One of the headline events at the Knitting & Stitching show next week is San Francisco
artist (and ceramics
teacher) Michael Swaine. He mends clothes.
He runs The Free Mending Library, an on-going project in San Francisco.
Twisted Thread’s publicity says:
“He mends holes, alters garments and trades skills for free, using his mobile sewing unit, which resembles an ice-cream cart. This sturdy device has a beautiful old treadle-operated sewing machine mounted in the middle, an umbrella for shade, drawers stocked with an assortment of threads, needles and specially designed patches, and is emblazoned with a neon sign that flashes the word SEW.
“He will be travelling the neighbourhoods of London, knocking on doors and offering to repair the holes in people's socks. While he is fixing socks he will ask the owners about how they move about the city and how they deal with holes. ‘When I encounter people who darn themselves, I will ask to take some photos of socks they have darned, and perhaps ask them to sit and darn with me - even teaching me how their grandmother taught them.’
“Continuing in this way, Michael plans to weave along from neighbour to neighbour collecting interesting interactions, culminating in an exhibition and demonstrations of his performance darning techniques at The Knitting and Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace 9-12 October.”
A video interview with him is here - and another here has more on the history of the Free Mending Library.
He says tha art is "a mooshy substance in between things - it's very flexible, and we as artists should embrace that."
Thanks for the link to Michael and his mending project, what a great way to get to talk to people, and listen to their ideas and problems, just what we all need in todays fast moving society
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