{This is a response to a prompt from Friday Fictioneers. I could not help, but think of the Sir Walter Scott line, “What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” (Marmion, A Tale of Flodden Field) From that thought came this little tale of a student gallery at a fine arts school. An artist’s statement is usually the little plaque that hangs next to the work describing the artist.
Hope you enjoy the story. Thank you for the prompt and for reading!}
Samantha’s vast fabric swath hung alone, industrial rafters to tiled floor. A vertical curtain. A deceptive partition.
Students’ work lined the walls. Paintings, drawings, collages. Pedestals cradled pottery.
Diaphanous and indecipherable, her cascade of sunrays, loosely knit, tumbled down. Pinks, oranges and yellows, intertwined, incestuous.
Isaac tugged Sissy’s skirt. “But what’s it for?”
“Here. Take this.”
Samantha handed the boy a length of yarn, dangling forlornly, from the lowest row of stitches.
Isaac clutched. Awaited instructions.
“Now, run!”
Up and down the gallery, unraveling. Sunbursts crisscrossed at every angle, trapping people, in Samantha’s tangled web.
Just as the artist intended.
What a gorgeous idea. Love that interactive web, Andrea – and you describe it so well. Great writing
Thanks Lynn!
My pleasure
Samantha made the young boy run around to come up with her design. Innovative way to do things.
Such a graphic approach. Beautifully done.
Thamks Sandra!
The the textile unraveled, your story surely didn’t! This was wonderful, Andrea!
Thank you Dale!
Your descriptions are wonderful. Colorful, creating clear images.
Thank granonine!
That’s fun art! Better than it just dangling there. Fun for Isaac too!
Yes indeed!
Your story made me smile, Andi. It’s a lovely, gentle piece of whimsy. I think that idea of the textile would work, and I love the way you have the artist carefully choose a small boy to do the unravelling!
Thank you Penny! I was trying to imply with the nickname Sissy that Samantha was Isaac’s older sister, but didnt have enoughwords to be more direct!
A wonderful work of art! 😉
Thanks Iain!
Dear Andrea,
I can picture this with the different colors of yarn unraveling. Nicely crafted.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle!
Interactive art! Beautifully written story.
I wish I could take credit for it, but the unravelling is not my idea. A student artist included the interactivity element in one of her fabric works at an exhibition I attended, years back. I just imagined the way the unravelling might be done, if placed in the hands of a child.
You took a good idea and ran with it, and the outcome is marvelous!
Haha!
Beautifully described
Thanks neil!