Locksmith

Yesterday I had planned to finish a sewing project and count that as my AEDM piece. My sewing machine, however, would have none of it. I adjusted and readjusted all the tension knobs, re-threaded and messed with it and still, I kept getting tight stitches on top and a looping tangled mess underneath. After ripping out countless seams, I was ready to throw the machine out in my yard. Fortunately, I can barely lift the thing at the moment so I contemplated asking a volunteer to do the "Singer Fling" for me. Then I realized if I was going to go to the trouble of soliciting a volunteer for that I could just as easily solicit a knowledgable sewing person to help me adjust the damn machine. I did the only thing sensible at that point: emailed my mom.

Meanwhile, using my frustration as fuel, I went ahead and made something else. I rather like it.

"The Locksmith Befriends the Snake" c. 2008 miz annie
(12.5" x 14.5" including frame)

This is a mixed media assemblage on some cool corrugated stuff that came as packing material for some item I can't now recall. I sidestepped the glue wrinkling issue by only using it on the edges of the paper elements and sewing the found objects right through the base cardboard. The frame is an old vintage piece someone tried to strip the paint off of at one point; I like the shabby chic "distressed" look they left when they gave up on it.

Later I remembered some words on transforming anger from a book on which I'd just finished writing a paper:

"While aggressive energy at its most primitive levels can become destructive, in its more evolved form it becomes creative power. Many spiritual leaders have warned against despising or deprecating aggression, pointing to the consequent dangers of helplessness and resignation. Rama Krishna, for example, used to narrate the story of an incredibly fierce and venomous snake. One day this snake met a sage and, overpowered by the latter's gentleness, lost its ferocity. The sage advised it to stop hurting people, and the snake resolved to live a life of innocence, without harming anyone.

"But as soon as the people in a nearby village realized that the snake wasn't dangerous anymore, they started to throw stones at it, to drag it by the tail and tease it in innumerable ways. The snake was having a very hard time. Luckily, the sage passed by the place again, and after seeing how badly battered the snake was and listening to its complaints, he simply said, "My friend, I told you to stop hurting people -- I didn't tell you never to hiss at them and scare them away." Rama Krishna concludes, "There is no harm in 'hissing ' at wicked men and at your enemies, showing that you can protect yourself and know how to resist evil. Only you must be careful not to pour your venom into the blood of your enemy. Resist not evil by causing evil in return."

(from Piero Ferrucci's What We May Be, c. 2001 Tarcher/Penguin