I initially heard this while driving home from work one winter night about two years ago. It is an excellent piece: adroit, crisp and finely textured. And I found that it had insinuated itself within me. The metaphor is powerful. It does not require anything. The deepening hues of the interaction between the artist and the producer overwhelm.
I love the editing of this piece. It's very well structured. There's the narrative beginnig, describing the Materson's situation and how he began embroidering. Then it becomes a conversation. Materson talks with himself. The sound cuts in and out rhythmically and sensually, along with a lovely eerie music. Materson jumps in and out of the interview with the curator, so that they have a discussion, an animated discussion full of interruptions--they echo each other.
I agree with the previous reviewer that the piece seems to end suddenly. I'm not sure I don't like that, though. The whole piece is such a burst of energy, I think it makes sense to suddenly fizzle away. And the last line is very beautiful: "emerging from the chrysalis, much more beautiful than it had been." It's an ending, without being conclusive. It makes me want to learn more.
I think that this piece has a lot of potential. I wish it had been longer. It ended abruptly and I was left wanting to hear so much more. Ray Materson seems to be a lot deeper of a person with a lot more to say than what this piece let’s us hear. Some of the things I really liked about this piece were the way the voices of Ray and some mystery guy kinda overlapped. The mystery guy is gruff and said things like “…butterfly” and then you hear Ray say, so delicately, “…Monarch Butterfly” and the mystery guy says “…escaping from the cocoon” and then Ray says “…emerging from the chrysalis”. It was quite beautiful actually. I would have liked to hear more about Ray’s metamorphosis. What is he doing now? He mentions that he has made this embroidery his work now that is out of prison and I want to know more about that. Beautiful piece, just to short.
Comments for Embroidery Felon
Produced by Jonathan Mitchell
Other pieces by Jonathan Mitchell
Rating Summary
4 comments
David Hallerman
Posted on August 21, 2013 at 03:30 PM | Permalink
tender metaphor
I initially heard this while driving home from work one winter night about two years ago. It is an excellent piece: adroit, crisp and finely textured. And I found that it had insinuated itself within me. The metaphor is powerful. It does not require anything. The deepening hues of the interaction between the artist and the producer overwhelm.
Steven Petersen
Posted on December 30, 2005 at 09:19 AM | Permalink
Review of Embroidery Felon
A nice piece about how a man made the best out of a bad situation.
Jenny Asarnow
Posted on February 23, 2005 at 09:34 PM | Permalink
Review of Embroidery Felon
I agree with the previous reviewer that the piece seems to end suddenly. I'm not sure I don't like that, though. The whole piece is such a burst of energy, I think it makes sense to suddenly fizzle away. And the last line is very beautiful: "emerging from the chrysalis, much more beautiful than it had been." It's an ending, without being conclusive. It makes me want to learn more.
Kari Chapin
Posted on January 21, 2005 at 02:25 AM | Permalink
Review of Embroidery Felon
I think that this piece has a lot of potential. I wish it had been longer. It ended abruptly and I was left wanting to hear so much more. Ray Materson seems to be a lot deeper of a person with a lot more to say than what this piece let’s us hear. Some of the things I really liked about this piece were the way the voices of Ray and some mystery guy kinda overlapped. The mystery guy is gruff and said things like “…butterfly” and then you hear Ray say, so delicately, “…Monarch Butterfly” and the mystery guy says “…escaping from the cocoon” and then Ray says “…emerging from the chrysalis”. It was quite beautiful actually. I would have liked to hear more about Ray’s metamorphosis. What is he doing now? He mentions that he has made this embroidery his work now that is out of prison and I want to know more about that. Beautiful piece, just to short.