TAKING A FRESH LOOK AT SAMPLERS

I have been struggling over the last week or so with regards to refining my research project.  I need to have a clear idea of what it is I am wanting to find out.  Claire, a new friend here in Whitianga, prayed for me this morning for guidance and clarity.  A couple of hours later when I was heading off somewhere else, I had a clear impression that I needed to call in at the library.  For someone who loves books, this presented a problem - if I am on my way somewhere, how can I "quickly" call in at the library, where the norm for me is to spend several hours at a time!  Anyway I decided to go with the impression and right at the front door there was the reason . . . a trolley of books for sale - $1 each - and two of them nearly jumped out at me.  

The first is Mau Mahara, Our Stories in Craft, which is a lavishly illustrated book celebrating 150 years of Maori and Pakeha craft in New Zealand.  The second one is Stitchery and Needle Lace, a collection of ideas from all around the world previously published in Threads magazine, full of embroidery samplers and exotic stitiching.  What a treat for me!  I feel a renewed sense of excitement about my project.  The word sampler is derived from the French word exemplair meaning a kind of model or pattern to copy or imitate. Basically they are ways of recording patterns and motifs to pass information or stories from person to person and generation to generation.  

Maybe I can re-invent the embroidery sampler using muka and threads and tell the story of my life? Maybe it can tell of my experience of learning to weave?  Maybe it can tell of the blending of an English-influenced upbringing and the experience of participating in a Maori art learning programme?  

It's got me thinking . . .