The Importance of Being Ernest

I am prepping for putting my Deception Pass Canvas up for auction starting Monday, March 16th. Half of the proceeds will go to an Orca conservation non-profit in Seattle.

I know a lot of my social media peeps will know that I am interested in whales and ocean conservation because I JUST WON'T STOP POSTING ALL THOSE DAMN WHALE VIDEOS!!!

What you may not know is that my birthday present for my 7th birthday (or there abouts) was a membership in Greenpeace. When I was a little bit older, I got a certificate from Greenpeace for writing them a lengthy letter about my experiences with lugging my tape recorder into the Michigan woods to play the birds the songs of the humpback whale and noting their response. (Note to future researchers, Michigan songbirds LOVE the songs of the humpback whale. Tippy Hedren had NOTHING on me!)

When life seemed inexplicable as a kid, I buried myself in the cetacean section of the library. I learned the facts and the science and formulated confusion into order. I wanted to study whales and the ocean called to me.

I got a little older and made my way out to the Gulf of Maine where I followed whales around in a little Zodiac raft and learned the absolute beauty of knowing that I was tiny in the face of absolute majesty. I then sailed in the merchant marine where I would be rewarded, on occasion, with seeing the marine life from my "office window".

I then later found myself on the shores of the greatest inland sea, Lake Superior. As one of my marine ship handling instructors stated "It's just like an ocean, but it doesn't smell right". Lake Superior will always be my secret mistress.

After awhile, I made my way out to the Pacific Northwest. Whenever I felt the world was out of control, I could, in the words of John Masefield, "Go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky...". The Pacific Northwest will always be the home that I am homesick for.

My Deception Pass canvas was a recognition of that "home away from home" and a deep and abiding love for the creatures that dwell there. I hope that folks who are interested in my art and the story behind it, will watch my social media spaces.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQAswwHoM0o

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coral_knits/?hl=en

Twitter https://twitter.com/ChristyHarkness

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy2ekEL6u8TR8mUaza6nkJA

Hejira: The Latest Journey

I am terrible at keeping this blog updated but I actually have a reason to update it as I have received the Northern Art Council’s Emerging Artist of 2020 award.

I have been secretly harboring the idea of creating a huge piece and having it hung in the Pacific Visions art exhibition at the Aquarium of the Pacific. I wrote for the grant with this project in mind and now I have the financial means to actually make a piece impressive enough.

I received notice of the grant on a Friday and spent the next two days furiously finishing my Deception Pass Canvas. As soon as I dropped it off at the framers, I started to plot and plan.

My next canvas is six feet by three feet and will be called "Hejira". It will be an extreme close up of a humpback whale. The hope is to have this one canvas continue onto a second canvas stationed below which will be primarily a coral reef. The viewer will look directly into the eye of the humpback as it swims past. The eye will be kind but also challenging. What are you going to do to to fix the many issues threatening my world?

I have been fascinated with the word Hejira for decades. It comes from the Muslim tradition and means a journey or a migration, usually from a place of danger to a place of safety.

I hope to have it done in a year, which is a tall order. Stay tuned!

Trees Near and Far

Now the fun begins. The perspective of this piece is from the hiking trail looking down the cliff to the beach below. This was the first hiking trail that I walked on after coming to Washington State and I distinctly remember pausing at this exact spot and having my breath taken away.

I recently saw a photo from someone visiting Deception Pass that had this exact view of this island and I had to stop and laugh because I recognized it immediately

Creating the Douglas Fir, the Cedar and the small trees in the distance takes me back there in my mind. I can smell the sea air and the deep green trees.

The Beach at Deception Pass

My current freeform canvas is of one of my favorite places. Deception Pass State Park in Washington State was a place that I took my dogs for a romp on the beach or where I went for a little self care from a stressful job. I was a few weeks into this project when I realized it was about more than just remembering a favorite place. Both of my dogs had to be put down earlier this year and I think it has something to do with remembering my time with them as well.

This canvas is the same size as the Coral Canyon but in landscape mode. This was the first time that I had sketched out how I wanted it all to look even before I got the canvas.

