I saw Ray Alto the other day. You remember Ray? The "genius"
weaver who took Melbourne by storm in the 60's. Ray of the flashing
wefts and glistening patterns. The intellectual guru of the neo-craft
movement whose writing inspired beauty in the hand craft world...
I'm sure you remember him, his photo appeared in the social pages
of the daily and weekly press on a regular basis.
At first I wasn't sure it was him. He was balding; what little
hair remained was greasy and unwashed. Dressed in the op-shop
cast-offs his body was stooped over as if he was the carrier
of the worlds woes. A very different man from the flashing blade
that I had known so many years ago. And it was not at one of
the in places that I saw him, it was outside the Salvo's food
hall, in the line of old men waiting for their turn at charity.
I didn't stop to speak to him, after all, we all know that to
approach him now is subject oneself to a tirade against the "forces"
of the "special thread".
Of course you wouldn't know the details would you?
It all changed for him when he invited the 10 best weavers
in world to join him in creating "The World Web", a
joining that would twice yearly produce eleven of the worlds
best hand-woven fabrics (each weaver producing ten samples, one
for each of the group and one for themselves)...
And they did until......
He received the details of the next project in the mail. "Create
a fabric of orphans and left overs". Wow!.. Great!.. Cool!
(This was the 60s)... "It is so open, I can really produce
the definitive work". He collected the thrums, cut-offs,
samples, mill ends, hand-spun, etc. He didn't distinguish by
fibre so cotton, hemp, sisal, wool, silk, pampas grass, and acrylic
joined the collection. By the time he had finished both the spare
rooms were full (when you are rich and famous you have lots of
stuff). Now he started on the weave structure. It took him four
weeks to produce samples of honeycombs, twills, satins, laces,
crepes, tricots, double cloths, cords, broches and others. He
spent the next six weeks researching colour and art theories.
During the next ten weeks he designed combination weaves using
samples from the collection. Every time he discovered that essential
something that was necessary for the 'definitive work'. He discovered
that it was not strong enough, too harsh, too heavy or too short.
Finally it happened!
The sample was perfect. The colours glowed as they wove between
each other. Soft yet firm to the touch, it draped perfectly.
So light that a mere touch sent it shimmering through the colour
spectrum, yet heavy enough to stay put in the right places. There
was no doubt that this, his master work, would secure him pre-eminence
within the weaving world and change the direction of modern art.
It was a pity that in producing the numerous samples he had
used the major part of the stock so that by the time he had warped
up he found that he had sufficient "special threads"
for only nine of the required eleven samples and he could not
conform with the conditions set for the fabric.... And there
was no more "special thread" in the world.
It was at this time we first noticed the changes in him....
In the middle of discussions his eyes would glaze..... He would
invariably bring any conversation on to the subject of special
weaving threads..... He stopped taking on new work... He dressed
without care... Stood people up... Became a boor...
Occasionally there would be small snippets in some of the
less tasteful weeklies, his court appearances for debt, his drunken
gate-crashing at official functions, his incarceration in an
asylum, but for most of us he was a 'yesterday' person.
Although I didn't get too close I could see his lips moving
as the line made its way to the soup tureen; they appeared to
be mouthing over and over again the words "orphans and left
overs".