jaye swain responds to Quilted Collage (2022) and Black Gold (2023) by Kalila Jones.
hey kalila, can i borrow your whimsy?
“now how is a nigga gonna borrow some whimsy?
nigga is you gonna give it back??” heheheh maybe
but seriously tho… kalila, tysm1 for sharing your whimsy !
your silly, your mirth, your exuberant joviality, your joy !
i have such a deeply entrained pattern of falling into
the overwhelming desire for purely logical and rational
decision making in my making and crafting processes
i am naturally a lover of systems and regularity.
i like minimalism and restricting my color palettes.
i like grids that have consistent sets of parallel lines,
i like symmetry, i like even spacing, i like order
and we relate on that in life generally. you also have
your systems, your regimens and routines that keep you
grounded and feeling stable in what’s now and what’s next
but in your making, i feel a distinctive approach emerge
it’s your… w h i m s y y y ｡･.・゜* : *･ﾟ★
“yknow what your problem is?” “what?”
“you got it set to *m* for mini, when it should be
set to *w* for whimsy”
“…patrick i don’t think whimsy is a real word”
“c’monnn you know!
i whimsy, you whimsy, he she me, whimsy.
whimsy! whimsy-ing! … whimsology––
the study of whimsy?! its first grade, spongebob”
it’s the way you let yourself have fun in your work.
all your choices are thoroughly considered, but
your creativity seems to flow from a much more
unrestricted place.
that’s not to say there's not
a logic inherent to your work, cause there is.
there’s a reason why you use teal and purple
together (they’re your favorite colors, in that order)
there’s a reason you compliment that teal with
orange and brown, and the purple with yellow
there’s a reason you sneak in references to your worlds
of birbizaurs2 and imbue phrases like “gentle breaths,”
“pleasure,” “wrapped around my finger” into your
pieces in handwritten notes you’ve sewn in
i feel like your world is a refreshing invitation to
not to forget how fundamental playing is in life
so thanks for that reminder. love you very much friend
— jaye swain
1 thank you-u-u so mu-uchh… very very niiii(c)e
2 birbizaur (n.) :
a (taxonomical) family of fantastical monotreme3 chimeral4 creatures that occupy the thalamus, medial prefrontal cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex5 of @kalilacrochet. while all birbizaurs have wings, only some species of birbizaur are capable of sustained flight
3 monotremes are mammals of the order monotremata. they are the only group of living mammals that lay eggs, rather than bearing live young (i.e. platypuses6 and echidnas)
4 chimeral (adj.)
- relating to, derived from, or being a genetic chimera; containing tissue with two or more genetically distinct populations of cells (usually chimeric)
- existing only as the product of unchecked imagination; fantastically visionary
5 accordinging to this harvard medical school publication, these three areas in the brain where dreams come from
6 or platypi? or platypeople? or… well you know what i mean…