Keeping the Main Message Clear
During Luminato, I went to see my friend Caitlin Erskine-Smith’s stunning handwoven piece on display. Caitlin uses textiles to explore communication and interwoven messages, sometimes painting different texts onto both the warp and weft thread, and then weaving them together in a way that symbolizes how, in an onslaught of communication and interwoven messages, meanings are obscured and the important messages get lost.
Luminato Box - Writing Down the Gauntlet - Caitlin Erskine-Smith
It’s a grand metaphor for the busy lives we’re living, and for the numerous messages we receive and send about what’s important. I’ve had so many coaching conversations around prioritization, as clients work towards balancing their lives in a way that makes sure the things that are important to them don’t get lost in the shuffle. I see weekly coaching conversations as a way to make sure that your main messages – the things that are most important to you – don’t get obscured amidst the busy, action-filled, information-flooded lives we’re living. Coaching is about bringing your main messages front and centre in your life.
Caitlin added a clarification about how this piece of art was created: in this piece, the weft is not painted. Rather, the warp is made up of two layers of text which are bound/woven together with the warp threads.
Complicated, and beautiful!