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The Saga of the Green Man (pt1)

Some projects just take time.  They are never going to fulfill any need I might have for instant gratification.  The Green Man tapestry has been one of those.

I started this project back in August 2012.  My goal at the time was to have him completed for the February 2013 Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild annual wall hangings exhibit at the University of Michigan’s Power Center for the Performing Arts.
Click on the links to read about the process:
designing – preparing the loom – the cartoon – weaving –  the face – the eyes –  taking longer than anticipated.  

By mid January it was clear that I would not be able to have him ready.  And so it was…. the Green Man looked on as other projects, deadlines, commissions, and life events took center stage.  [see the blog archives]  For 9 months he patiently watched and waited.

weaving room

FINALLY… 1 year after I started him, I was able to once again turn my attention to the Green Man.  One of the skills I worked on during the AWSD summer school tapestry course in Carmarthen, Wales [see September 2013 blog postings] was beating/packing down the weaving.  Looking at it now, I could see that yup…. my packing was pretty loose so I began to compress.

before

before

The result = the tapestry was now 3″ shorter!

after

after

Also at this point I could see that my warp tension was pretty wonky and I would not be able to easily correct this = OOPS!!!  I now had major decision to make:
Do I chuck all that I’ve done so far… cutting my losses (literally!) and start over?
Or do I continue on and see what happens?

Thoughts for Father’s Day

dad in the lab   Gene Schutz (circa 1973)

I have no memories of ever thinking Dad looked deformed.  He was just ‘dad’.  To me what was strange were the pictures of him when he was young – like the basketball picture from his high school yearbook.  There he was – standing tall, poised, ready to shoot, both arms extended… and equal length.  You see the man I knew did not have matching arms.  His right arm was 3” shorter.  There was no elbow and the arm fused in a bent position.  The right arm I knew… had a hand that was brown and tan but arm itself was pasty white in color, soft with no muscle tone, cold to the touch and covered by a road map of scars from multiple surgeries.

I have lots of memories of watching him get ready in the morning.  Being a small child looking up – dad wearing dark trousers and a white, short sleeve, crew neck t-shirt.  He would slip a cotton knit tube over his right arm, slide the arm into the opened topped hard protective cuff he always wore, and set the tongue in place.  Using his left hand, he would weave the laces back and forth, both at the same time, hooking them on the prongs, securing the tongue in place – like lacing up a boot.  Then using his left hand and his teeth, he would flip those laces around tying a perfect bow.  All of this took well under 10 seconds.  Next he’d put on a short sleeve dress shirt, buttoned with his left hand, and tucked in.  He would whistle as he’d place the tie around his neck.  And again, using only his left hand, toss the ends around tying a perfect Windsor knot.  He’d put on a sport coat, pick up his large, leather school satchel, and head out the door to walk the block and 2 houses up the hill to the high school.

It was common knowledge in my family that during WWII he lost his right elbow due to shrapnel and because of this… well, he just did things differently, that’s all… no big deal.

He was 22 when he was wounded… and completely right-handed.  It took 2 years of surgeries, physical and occupational therapy to transfer all his right-hand abilities to his left.  By the time he was mustered out in June of 1947, he was able to do anything with his left hand that he had ever done with his right – and he could do it just as well.

The occupational therapy involved knitting, embroidery, hand stitching, and tatting.  One of things that won Mom’s heart when they were dating was the long-legged, long-armed, jester doll he made for her.  “Willie” hung on the door of my parent’s bedroom for 50 years.