Stefani - Woven Greek Flower Garland

Stefani - Woven Greek Flower Garland






Day, Carole Ann (2012) Stefani :  Honeysuckle, Ivy, White Daisies, Corn

The Stefani is a woven flower garland from Greek folklore and tradition, which has become part of my personal mythology. Every Maytime Greek women gather white daisies from the hedgerows and weave them into a garland with other vegetation such as ivy, grasses and cyress leaves. They hang them from their front doors to welcome the beginning of summer and to invite love into their homes and into their lives.

The Stefani becomes a powerful cultural object, an enduring symbol and potent metaphor for new life, renewal and the cycle of the seasons.

Last summer a sea of white daisies appeared on my lawn inviting me to make Stefani once again.

  

To weave:

To make cloth, tapestry, basketwork etc. by crossing threads, strands, strips etc. above and below one another; to interlace (e.g.: threads in a loom to form cloth); to depict (figures, a story, etc.) in woven work; to combine, mingle or work together into a whole; to introduce (an ingredient or element) subtly (into something); to construct, fabricate or contrive.

We weave, fold, layer, wrap, cover, uncover, reveal and embellish with the materials we use. Like many women, I have engaged in making things out of material, cloth and threads of cotton, silk or wool from an early age. These domestic pursuits are usually seen as craft rather than fine art, but any artist will use techniques and materials familiar to them in making their work; in modern and contemporary art textiles have become one of the many new materials used in creating works of sculpture, drawing, installations and performance.

Weaving can be executed  with many different materials, not just threads of cotton or wool, rope or string. In my Stefani I have used creeping plants and flower stalks to create sculptural pieces.



Day, Carole Ann (2012) Withered Stefani Detail :  Honeysuckle, Ivy, White Daisies, Corn

 

The Stifani is an object of folklore, a garland that is traditionally hung on a front door, much like a Christmas wreath. But as a sculptural object in a gallery, whilst retaining this original identity, it takes on new allusions. In Limbo I hung two pieces from a horizontal girder, one fresh, the other withering, referencing time, transformation and decay.  The oval shape suggests a frame or a mirror, but empty, a space through which the viewer can gaze. The opposing concepts of fragility and strength also reside in the piece, the structure is made of fragile strands of vegetation, nothing else holds them together but their own interweaving, and yet their construction is incredibly strong and durable. As the vegetation withers it becomes brittle and yet the tiniest strand of flower stalk and head survive intact. It looks vulnerable but is incredibly resilient. By its very nature it must be hung.



Stefani exhibited in Limbo Arts Gallery for Access 10 exhibition: June 2012

I continued to experiment with Stefani throughout the Summer in my studio space. I hung them in various ways, encased them in plaster and combined them with other elements attempting to incorporate them in a larger installation. Nothing really worked that well.

 

Day, Carole Ann (2012) Installation with Stefani, Plinth and String

For a time I turned to other hanging forms in my making but kept the idea for future development, waiting for the Spring time to try something new with the Stefani.