The Art of Kintsugi: Mending with Gold

During our apprenticeship year, Suzanne and Becky and I talked about the art of Kintsugi as a concept we might explore in our hooking. As it turned out, I hooked something small, an experiment.

By way of definition, Kintsugi is the art of mending broken things with gold. I'd seen images, like the one at left, where a pottery bowl had been mended with gold, adding value to the broken item. If we mend with glue, the item will forever be less valuable than it was before it was broken and mended. But I love this concept as a metaphor for all kinds of things that could become MORE valuable for having been broken and healed.

Sorry I cannot attribute this broken and mended casting--I'll keep trying to find the original artist.

I started thinking about what I could hook to illustrate this idea:

• a person? Maybe a self-portrait, to show that a life can be stronger, like a broken bone that is stronger where it was healed than it was before it broke.

• a home? I might depict a house and show its fractures mended with gold, a metaphor for the ruptures within families, and hopefully, the re-unions.

• the planet? this would be a hopeful image of the earth surviving the many threats to its continued existence or at best, the threats to human habitability of the earth

I ended up choosing to "break" and mend the Statue of Liberty, originally entitled "Liberty Enlightens the World." Here's what she has always meant to me:

• She was a gift from our ally, France, so she is a symbol of our strong relationships with long-term allies abroad.

• She is the emblem of our country's acceptance of people who are seeking a new life. At her base is the message: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

• Her title, "Liberty Enlightens the World" suggests that the ideals of this country are a guiding light to other democracies and countries.

My little rug, Kintsugi, is only 12 inches square.

I imagine that every citizen of the US believes or has believed that our beloved country is or was broken in some way. I intend this image as a hopeful one, suggesting resilience.

From a technical perspective, I looked at a photo and freehanded a drawing of the face of Lady Liberty. Notice the image of my drawing below--I'm not a great artist when it come to drawing freehand! On the linen, I also drew her freehand, but then I looked at the reference photo again while hooking.

Doesn't this just demonstrate how important the hooking part is--the part where we hook what we see? My very inadequate drawing on linen gave me a guide, but I used that reference photo (not shown) for the shadows and highlights that give her dimension and depth. We can never forget the power of hooking what we see.

Thank you for reading my Noodlings today, friends, and Happy Hooking!