| Subject | : | The Boteh Symphony |
| Author | : | Steve Price |
| Date | : | 05-10-2000 on 10:29 a.m. |
| sprice@hsc.vcu.edu Dear Daniel, To my eyes, the little boteh rug is about as pleasantly good natured as rugs get. That seems to be one of the aesthetic characteristics that attracts me; I see it in sculpture and masks of the Cameroon grasslands, and in the music of Haydn, too, and have particular weaknesses for them. Your analogy to music reminds me that Jon Thompson described weaving by Turkmen women as being very much like playing musical instruments from memory. They seem not to have to pay too much attention to what their fingers are doing, and being engaged in conversations while weaving doesn't appear to even slow them down. Steve Price |
| Subject | : | RE:The Boteh Symphony |
| Author | : | R. John Howe |
| Date | : | 05-11-2000 on 07:32 p.m. |
| Dear Steven et al - Your comment about lack of attention actually being conducive to good weaving has a lot a parallels in many skill areas. For years in job training, it was known that bookkeeping machine operators (I wonder what they do now) would never get very good at their jobs unless they learned to daydream while operating the machines. Conscious thought about what one is doing actually does interfere with the full-speed performance of many skills. Try it sometime when you're swinging a tennis racket or a golf club. Weaving seems a good candidate with some weavers tying 10,000 knots a day. Regards, R. John Howe |