Get out of the Box

Don't put yourself in a Box:


Are you an artist, a craftsman, a fine artist, a fine craftsman, a designer. Is your work high end, low end, or without an end? Or do you have no clue what you are, but know that you love making work and love sharing it with others?


A large driving force behind being a maker, is being willing to get out of the box, to look at things differently, to try new things, to bring a new perspective. So why go through all of the work, and then  work so  hard to label yourself, to fit into some category. 


Call yourself what you want, but most of the people that you're spouting your title off too, don't have a clue what the difference is, and most don't care. They either like and appreciate your work and your process or they don't. They want to know about you, you as a person, they want to know about your process, they want to know about your product, they don't want to know what box you fit into. 


In fact you should make it your goal not to fit into any box. Be uniquely you, be every box. 


But please be who you are, don't try to fit into a mold. The most beautiful and amazing makers blew the walls and the lid off of their box. 

Jo Hamilton has jumped over all kinds of lines, and I for one of grateful!



This is a stop motion video I made to document my process of crocheting one of my larger than life portraits in yarn from start to finish. In my work I use a traditional basic crochet technique taught to me at an early age by my Gran. I work one knot at a time, from the inside out, row by row. In making the crochet portraits I always begin in the middle with the eyes and work out from there until the piece is completed. I work directly from photographs, using no sketches, graphs or computer imaging. Each piece is instinctively composed, handmade, labour-intensive. Nothing is planned ahead; I make it up as I go along. I spend a lot of time simply looking, unraveling, and reworking until I get it right. To make this video I photographed the work after each new yarn colour or two was added, and edited the photos into a sequence. This 30 second sequence contains over 300 photos of the work in progress. The portrait is of my dear friend Arthur Cheesman, who is sadly no longer with us. Music by Aikamusic/Goldcard.


See more of her amazing work here: http://www.johamiltonart.com Pin It