an incisive reader and fiber person may speak for many of you when she asks, concerning yesterday's post:
I'm of two minds about knitted fiber art--I know I should be all for it,
and perhaps I could be, but I'm not sure that anything I've seen yet
does anything a sweater doesn't. Well, maybe the pink mohair father
genitals do, but the rest, not so much. What do you think? You post
the links, but you don't say....
while i may take it a few degrees further with her in discourse, i will say this much here:
i have similar feelings in knowing that i "should" get excited about fiber art that i often do not. i like freddie robins' sweaters for the disabled (the special thalidimide sweater, etc.) and i think those fine-tune the functionality of the average pullover.
but i don't know if a sweater 'does' more than a painting. and if a painting on a canvas -- that isn't load-bearing and doesn't feed anyone or provide fuel for anyone -- is okay to do, then this kind of thing must be, too.
i'm more pro "knitting-as-medium" than i am the outcomes i've seen so far, in many cases -- but it does continually surprise me that the party line sounds, to me, like "you can do anything you want with paint. you can do anything you want with clay. but when it comes to knitting, you should follow some rules."