The Three Musky Tears

Welcome to the new Monday post as we approach exhibition July 30th. In an effort to be communicative we plan to write weekly posts for Ginny to count down the weeks of work until D-Day.

Virginia called us in for our second week of screening yesterday. Much relief now that the gut-wrenching grant writing process is behind us... We three have been awaiting this moment with baited breath: to throw ourselves into the process of printing teatowels for the upcoming exhibition.

We each have 100 works to prepare for Ginny's exhibition; the first stage is to madly screen-print our basic designs that we will pass around the campfire for additional embellishments or interventions over the coming months leading up to D-Day at the end of June.

We had planned to sew the 300 teatowels our loving selves - haha hahaha! After countless hours of sweatshop labour cutting, ripping, stitching, steaming and ironing ourselves into tomorrow we realised Virginia had been slightly ambitious with all her positive thinking and penny-pinching when we meditated upon the results: a meagre pile of 32 neat and tidy teatowels.

If we stitched for a week solid we might actually arrive at 300. Interesting as Ginny pointed out this little exercise adds another symbolic dimension to the 'cultural layering' at the core of her souvenir tea towel show - the teatowel sourced in India, printed in China and sold in Carnarvon as a token souvenir of one's adventures (inasmuch as 'adventures' and 'Carnarvon' may seem uneasy bedfellows to some) taken home to dry and be washed, dry and be washed, dry and be washed until holy. The cyclic layers of unseen work that forms our daily existence influences who we are in silent ways of blind acceptance; Virginia worships this holiness.

Taking this into account we have bulk-purchased teatowels (made in India) to compliment our natty little pile of home-crafted lovelies and the war-worn many that have been generously donated or rescued from the rag-bag. (beautifully demonstrated by Helen, below)



This gorgeous little gem is Virginia's shroud of Turin. What blessed miracles has this humble cloth witnessed? Such a relic is almost too precious to touch.

Working together we have discovered some interesting variations in work practices. We have had the occasional visit from Iris Krunkle (Helen's dear old well-meaning but absent-minded friend); we have discovered a delicious contrast in the neat, careful and ordered precision of Jean's process in stark comparison to the awe-struck horror inspired by Naomie's plunge into creative chaos where she manages by some miracle of paint to smear every surface in sight - and amazingly - including some quite well out of sight also and that Virginia likes a bit of cucumber & confessional. No, not linked. Cucumber (eat). Confessional (confess secrets, but not about cucumbers). Sorry if this disappoints.

Until next week...when Virginia intervenes