wider than the sky

"Wider Than the Sky" - acrylic and ink on paper, 11" x 16".  Ready to frame.  Available here and at Artfinder.


"The brain is wider than the sky"

EMILY DICKINSON

How much can one mind contain?  It has been a glorious week of richly saturated experiences and really. really nice people.  Where am I going to store all this in my head?  Nooks and crannies filled with tidbits and nuggets.  And a delightful story in the most unexpected of places.

I was recently introduced to the rugs of Morocco.  And holy cow, that is a load of scrumptious eye candy.  A couple small rugs snuck into our house...exquisite, vintage pieces which required special pads to be cut for them (hand woven rugs are generally asymmetrical and wonky, which I love.)

Wider Than The Sky

tiny tribal treasure front hall

jewel-tone beauty master bath

So I dutifully made the trek to southeast Portland to RayBurts, which the folks at Kat + Maouche assured me was THE PLACE to go for anything to do with the care of rugs.  Whoa.   A warehouse dedicated to tending our trodden treasures.  What I wasn't prepared for were the three generations of rug wizards in the building, two of which gave me a tour of the facility and even the secret back rooms filled with rare thread and wool collected since the 1960's.  I watched firsthand as a  textile  goddess hand-repaired a Persian (?) beauty.  Rug wizard Matt demonstrated custom rug alterations and design, all of which take place on a massive floating wood floor which has been marked in grids for easy measuring.  The floor holds the blade markings of a million rugs, I think.  It is deeply scored and beautiful...like an ancient crone.

rug wizard Matt at work on the massive floating wood floor

wool thread from around the world

​I watched environmentally friendly rug cleaning and drying, and was ASTONISHED by the complete lack of any chemical odor in the building. NO WAY!  And I put my hands into tubs of rug cuttings from all around the world, painstakingly sorted and labeled as spare parts just in case a client needed a patch to match their own woven heirloom.  It made me feel a little better about my own paper hoarding.  You never know when you will need that tiny scrap.

What a joy to meet a family of textile whisperers!  A local business, filled with pride and craftsmanship, generations old, and so friendly and generous with their time and knowledge.  Which do I appreciate more - vintage Moroccan rugs or the people who tend them?  Good thing I don't have to choose.  :)
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