Deception Pass is notorious for its swirling currents which I wanted to capture.

Once again, creating the background is incredibly fun even though the majority of it will be covered.

Coral Reef Part Deux

Visions for a second coral reef canvas started dancing in my head as my room sized installation started dragging me down. I believe it was when I started knitting my Sperm Whale that my freeform crochet finger started itching. Once one consistently creates outside of the rules, it is extremely hard to go back.

I bought a bigger canvas (36 x 48) and started anew.

My idea for this canvas is to move, as a viewer, through a coral reef canyon. I'm hoping to add perspective which will be a challenge since I physically lack depth perception.

I warped the canvas as before but wove the warp and weft strands together in order to establish a bit more stability. I also brought in several elements that I had created for the room sized installation.

The red barnacles were created from some lovely hand spun that didn't quite have the stamina to stand up to their barnacle-ness so I ended up felting them and connecting them into a single piece.

The background is freeform crochet and knitting which eventually gets covered up, for the most part. I did attempt to add coral pieces directly onto the warp and weft threads but it lacked stability. Yes, it is a lot of work to create a background that is mostly hidden but I did take a short cut for the bottom of the canvas. In an area that I knew would be completely covered, I simply crocheted straight rows and eventually made a small piece that would be the exposed canyon.

Hyperbolic shapes are my favorite to make. When I start to search the internet for coral reef photos and new ideas for critters on the reef, I can get utterly sidetracked just looking at all of the hyperbolic shapes that a coral can take.

When it comes to creating the critters on the reef, I usually search through online images, decide whether knitting or crochet would be the best medium, and figure out the best way to represent them in the world of the reef. Should they be swimming? Hiding? Acting like a boss (see Lionfish)? Just tootling along and minding their own business? A lot of personality can come out in where they are placed and what they are doing.

The Germ of an Idea

I've always been fascinated with the ocean world. My first grade teacher, Mrs. Clarke, showed us reel to reel films of The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and I remember being absolutely mesmerized. By the time I was seven, I knew I wanted to be a marine biologist. When I turned nine, I received a membership to Greenpeace for my birthday. I would spend Saturdays immersed in books at the library, filling notebooks and creating charts about ocean depth, salinity, decompression times and whale species.

I moved to Maine to attend the Maritime Academy but after awhile, I transferred to the University of Maine to study marine science. I was caught between the tug of adventure and the quest for knowledge. When my aunt who raised me died from cancer, I needed to drop out of school and get a job. I ended up joining the merchant marine in the deck department and I sailed the South China Seas.

Throughout this time, I was knitting. I started when I was nine or ten using an old Coats and Clark knitting pamphlet from the 50's. No one in my family was a knitter or a fiber crafter of any kind. I have no idea where that pamphlet came from or where I even heard about knitting. My aunt wasn't inclined to invest in my new found hobby so I sharpened two pencils and found some garden twine and I taught myself to knit. Now I see people watching videos online and it makes me so happy that their journey is at least a little easier to start.

It wasn't until I hit my late twenties or early thirties that I started to knit unusual things. I began playing around with crochet (also self-taught), and I crocheted a brain. I also knitted a digestive system, a Medusa hat (complete with snakes with beaded eyes), hand grenades and pies. As someone who has always had a bit of an oppositional personality, creating strange things out of beautiful fibers was a healthier way to scratch that itch.

I don't remember when I first saw hyperbolic crochet or how the Institute for Figuring was creating amazing coral reefs from fiber, I just know that when I moved to Washington State and started to walk the beaches, touch the water, examine the tide pools and play with the seaweed, I knew that I had to funnel my inspiration into my fiber art.

I do recall seeing a sign at an art supply store on Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor one day and when I went in, I found a 30 x 40 canvas for 50% off. Having never painted, I wasn't quite sure how I would incorporate my canvas into fiber art but I had just purchased a small rigid heddle loom at a fiber festival in Canada and weaving was starting to intrigue me. I decided to warp the canvas and weave a background with an ocean theme.