Through my seizures I have taken a direction of renewable-re-usable art. I have been a knitter since age 5. I am creating knitted panels for canvas, knitted elements to represent trees and plants of landscape design.
I love pen and ink and all aspects of painting and drawing. However, to make graphite, you need to strip mine, to make charcoal you need to burn trees. Where does our art come from? Our thinking, and not age-old ways of making art supplies.
People drew with charcoal because it was left over from their fires. By using yarns, some commercial, some acrylic, and also handspun, I can use art supplies over and over again. Life Is Fragile, the earth is fragile.
I am using knitting boards to knit the canvases. I am using flower looms to make design elements of trees and flowers, just like my pen and ink landscape design, except I won't be wasting paper and I won't be using the chemicals that inks use. It's as earth-friendly as I can get.
I currently spin my own yarns-using what most Americans see as "disposable wool fiber (opting for commercial yarns), I can give the sheep, alpacas, and goats a place to have their products used.
I currently have several commercial yarns to use up, but after that, all my landscape designs will be in handspun fiber. I am using a hand-made wooden charkha to spin the wool. I will have to photograph each design before re-using the elements,and will use digital instead of film
These are the looms I am using to make double-knitted "canvas"
Flower looms are most often used with yarn, and other than hand-spun (black and cinnamon alpaca included) embroidery floss makes a durable design element. Below photo is with yarn and a frame of crochet and are currently for another project. Pen and ink is more like floss flowers.
I encourage other Fine Artists, used to working in ink, acrylic, or oil, to consider working in yarn and natural fibers. Not to be a "fiber artist" per se, but to take your talent and make it as reusable and earth-friendly as possible.
