curiosities of life is what people will spend time creating.
I spent most of yesterday at the show grounds doing my part as a "steward" for the upcoming Royal Show. It is the 175th year of the event and people had been encouraged to make a special effort to enter in all areas.
I work in the area known as Open Art and Craft which involves accepting entries on the day of judging, helping with the judging and then putting up the display in cabinets. It was, as always, a frantically busy day.
There was also the usual range of awful to lovely in the entries.
And, "awful" does not matter. No, it really does not matter. Why? People have tried. They have had the courage to enter. Some of them will try again. They will learn from the experience. They will, usually, have done the very best they can do on that occasion. Next time, if they try again, they will do better.
And there are other people who enter things and you wonder how they could possibly do better. There were two lovely entries from the same person last year, socks and mittens. Both won first prize in the relevant sections. How could that person improve? She did by coming up with another exquisite pair of socks. They were so good people crowded around to look.
There was an amazing baby blanket that turned into a poncho, into a toy racing "car" (complete with steering wheel) and a play mat - designed by the knitter.
There were two incredibly fine garments with the most intricate colour work - again, designed by the knitter. The hours of work that must have gone into those were something we could barely contemplate.
All this, from the awful to the amazing, will be on display throughout the show period. I wonder what people will think as they look. Many of them will just wander past with no great interest, others will look with interest. Some people will stop and admire and yet others will have some understanding of what went into the making of something.
And, in the end, what matters will be that people have participated. They will have created something.
We need more people to do that.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I was not well this year and failed to put any of my work into the local show, and still feel a bit guilty! I missed seeing all the good and the bad, - yes - and the ugly too! It really does matter that people put time and care into producing the best that they can. We should celebrate that.
No, don't feel guilty - just think "next year "!
I would like to put things in but can't if I act as a steward!
Post a Comment