Why cloth?

The nature of materials is a little niggle that lives in my brain. Why are you or I drawn to choosing and using a certain kind of drawing medium, a particular type of cloth - or cloth in general, a particular kind of knitting wool - even that favourite pen, or by extension a certain mug for breakfast coffee and a different one for afternoon tea?
The question surfaced when I was reading about how sculptor David Nash chooses certain kinds of wood for certain projects -- because of his experience of what these woods will do, how they will behave.

Ceramicist Jun Kaneko too knows the properties and limits of clay and works with it accordingly.

In Inuit culture, and no doubt other traditional cultures around the world, the job of the artist (if indeed there is such a word in that tradition) is to release the spirit of the material, eg ivory or bone, that is being worked.

Weaver Sue Lawty produces another insight, in the catalogue to an exhibition called "The Fine Art of Tapestry Weaving": she is fascinated with "how a simple thread combined with the unique hand mark of the weaver, can have such a bearing on how a cloth looks and holds itself".

"The unique mark of the maker" underlies all art making, of course. The maker/artist, the material, the cascade of choices. The connections to tradition, the veering off into individuality. The combinations of circumstances.

It all keeps swirling around in the brain!