Streched

May Bente Aronsen 
Stretched is made of wool felt material that is very stable and strong, and it can be cut without anything unravelling or breaking. 
 
The motif was first sketched as a graphic drawing and then transferred to textile.  
 
You can't decide everything in advance – the material also has its own will. 
 
The transition process is very challenging, because, transferring a drawing to textile, and cutting away all the spaces, results in the material becoming very fragile. 
I often do that with textiles, or materials – I push it to the limit before it can’t go any further, before it sort of collapses. So, in a way, it’s purely technical that I have cut away all the spaces between the lines, so there is air. And that airiness is important – the translucency, or transparency, is very important to me. I don't want the textiles I work with to be perceived as dense. I want them to have an openness in them. An airiness. 
 
If we look at this work, it has some vertical lines in it. And the reason why these lines are there... it’s one thing that is visual, but the other is that they are absolutely necessary for the construction of the work. Because if these vertical lines had not held up the rest of the work, then it would have collapsed. So, when you work with textiles or other materials, you have to interact with gravity, because gravity will pull things down.  
 
And that’s why these vertical lines are also included. But… I have put them into a rhythm, where they don’t come at equal intervals all the time, but they are in a kind of different rhythm. 
  
The light comes through a little, but then it gradually opens up towards the centre, where the circle motifs are largest.  
 
So… ornaments often arise quite naturally, in the meeting between lines, or in the meeting between surfaces.Instead of hiding these meetings, you can emphasize them.  
It’s been an inspiration for me when I’ve worked with ornamentation and rhythm – that they come naturally, and that I shouldn’t erase them away. They should be allowed to be there, and I want to emphasize them.