Musings

I am very wary of the word 'spirituality' - it so often seems self-indulgent, or arrogant, or pompous, to speak of one's work or life in those terms. 'Creativity' is very nearly as bad. But in going to Emily's workshop last week I had to articulate how I feel about felt-making, especially, in that regard.

The reason I became instantly addicted to felt making was the alchemy, the magic, the transformative process which starts with a pile of random fibres and very quickly - through the addition of nothing more complicated that water, soap and friction - creates a strong, durable and beautiful piece of textile. There seems to me to be an added dimension at work here - not only is the end result marvelous out of all proportion to the materials and effort involved, but also however much we plan a piece of work, the very nature of felt making contains a random element which means that things rarely turn out quite how we planned - although the result is generally as beautiful, if not more so. Arguably, therein lies the real creativity - the openness to the 'random' life-force that creates through us, the corrective against tendencies towards perfectionism and over-control, the acknowledgement that we are part of a greater whole, and that our creativity is part of a greater movement - that in being creative, we align ourselves with that which is outside ourselves, and greater than ourselves. As a Christian, I would perhaps talk in terms of the Holy Spirit being at work - but I think this is a sense which a lot of makers and artists - of all creeds and none - relate to, and articulate in some way.

Unfortunately, articulating it doesn't make me feel any more comfortable about those words, nor do they seem any less pompous and self-indulgent! Sorry...