The Mother Lode of Donated Old Thread ... Thank you, Ellen Kochansky!

(Above:  Three boxes of thread.  Click on image to enlarge.)

Anyone reading my blog regularly knows that I'm working toward a site-specific installation called Threads: Gathering My Thoughts.  It is an expansion of an earlier work which I thought was too small.  (To see this earlier piece, CLICK HERE.)  What I envision is at least twelve assorted baskets suspended from a very high ceiling at various levels ... and unraveled old thread cascading in and out, down and around, and in a beautiful but tangled arrangement from the ceiling to the floor.  It is going to be incredible.

The concept for this piece is to make visible the complex, interwoven thoughts in the human brain ... including the lose of childhood memories, the disconnects of aging, and the millions of ideas that happen in our heads.  The very word "thread" is so important.  It is the basic material for a fiber artist, but it is also a word used for day-to-day communication.  Thread ties us together.  It forms a literary narrative. It is how we envision our mind's way of working.

To create this piece, I've asked for donations from generous fiber artists everywhere.  Many have sent packages but last Friday the MOTHER LODE OF OLD THREAD was delivered from the super talented Ellen Kochansky.  This is three boxes ... of cones of threads!  I've fixed my "thread station" so that I unravel six cones at once.  As proof .... HERE'S A VIDEO!

Thank you Ellen Kochansky!

The installation will run from April 23 - May, 1, 2014 at Studio Cellar, 912 Lincoln Street in Columbia's downtown arts and entertainment district, "The Vista".  The reception will be during the annual Artista Vista spring art crawl.