Sunday Letter - November 29th
Good Morning,
Last week every morning I worked in my little studio at home on a big rug. It is nearing completion. I will soon be done. It is the largest piece I have done in a few years. It feels good to be in deep. To be committed. I like it.
I might do another.
Working big is a whole other way of thinking and planning. However it was through working small that I came up with the ideas for this bigger piece. Making small pieces lead me to new ideas, new colour combinations, new compositions. All that matters is that I make. It leads me places I have no idea that I am on my way to. A habit of creating is all you need. I tell you that over and over again my friend because it is my truth. It is one of the things I know. I say it because I want to inspire you to find truth in it as well.
We all have our own simple truths. You have them too. Perhaps they are things your mother or father said. Perhaps they are things you learned from someone else. But you know they are true. I probably carry a dozen of these around with me. They are not old sayings or proverbs, they are more like my own little rules for daily living. They are what I know I need. These truths are ideas that I formed myself or adopted and I try to live by them. Of course, I fail by times, but still I try.
Those truths, the things I believe often come out in these letters to you. Not because I think I know anymore than anyone else but because in writing about them I seek to understand them and myself. Introspection, or self examination has been with me all my life.
I love thinking. I love thinking about thinking. I love listening to good thinkers talk. I love conversation because it brings meaning to life. It is why I love doing my podcast. I get to talk to people about how they create beauty everyday, which is really talking to them about how they create meaning in their lives. Beauty equals meaning, meaning equals beauty, Perhaps that is some of what Keats meant.
I remember my grade eight teacher, Cyril O'Rielly, or Sibby as he was referred to in the community brought in some albums to play for us in English Class. He was teaching the class that lyrics were poetry and that people like Neil Young were not just making background music but they were giving us something to think about, to talk about. The class was so inspired that day. I was so inspired. He was teaching us how to live. He was teaching us that poetry was not something old but that it was also something new. That art was a living thing. That art could be found in your daily life. You just had to look for it.
Over the last two years I have started really taking teaching online more seriously than ever before. I love that I can reach more people. I love that I can help lead people to making art a bigger part of their lives. I have watched the transformation in people and their rugs and it inspires me to teach. And to teach is to do, we all know that this is at the crux of good learning. That to teach creativity, art, and rug hooking, you must be living those things. This means I must live with creativity as one of my core values. This means I must make.
On Friday Morning I decided two things. I would put some of my rugs on sale so that they could be in people's homes and I would start again fresh filling the studio. I had no idea if you wanted them but you did. It made me so happy thank you. I love the idea of these rugs filling your homes and me left here with empty walls to fill. I love thinking of my rugs keeping you company in your homes. I love the idea of not knowing where my new rugs will lead me .
There are still some rugs left. You can see them here. So many sold on Friday that I added a few more to the sale on Saturday & extended it to today. I want them to be on your walls, or warm your floors.
I also decided that 10% of all my sales on Friday would go to local charities. Thank you for your support.
- Angela Davis
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