ANALOG Woven Placemats

For daily use, quick and easy, placemats are the best way to set a table and pull the family dinner together! It's so many of these little things that make a house a home, just so easy. These placemats are vibrantly printed in a specially treated fade-resistant technique. 14 x 18 IN, poly or cotton twill fabric with hemmed edges, the placemats are easy to clean. Machine wash on a gentle cycle, cold water and mild detergent, air dry.

ABOUT THE PAINTING:

ANALOG: Acrylic on canvas, 22 x 28 IN.

Analog technology came before digital, before the WWW dots, far before bluetooth. We aren’t talking ancient history, here, like an abacus or horse and buggy. Let’s think in terms of the good ole cassette tape or record over a cd then streaming service.

A half a dozen years ago, I was invited to a larger family Easter gathering. I knew kids of all ages would be there. And, it was EASTER. So, I grabbed a pair of bunny ears on my way over to the address. I was the only one in bunny ears, to no surprise, but the kids enjoyed them as I did therefore mission accomplished. Later in the afternoon, as the stampede for brunch had slowed to a steady graze of deserts and coffee, I got to talking with a couple sweet college gals. They, too, liked my ears. To which I told them, “Thank you, this is my ‘analog’ filter!” Blank stares. Finally one of them asked me what ‘analog’ meant.

Though many moons have passed since that conversation, it stuck with me, obviously. I have always thought it amusing that today’s technology is literally making that technological term, the very word, obsolete to the point that one generational degree  away from myself has never heard it. As much as wonder what other words are being lost to the evolutions of science and language, I wonder still at what’s replacing it.

There was a time, as technologies were released into the marketplace that industry leaders would tout new inventions as “time savers”. But, as the world moves faster, we find ourselves asking “Where has the time gone?” There’s much made, now, about mechanical precision. But, haven’t some of our greatest discoveries been found through anomalies and accidents? Isn’t something or someone more memorable for idiosyncrasies? And now, of course, there’s the increased automation of even our ideas with artificial intelligence. People now ask me, as a creative, “How do you feel about AI creating art and writing books?”

As I listen to Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, ponder these questions, look at my painting inspired by the ideas and tap away at my keyboard to transpose into words these thoughts, I have only hope to answer. Humanity will never be replaced. Until our dying breath, we need original, organic expression to connect us as we need air to breathe.