Oh, my dear sweet neglected blog, how could I have left you so. I promise to spend more time with you in 2013.
Peacock Doily Study 1, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 6 x 6 inches
Hardships there are but the land is green and the sun shineth.
The first printed representation of the Jamaican flag. It was signed by Alexander Bustamante in 1962 when the design was approved in Parliament.
With Jamaica celebrating the 50th Independence Day on August 6th, I’ve been thinking a lot about the flag. My mom taught me when I was a child that colours had meaning and that has never left me. Today I did a little internet exploring to see if in fact I remembered correctly. While there are slight variations on how the symbolism is worded they come down to what I remembered – Black for the people, green for the land and yellow for the wealth of the nation.
“The black triangles represent the adversity Jamaica has overcome and for hardships it may have in the future. The green triangles represent hope and agriculture and the golden saltire (diagonal cross) stands for the mineral wealth of Jamaica and sunlight. “(from World Flags 101)
- Yellow – a symbol of sunshine and natural resources
- Green – the land and hope for the future
- Black – the burdens borne by the people
“Black depicts the strength and creativity of the people; Gold, the natural wealth and beauty of sunlight; and green, hope and agricultural resources.” Government of Jamaica
Click for Jamaican Flag knitting pattern
My gift to you on the 50th anniversary is a free knitting pattern. Use it to knit your own flag either as a patch or worked into a larger pattern. Enjoy, and please share your projects with me – I’d love to see what you come up with.
Jamaican Flag, Knitting Chart by Anastasia E White, 2012 download now
What are you doing to celebrate?
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Here we are in the second week of the 2012 Olympics and my favorite part of the Summer games begin tomorrow. Yes, Team Jamaica will be taking to the track tomorrow. With what looks like a strong team, the London Olympics are looking to be exciting. So here’s to Team Jamaica taking home a big pile of medals to celebrate 50 years of independence – how fitting would that be!
To knit your own Usain Bolt doll, click the image of visit RadioTimes. Felling more adventurous? Knit the entire team! Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and the rest of the team deserve dolls as well. See the list of the full team here.
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- Jamaica and The London 2012 Olympics: Video of Jamaican Swimmer Alia Atkinson, fourth in 100m breaststroke final (theislandjournal.wordpress.com)
- Atheletes named for London (The Gleaner)
I often dig out my embroidery threads and a stack of old linens with the intention of stitching up some whimsical design, yet I never get beyond picking colours and threading a needles. Here are a couple cutesy stitched drawings by someone with more motivation than I.
More of Kjersti Faret’s thread creations are posted on New York Kitty Art. Check them out!
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After coming across the Doily Pendant Lamp, then sorting out how to make my own, doily lamps were heavy on my mind. Here is another lovely re-use of doilies for shades by Caitlin Holcomb via Decor8 to feed my fascination.
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How beautiful are Takashi Iwasaki‘s embroidered drawings? Colourful, graphic and whimsical, reminiscent of both Calder’s mobiles and The Yellow Submarine, these designs keep calling me back to revisit them. Described as portraits of the artist’s state of mind I long to know more about him. Who is this person with bright colours and playful forms dancing around in his head?
More information about Takashi can be found at Elliot Louis Gallery.
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Just incase you aren’t already convinced that I’m a doily addict here is photographic evidence. These linens were all acquired in one weekend trip to Victoria, BC. Victoria has some great thrift shops and lots of old people, this adds up to lots of doilies to be found.
The photographs are of my grandparents. On the left are my maternal grandparents, Daisy and Micheal Myers, and on the right is my father’s mother Erika in her wedding dress.
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Hello Laura Splan! You are an artist after my own heart. Doilies made visceral. Still beautiful but drawn with blood. Yes, yet anther example of artworks I wish I had thought of.
My work explores perceptions of beauty and horror, comfort and discomfort. I use anatomical and medical imagery as a point of departure to explore these dualities and our ambivalence towards the human body. Viruses, blood, x-rays of bones and viscera can be at once unsettling and enticing. I often combine scientific images and materials with more domestic or familiar ones.
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I’m green with envy that this dress is out in the world some place and I don’t have it.
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