Could Not Resist

Marian Bijlenga- Untitled 2001
Yesterday I went to Zijdelings and asked Karina about the floor talk given by Marian Bijlenga a Dutch fibre artist whose work I feel really inspired by, and which to some extent has provided many insights into my own work. It transpired that she had a book of collages made by Marian Bijlenga- of course this was a book which had instant love written all over it- and fortunately she still had one copy which is going home with me. It is a large book (42 cmx 31cm) entitled Written Weed and contains 232 pages of black and white collages of dried herbs, grasses and seeds- in one word - it is beautiful - the ISBN is 90-70680-65-3.

Part of the reason for mentioning it here, apart from the fact that I love the work, is, that in a sense I am inspired by the same kind of attention to tiny detail and pattern. I have been asked by different people whether I don't get bored walking the same circuit I do nearly every day- and the answer is an emphatic No- every day i see something new, hear something new, find something new- the experience of walking the same circuit over and over makes tiny details leap out at me and I feel I notice more of the small things - a kind of microscoping into the miniscule- and this is something I have been using in my work for quite some time- going into the tiny detail or the reverse telescoping and taking the wider view.