Lenka's Way of LaceJune Solstice 2022
The summer season is officially here and summer weather is apparently on time, arriving in Vancouver this weekend. Finally! It’s been a long wait for the bright and warm sunshine.
I plan to continue working on a lace sculpture for the last red cedar driftwood frame from Colin Hamilton of Thuja Wood Art. Colin and I have collaborated on four sculptures so far, with Colin designing the original frames allowing me fill them with metal lace. It’s been a very special project which inspired me to take the lace art into new territory. Most of my previous works had been firmly connected to great European tradition that started five hundred years ago and carried the Renaissance ideals of beauty and harmony of material and spiritual dimensions of human existence.
Colin’s unusual creations reflecting his deep connection to the West Coast nature, invited me to traverse the big divide and use my beloved technique to manifest a completely different energy. It was quite an amazing experience seeing each piece taking shape reminiscent of nature and it’s cycles, while using symbols similar to the ancient cultures of North America.
I talked about it with my friend, an artist who – like many creative people on this continent – had been struggling to find an original expression in the seemingly irreconcilable influences in the modern Canadian society. She listened and simply said, “You have arrived.” We both knew that this “arrival” happened twenty years after I actually landed. Some things just take long, very long time… And they are well worth the wait.
Thus the last frame from Colin’s original batch have been sitting in my studio, year after year, standing by patiently. It happens to be my favourite driftwood frame, because it is shaped as a womb that holds a sacred feminine energy. About two years ago, after a substantial gestation period an image of a new work has taken shape, and slowly, very slowly I started to work on the lace. I dedicated the previous winter to fern design, and after that I submerged for almost an entire year to explore the depths of the soil.
Today’s Solstice, marking another zenith of the Sun, is bringing me closer to completing the piece. All it needs now is the power of the Father Sun to unite the earth and heaven in a sublime harmony… Humbly, I will follow, working on long summer days, absorbing the life-giving energy, and rearranging it into a radiant lace pattern. Hopefully, with Sun’s blessing, I will be able to carry out the work to live up to the image in my mind’s eye. If it’s successfull, I will share it with you.
Wishing you all wonderfully creative summer!
And equally amazing winter to all lacemakers in Southern Hemisphere, because each season can bring something new if we are attuned…
Happy lacemaking to all!
Lenka's Way of Lace 
Everything you put your hand to is a beautiful success Lenka. I recall bringing Stella T. To visit you and your early works of art in Vancouver. Wow to your latest beauties.
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Hello Johanna,
Wonderful to hear from you! Thank you for reminding the old times, when the world was open to many possibilities. And people like you and Stela T. accepted the crazy idea of metal lace and made it possible for the crazy lacemaker to expand boundaries of the medium in commissioned works. I remain grateful for your patronage.
Your kind comment is only probable because you never saw the projects that failed. There were many, due to the experimental nature of my wire lace work. Only through trial and error I was able to find the way. And I will keep exploring as long as I make lace!
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