to: Craft > #26 - Identity of a Vessel
Exploring the identity of an indigo vessel Photo by Heather K. Powers
Identity of a vessel
Heather K. Powers
In my left palm rests a lightweight, round, and hollow medium-blue vessel, somewhere between a basket and a bowl. With my right hand, I rotate it and feel the semi-flat bottom nestle in my palm. I gently press the center; it yields to the palm of my receiving hand. My fingers follow the coils that form the base and move out from the center to create a circle approximately three inches in diameter. The inner and outer surfaces feel identical, soft-rough and ribbed. I squeeze the sides of this flexible form. Pinching them together, I discover its thickness has the potential to protect my hand or body, to shield it from heat. I then explore how else my body can engage this object. I place it over my nose and breathe in the layers of smell, including the residual mustiness of an old home and an underlying sweetness of grass or hay.
Having indigo-dyed this one-eighth-inch thick hemp cord, I now see fading and evidence of wear. I feel where it's worn and softened by use, leaving it less scratchy than jute but not as soft as cotton. The cords are stitched together with a gray zig-zag stitch that overlaps pairs of cords, holding the object together and decorating the surface. The thread pierces each cord's center, forming small V shapes that overlap and cover the inside and outside. The stitches are open, about one-eighth inch wide at the top, so that the blue cord shows through as the primary color and material. The indigo blue is irregular and shifts from dark to medium. Across the top rim, pale brown flecks peek out where indigo did not saturate the cord.
With the object in hand, I further explore the possibilities of its form. I mold the flat base into a dome and flip it over to resemble a small, secret doorless habitat. I push into the inverted bottom—now top—to create a slight depression in its center. The coiled sidewalls now support this suspended surface. With a bit of pressure, I transform it back into its original self by pressing the bottom through the sides and turning it back into an object with coiled sidewalls that rise from a flat base. Based on what I can see, there is no way to know its provenance. It is not frayed or threadbare but is worn soft, yet stiff enough to retain its bowl-like shape. This little basket-bowl-mitt-hammock-dome has many years of life left alone or service if put to work.
Contextualization
In Materials Lab 3 (Fall 2020), we created a series of descriptions, exploring the language and strategies used to describe objects' materiality and symbolic interpretation. In this short text, I describe a vessel's material nature through sensual engagement, playing with this object's possibilities and revealing other identities and uses.
Further Reading
Elizabeth Grosz. "The Thing.," in The Object Reader, Fiona Candlin and Raiford Guins eds. (London and New York: Routledge, 2009) 124138.
In this reading, Grosz explores the naming and classifying of objects and their relationship to ourselves. Things have their own identity, separate from what we perceive or project upon them. My exploration of things through embodied sensation attempts to discover alternate possibilities of identity—both mine and the object’s.
Kim Patton. "I Exist in Relationship to You." In Norwegian Crafts, accessed April 4, 2021. https://www.norwegiancrafts.no/articles/i-exist-in-relationship-to-you.
This text speaks of the merging and separating of our identities. Self to object, self to other. Space between these constructs has its roots in indigenous-colonizer relationships. The complexity of decolonizing our research approach involves investigating these interstitial places. The hyphen stands as a representation of these ongoing investigations.
Biography
Heather Powers
She/Her/Hers
By Mellanee Goodman
Entry into the Critical Craft Studies program was a serendipitous experience for fiber artist Heather K. Powers, who lives in the southeastern United States. Upon her first visit to the Warren Wilson campus for an “open classroom” discussion of the inaugural Class of 2020’s critical engagement with craft, Heather knew that she needed to enroll in the program. Heather’s research is not centered in one place but is an exploration of the physical spaces of craft studios. Her research approach includes close and conscious observation of textile practices as understood through her situated experience and embodied engagement with materials and processes. As Heather interacts with craftspeople around the world, she looks to their studios to better understand the stories and identities of craftspeople. Throughout Heather’s time in the program, tending to her garden, growing vegetables and flowers, and processing her own indigo have brought her joy and a sense of grounding in a disconnected time of pandemic. The act of tending to nature is an act of self-care, freeing her from the constraints of the virtualscape.