski 47
Chapter 5: The Fabric of Remembrance 101
Prompt: In Your Closet 51
Passage Quilting 104
O Project: Close to the Heart: A Memory Sweater
A Memorial in Cloth 106
by brifrischu 52
Stitched Travel Diaries 106
Exploring Family Geneology through Stitching 107
Chapter 3: Poetic Textiles 59 Crocheting Joy: An Interview with Sayraphim Lothian 108
Using Textiles to Talk about Poetry: The UK Poetry Project 62 Prompt: Try Your Hand at Memoir 112
Paddy Hartley’s Project Façade 113 O Project: #DadKnowsBest by Iviva Olenick 202
Story Quilts: An Interview with Marion Coleman 116
O Project: I Love My City Tote Bag by Lindsay
Chapter 9: Technology and New Methods of
Zier-Vogel 120
Storytelling 207
Phillip Stearns’ Beautiful Faults 210
Chapter 6: Illustrative Storytelling 125 Iviva Olenick’s @Embroidered Poems 212
Button Blankets 127 Mixing Media: An Interview with Kirsty Whitlock 214
Jennifer Annaïs Pighin’s Beaver Button Blanket 128 Prompt: Think Outside the Sewing Box 218
Stranger than Fiction: An Interview with Freddie Robins 130 Fuzzy Logic: An Interview with Carlyn Yandle 219
Exploring Internal and External Geographies: An Interview O Project: Hello World! Blinky Light Lilypad Arduino Patch
with Bettina Matzkuhn 137 by Emily Smith 224
O Project: Treasure Map by Amanda Wood 142
Chapter 10: Community Storytelling through
Chapter 7: Fictional Characters 149
Textiles 233
Fiber and Fairy tales: An Interview with Stephanie Dosen
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt 235
of Tiny Owl Knits 152
Circles of Stitching 236
Superhero Stories: An Interview with Mark Newport 154
Putting a Community in Stitches 237
Prompt: Fictional Characters 160
Community Building, One Bridge at a Time 239
Knitting Nightmares: An Interview with Tracy Widdess 161
Amanda Browder’s Future Phenomena 239
O Project: The Amelia Mobile by Susan Kendal 166
Harnessing the Power of the Stitch Community: An Interview
with Leigh Bowser 240
Chapter 8: Humorous Textiles 185
Community Confessions: An Interview with Jessica
Andrea DezsÖ: Embroidering Ugly “Truths” 188 Vellenga 244
Embroidering a Year of Unemployment: An Interview Spinning Stories: Participatory Art with Robyn Love 247
with Melissa A. Calderòn 190
WooWork: An Interview with Howie Woo 193 Acknowledgments 249
Stitched Rejection: An Interview with Gina Dawson 198
Index 251
Introduction
My intention for Strange Material is simple. I want you to the satin-stitched front and the gnarled, knotty back. Jenny
identify your own stories, and encourage you to share them Hart, well-known in the embroidery world for her illustrative
through handmade work. If you are not motivated to make pattern company Sublime Stitching, conceived a fictional
something with your hands, I hope that the tales shared by band poster that advertised a concert by rock icon Iggy Pop
the artists within these pages inspire you to look for stories in in the hospital room where she had been born. With each
unlikely pockets of your life. Narrative is the binding thread exchange, it became apparent to me that rarely are textile
of human experience, and stories are the medium that we works simply end products—they are saturated with narra-
use to know one another and ourselves. tive, from the chain of events that led to their creation and
This book was prompted by a series of epiphanies that I the choice of materials used, to the stories told by the pieces
experienced while researching my previous book, Hoopla: themselves, and finally to the accounts shared by those who
The Art of Unexpected Embroidery. Through the course of have experienced an emotional reaction to these artworks.
interviewing twenty-three artists, I discovered that every con- While the commercial crafting mega-stores of the western
versation was lit with elements of story. Artist Sherri Lynn world promote fashionable tools and materials, there is more
Wood told me that there was no written history of women’s substance rooted in most fiber craft than is generally found
contributions to the world of tattoo arts in the 1990s, yet she in trendy appliquéd pillows featuring wildlife or ironically
captured this historical microcosm through her embroidered kitschy sweater patterns. Concurrently, the gallery system
Tattoo Baby Doll Project. Aubrey Longley-Cook’s stitched is widely dismissive of materials associated with “craft” and
animation of his roommate’s runaway dog Gus, captured the of artists from artisanal or self-taught backgrounds. It is my
perpetual motion of Gus’s psyche, photographed in two ways: desire to illuminate the conversations happening outside