Rodney Love's Hair and Socks
The June guest speaker was textile sculptor Rodney Love.
Rodney Love entered COFA as a sculptor but was subverted by Liz Williamson's textile units. His grids and statuettes became stuffed with hair collected from hairdressers — what he calls anonymous hair. He spun this hair into weft and wove it on a cotton warp. He then made paper incorporating the hair of friends and fellow students. This way he could name each hair contributor and create a memorial, of sorts. But he soon discovered hair takes a while to grow and he needed a fabric that was personal to each individual that he could incorporate into his memory/group cloth. Socks were his solution. Many of us have spare socks that can be donated along with a personal story. He has created a kimono of strips cut from white socks and a runner of many subtle colours each tagged with the donors' name.
All these projects will be combined for a masters exhibition. Currently he is weaving bands of individual's hair which make a fascinating sequence of colour blocks. He needs light and red hair to add to his pallette and was eyeing the heads at the meeting. Luckily there were no scissors on hand.
I am currently undertaking a Master of Fine Arts degree at the College of Fine Arts at UNSW. I am working on two textile projects which use donated material — hair and socks. Donations of either are gladly accepted. I spin the hair of each person separately, then weave a section with that person's hair. Then I weave a section using hair of a contrasting colour from a different person. Each weaving is approximately 13x100 cm, and so far I have woven six of them.
The socks weavings are made up of socks that have been cut up into strips, then woven together like a rag rug. I type the names of the donors onto ribbon and weave that in with the sock so that each section can be traced to an individual. These sock weavings will be on the floor and along the walls when I finally exhibit them.
A more detailed description of my projects will be in the annual journal published later this year. If any members are interested in participating in my project, they can send hair and/or socks to:
Rodney Love
PO Box 547
Kings Cross NSW 1340
It is important that I have the names of the people donating the materials, so please write your name clearly and include it in the bag or envelope with your hair or socks. If you include, say, socks from your family members or friends, please keep theirs separate from your own, and include their name(s) as well.