Frightening Elegance

I love spiders. Not very girly of me, I know, but I just find them to be some of the most fascinating creatures on earth. They are beautiful and graceful fellow crafters who just happen to be so absolutely terrifying at times. Poor, misunderstood things.

Regardless of the terrifying moments, spiders really can be fantastic inspiration, not just from the patterns they weave, but their own inherent elegance–the long, slim legs, the way they delicately hang and negotiate their webs, the graceful way they reach out and weave their silk. Well, that last may remind you too much of dinner time in the web, but nonetheless, the spider’s structure and movements are beautiful.

I imagine this is what drew Céline Charuau to create work like the piece you see here. She calls this Fleur Araignée or Flower Spider in English. And with that title, she has drawn a simple equation between what is considered one of nature’s most beautiful creations with one of its most frightening. If you think about it, there are also deadly flowers and harmless, but gorgeously colored, arachnids. For being such completely different types of organisms, they actually have a lot in common.

The drawing of equations between seemingly unrelated things is nothing new in Céline’s work. Man-made with organic, mineral with animal, hard with soft, and lots of other unexpected combinations in her images and titles like Embroidered Eggs and Canned Chromosomes. I honestly am not sure if I enjoy the titles of her work or her craftsmanship more. See what I mean by taking a leisurely jaunt through her Flickr photostream with more insight to be found on her blog, Gris Bleu.

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