form following function

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2012/jan/23/golden-silk-cape-spiders-in-pictures

The above link is to a Guardian article about an exquisite cape woven from the golden thread of an African spider; the material is fit for exalted rulers, yet whoever wears the [precious, precious] cape must be ever conscious of the myriad spiders crawling across their shoulders, both literally and psychically… I have no right to reproduce the photography. So please enjoy the spectacle via the link.

I intend to use this forum in coming posts to examine my own art practice in terms of ornament, art and craft, all the categorisation that various cultures have thrown futilely at textile work. My intention is to clarify for myself the various stratagems at play in the making of figured textiles. As Armistead Maupin writes in the Tales of the City, at the Arts & Crafts designed Bohemian Grove, an out of town holiday camp for high flying businessmen, a purely fun zone is declared, the ubiquitous motto is: “Weaving spiders come not near!”

Read to the sounds of Architecture in Helsinki, Desert Island.