Hanging by a Thread

I must admit that I have a pretty good collection of spools of thread, both vintage (just for fun) and a variety of sewing, quilting, and embroidery threads. To me, threads are like tubes of paint just sitting there waiting for me to create something wonderful from them. Thread serves many purposes other than just being pretty to look at, our clothes, quilts and art projects would simply fall apart if there were no thread in the seams holding them together. It’s not something that you spend a lot of time thinking about, sort of like the nails that hold your house together. However, I saw thread in a whole new light on a recent visit to the North Carolina Museum of Art.

This work of art, After the Mona Lisa 2 ,created by Devorah Sperber was created using 5,184 spools of thread. To get the full effect of the image you must look through the glass sphere. The description which accompanies this piece states, “Viewing the work through the sphere mimics peripheral vision, turning the image right side up and shrinking it to a recognizable size.”

Simply amazing! 

  You can see the spool detail a little better from the side view…

 

 

And here’s the view from the sphere…