Drive Through Art Show Virtual Tour
"Unravel" by Angela Chilson
Yarn, Crochet Hook
Artist Statement
Can I begin with the obvious? This has been one wild session. I believe this is my fourteenth session as a mentor with Portable Vision and Audio. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I was even going to try to do this session because spring is always a bit chaotic and I felt I might not really have it in me to somehow pull off another session. But the session began and I quickly remembered just how much I enjoy hanging in the studio with some really great fellow mentors that seem to always say the right things I need to hear to remember why I keep coming back. Or being able to goof off and be silly with some of the best people… the students. That is why I keep coming back. These kids are me. I find a little bit of my story in the stories they trust us with and I love that. I am also always reminded that it isn’t me at work, but the work God is doing through me. If it were just me I would fail every SINGLE TIME.
I didn’t start my piece until the original date of the show came and went. I was in the midst of a whole lot of chaos and a song popped into my head. It’s called “Falls Apart” by Thousand Foot Krutch. I felt like I was falling apart. My job at the school didn’t exist, church and PV were being held via Zoom and if you know anything about me I am not a fan of technology because I see it as a distraction from really living. But that’s for another day… I was falling apart.
The lyrics that hit were:
“I wish I could but I don't, always keep the promises I've kept,
I wish I could, but I can't,
Always give, whatever I have left, and now it’s all so clear,
Doesn't anyone see what’s happening here?
It falls, apart, from the very start, it falls apart,
Seems like everything I touch, falls apart,
Everything around me, falls apart, when I walk away from you.”
Not that I was walking away from God but I know I wasn’t fully relying on Him for peace and identity in some of the moments during the chaos of a new way of life through a pandemic. I wanted to control things that I had no control over. I let things overwhelm me. I felt like I was starting to unravel.
I never have attempted to really crochet anything other than hats and scarves and easy things. I’ve wanted to try but always used the excuse of “No time” to push off doing it. I never expected to use crocheting as a PV piece because the thought never occurred to me. But the image in the music video for the song I mentioned above has a puppet with her strings unraveling as she falls apart and I thought… Hmmm why not. I’ll try. So I sat down only a few days after the artwork was due and will hopefully be finished with it before the show. This statement was written before completion of my work so it could be printed by the lovely and wonderful Holly H. This might have to be where I start my thank yous…. But to be honest, there are so many to give out that a simple mention in here isn’t enough. So I will thank you the reader because chances are good you are one that I need to thank on a personal level… and if not at the very least, thank you for investing your time to enjoy this show. These students worked hard through some interesting changes and deserve a round of applause for their ability to roll with it. They are really true inspirations! My fellow team of mentors. I am always in awe of how much value you all place on each person you encounter. My family, they have been stuck in a house with me for too long and still love me, for that they deserve a mention in this statement. And the biggest thanks is to God. For daily reminders that He is enough. He is working even when it seems He’s left. Thank you Lord for the ways you keep revealing Yourself to me and your faithfulness even if I lose sight on mine.
