Hello All
Maybe I can shed some light on the website some of you have been visiting.
It is a website about a Dutch textile exposition. The textile artists are the elderly of whom most live in old age homes in the Nederlands. Mrs De Vries is the collector and liaison, between the women who made the pieces for the exhibition, and the young Dutch artists and journalists who curate the exhibit in different art gallery and musea in Holland.
The ideas for their knitted and crocheted projects, come from objects and ideas these women (I take it that most of the crafts persons are woman, but there may be men as well) from their own backgrounds. For instance the walker is an item that a person in an old age home has to depend on, it may even be a life saver, next to a pair of glasses and hearing aids, a walker will keep an elderly handicapt person mobile. Another typical item found in older homes is the little brown round box with the holes in the top. It is what we call in Holland a stoof, my grand mother had one. It kept your feet warm on a cold wet winter day. Inside this stoof you put a fire proof bowl which hold hot coals. By putting your feet on top of the box, your feet stayed warm for a long time, and you could sit and knit, or crochet and be cozy, with out central heating.
Mrs de Vries wants to draw attention to the role the elderly played in the Dutch society and how they express their ideas from the past and what happens to them today while living in an old age home, connect with the rest of the world around them. It will show the differences between what is and what was. Mrs De Vries collects the knitted and crocheted pieces and takes down the stories that come with it from the maker and her surroundings and her past.
She wants to include all of you when you look at all these pieces to come up with your own ideas about what you think it is telling you, is it textile art or a piece of functional textiles such as a tea cozy or a knitted dish cloth. There are places for each and one can't be without the other. We all started to knitting simple little squares, learning pieces that will second as dishrags or wash cloths. When we move on it may become the coveted Gansey sweaters or complex lacey shawls, again both were and are needed as functional pieces, but have now often evolved into lovely complex art pieces.
When you visite the exhibits you will see that that this work is more than needle and thread, but that each piece tells a story.
The artiste Anne Reijse, who thought that the textile collection from Mrs de Vries, was unique and refreshing and full with wonderful surprises and smiles went a step further, Anne contacted several other young artists and journalists to record the stories behind the knitting. They make sure that the exhibit goes from place to place and stays interesting and lively.
The list of this group can be seen below
In reality this is very similar to what we have been doing for years at RCTY, when we share our own textile experiences and adventures as well as our needs within this group.
So let me invite you to just go back one more time and look with different eyes at what is being shown and done on this website. If you are planning to visit Holland soon, it will be a great show to go and see, I am sure that most of us here can directly relate to all these lovely pieces.
Happy knitting, spinning, weaving, braiding, or any other textile art, or craft that is close to your heart.
Krokeledukus
Frank van Dijk (24) is als audiovisueel journalist het Knoopunt Arnhem-Nijmegen. Samen met Stefan ten Have wil hij de handgemaakte voorwerpen en hun creatoren portreteren. Verder helpt hij met de promotie van toekomstige exposities en andere hand-, en spandiensten.
Stefan ten Have, Student en ook te werk als audiovisueel journalist betrokken bij Mevrouw de Vries. (zie bij Frank van Dijk) Beeldende Vormgevers
Aline Horlings afgestudeert als illustatieve vormgever aan de Kunstakedemie in Kampen,en bij mevrouw de vries als bemiddelaar tussen het project en verschillende kunstinstellingen.
Anne Reijse, Ruimtelijke vormgever. Vormgever en bedenker van het project, reageert op het project door verschillende mediums, zoals film, fotografie en ruimtelijke vormgeving.
Lenneke van de Goot, Vrije vormgever, Zij zorgt voor ervoor dat de algemene vormgeving van Mevrouw de Vries goed verloopt en reageert in haar werk op het project met verschillende mediums: zoals fotografie, ruimtelijke objecten, en verschillende soorten tekeningen .