Smile Now, Cry Later

Donnie & Travis will create and install their off-loom weaving project, “smile now, cry later for High Desert Test Sites. A soft sculpture, this off-loom weaving is constructed from strips of hand-printed silk fabric knotted together to form a hanging lattice. Any number of additional fabric strips are tied and woven into the lattice. The interlacing wefts can change from one section to another, form shapes and symbols, or dangle in the wind. This type of off-loom weaving is more directionally active and net-like than straight-sided woven textiles. The project will be completed in a public space and passers by will be invited to add-on to the piece as it is created.

Inspired by the “off the side of the road” culture of the California desert, this weaving could once have taken shape as a rug or blanket offered for sale, abandoned or mistakenly left behind after an overnight camp out. The title, “Smile Now, Cry Later,” is an epigram synonymous with the Chicano culture in Southern California. The phrase is easily adopted to our own experiences, the idea of losing something considerable or decidedly leaving something important behind forever.

—from the HDTS 5 catalogue