About a year ago I wrote about Woven Poem, a project by Marieke Gelissen. The question was if I could weave 24 lines of a poem to complete her woven basket. That was a year ago and then…. silence. Those who follow my dailies on Instagram occasionally saw some letters or a word. Anyone who reads the Dutch Magazines WEVEN or Métier has seen a nice article. But apart from that…
Until now! Yesterday the exhibition “A Child in A Cradle” opened at Van Zijll Langhout Gallery in Amsterdam. And of course I went there to see the end result. Marieke has made a lovely story of it. The basket with the Woven Poem attached to it is of course the main eye-catcher, hanging in the middle of the gallery. In addition, there is a large photo of the poem as a whole, historical photos about the use of baskets, an audio recording with a fairy tale about a basket… Beautiful!
So my thoughts went bak to last summer, when we had to weave the bands with 6 weavers in total. We had so much fun weaving together on a large project. Marlies, who had to wait a week for PostNL, but then got yarn. Annemieke who still has a set of pink cards because the wool she used. Arina, who will never weave with 16/2 cotton again (I think). Marion, who had her first experience of weaving on a table loom. Karoline designed a lot of exciting borders. And I found out that I forgot a word, when I was trying to find a reason for the very short band. But everything turned out just as beautiful and a lot of pictures appeared on our Whatsapp group.
It was also interesting to follow the process of Marieke Gelissen. Applying for funding, finding a place for the exhibition, the timing of publications. And of course, the way in which Marieke has managed to turn a basket with bands into a story is really great.
So if you are in Amsterdam, don’t forget to visit Van Zijll Langhout!
A CHILD IN A CRADLE
13 May to 18 June 2023
Van Zijll Langhout Gallery, Brouwersgracht 161, Amsterdam
Open: Wednesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. tot 5 p.m.
Picture by Gert Jan van Rooij