This is an exploration of the designs and constructs that are possible through the juxtaposition of straight lines. I suppose my earliest memory of this fascination would come from a book by Norton Juster called “The Dot and The Line. A Romance in Lower Mathematics”. My memory of the book carries the most joy, but there exists a delightful, and quite faithful animation of the book directed by Chuck Jones.
My first foray into this medium came a few years after College when I was living near my parents house in a sixteen foot trailer outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. I had an inordinate amount of time on my hands and the availability of my father’s tools and work space. I created a huge piece much like Rose except there was no center ring and fewer petals. It was made with notched wood rather than screws, was a foot larger on a side and took Months to complete. It was impossible to keep it in my trailer, my parents home had no room to display anything that large and so I negotiated with a local stereo repair shop who had a large empty display window, to take it on consignment. They gladly accepted it, unfortunately, one week before they had a fire of questionable origin. Even though the fire was in the back of the store, the heat did its work on my tender threads. I still hold the image of slightly blackened wood with draping wisps of charred thread and great regret that I did not keep it and use the changed color as inspiration..
I was not to attempt it again for 40 years.
Now I approach my art with a more educated eye. While my work is far from fireproof, I have thought to put them in box frames, purely because the thought that dusting one of these pieces unenclosed would be a terribly dangerous proposition, not to think of the rather temporary joy they would give to small pets.
So here I welcome you, and offer the creations of my eye. I hope they are as captivating to you as they are for me, and that you will enjoy my exploration of what is possible with curves made from straight lines of Thread Upon Threads.
Rob Monroe