CYPRUS

Sometimes it just takes a little day dreaming for something to happen. It’s like something or someone sitting in the air and fishing the day dreams of people and if your thought is caught it only takes a blink of the eye for the happenings to acquire velocity.

This was the story of Cyprus. Developing a collaborative workshop with Irit Dulman the way we wanted and where we wanted, without anyone third in between us and the students.

It’s been more than a month since we all came back from Cyprus but I kept silent on my blog. But sure not silent at all inside myself. When some positive event happens in life you get caught my emotions so much that you barely touch the ground with the tips of your toes. And it takes time for the inner peace to settle and go much deeper into all what has happened.

Speaking about that “dream catcher”, I suppose the place for the workshop was already waiting for us, it only took a question to Tatiana and Gabi, two ladies assisting us in Cyprus; as well as the very special people who signed up for our workshops – I think that only the people we really had to meet and learn from each other (I do believe the human factor is most important in all this workshop thing, thus learning not just the techniques and textile, but also something from the human hearts, and that works both ways – from the teachers to students and from the students to teachers) have joined our “sisterhood”, how we called our group after all. In other words – there are no coincidences.

 

 

Even the note on the entrance to the place said: “Welcome Home”.

Plant materials for dyeing – some were picked locally on the way.

Preparing the space in a bit of hush before it all begins.

That’s how the journey began on the stone beach of Aphrodite – the goddess of beauty and creativity.

Two teachers – Vilte & Irit in eco print dresses listening to the story of Aphrodite, followed by prayer, drum music and more.

Famous witch pot.

Exploring plants and eco print.

Let the samples speak their own story.

Bundles with secrets inside. A moment before it all is revealed.

A moment of revelation.

The moment of hush and just the breeze, everyone in soaking in the sea of their own creativity.

Fabric manipulation dresses, the first moments of the dress and the person merging into one and bringing a soft smile on one’s lips.

Yes. The ladies in white.

13 new Aphrodites in white, being reborn on the island of Cyprus.

Happiness of the seduction.

Yes, seduction, and right here I feel I have to tell more as I know not all understood the meaning of the seduction when we called our collaborative work with Irit this word. The poetic explanation of the term seduction in the context of our work was described earlier on my blog. But what does it mean at the end? We took all the natural, pure, white fabrics and materials that we used in creating the dresses. It was something virgin and untouched. What we did with it at the end was seducing all the whiteness and purity with the fruits of the Earth, leaves, flowers, rusty metals, everything so earthy, thus merging the ethereal skies in white with the “bloody”, juicy “fruits” of the Earth. That is seduction.

 

Prints prints prints…leaving traces and telling stories everyone and each of us reads in our own language…

Here they are, all seduced. In the hour of sunset.

Merging with the surrounding of Cyprus.

Playing Goddesses…

And crazy teachers in the waters of Aphrodite, emerging from the sea.

On the rocks in the wild, seduced wild fibers. Happiness with a little taste of nostalgia on a tip on everyone’s tongues as this is the moment to realize it has all taken place and has come to an end. But no matter how we long for whatever has happened, the end is just the beginning of the new stories, actually so merged in one another that you can never feel a distinct difference between each of it.

 

There has been  much more than the pictures and words can reveal – special silks, connection with the materials, talks on the similarities to the characteristics of humans, hours and hours of creativity and exploration, strong warm hearted connections, all of it spiced with the pleasures of Mediterranean Sea – when you just dive into the warm and clear waters after long hours of work, relaxing all the body on the surface of the waves, soaking in the last rays of the sun going down and hiding under the rocks in the West, tastes of Cypriot cuisine and long long dinners together until all the lights are switched off and you find yourself - there’s nothing but night in between you and the stars above, also – the girls’ night out, songs and dances, feminine conversations and laughter, and the smell of jasmine in the air...And the wish tree… And…so much more… Actually I even don’t feel the need to tell the world all of it, or feel that it’s even possible to tell, something should always be left unspoken just for the hearts who have been there, have seen and felt, lived through the same things, and now having the same memories to cherish inside and keep them warm for a long long time ahead of now.

So…at the end, I think I can speak from Irit’s and mine part alike, we can only tell you – we will be back. Time will show if we will be coming back to our cradle – the island of Aphrodite or we will become nomads, wandering around the special places that we hear the call from, but another special workshop with just Irit and me, will be there for you in 2013.