Textile art – a family affair

Driving down the road from Chopin’s birthplace, one cannot stop thinking about the music and its connection to the landscape and landform and how it captures the essence of the countryside gently unfolding in front of the viewer. Small villages and townships, matured, twisted and curved willow trees and the scent of falling autumn leaves was filling up the air.   

The arrival at the local artist’s studio could not come soon enough. Welcomed by the artist’s young grandkids we started the studio’s and practice exploration and as it turned up it is a truly a family affair!

Loved light and bright coloured fabrics that were filling up the artist’s space, giving strong clues of  Anna Sławińska’s textile passion and interests. Numerous pieces were showcasing textile and visual journey and explorative nature of this once engineer, textile artist.

 But this visit came with a twist…meeting the artist’s young grandchildren was a delightful experience. Learning about their creative pursuits was a true bonus but twelve years old Stefan’s creative passion and his first textile 110cm x110cm quilt, created jointly with his grandma, came not only as a surprise and but a true inspiration! The piece’s size and its graphical complexity certainly created an amazing “wow” factor!

When asked about this joint project, young Stefan explained “loved being with grandma, and doing what she loves to do…doing textile artwork”.  

“At first I was a bit apprehensive”, explained young man, “but then it became fun, and it was a great experience to draw and design the piece and then use sawing machine to create it”. No doubt, his younger sister will follow his steps sooner then later.  

Admiring this young creative joyful experience, there was no doubt in my mind that he not only was getting to know his grandma, was having the most enjoyable, creative experience, but most importantly he was gaining and developing priceless life and creative skills…what a very fortunate young boy!

His creative journey has just only started…cannot wait to see what this power charged grandma/grandchildren team will create in not too distant future!

What a great inspiration…next time you are catching up with friends or family, perhaps making something together might be an option? Looking forward to checking on their creative progress and what they will be tackling next!

Experience Poland