1000 Snakes

THERE'S A FRIEND FOR EVERY BODY!

In November of 2023, three friends and coworkers went through the traumatic experience of suddenly being laid us off right before the holidays. Movers were sent in the dark of night to retrieve all the company's usable supplies. When we 3 arrived in the morning we thought we’d been robbed, then realized we’d been betrayed. The business we’d worked a combined 23 years for had left us with nothing but old sewing machines and a pile of fabric scraps. We were hurt,  confused, and angry. As we gathered to discuss our dilemma in the cold of early winter, an off-hand comment was made that the only thing these scraps would be good for were door draft snakes, “there must be a thousand snakes in there.” And so this art project, 1000 Snakes, was born.

Little did we know that they would be so much more than door draft snakes.  The laughter, deepened friendships, and most definitely the healing has been nothing short of magical. As each beige piece was cut, and each seam was sewn, the creation helped ease the sting and anxiety of being unemployed. We joked about cleaning up the capitalist's trash and making lemons out of lemonade.

For years, we’d all joked about how incredibly boring all of the vanilla fabric was to work with; so after our first batch of snakes was sewn up, we enlisted our friend the talented fiber artist, Nan Renbarger, who taught us to dye our emerging snakes.  As soon as we added color, they started taking on their own personalities, even just flat and laying over a chair with their little safety eyes peeking out.  Seeing them fleshed out & filled with the buckwheat hulls that the business’ “movers” had left behind was when we began to realize what special things we were creating and how far we’d come in healing from the trauma of betrayal and abandonment.

It wasn’t long before we noticed how healing these fiber snakes could be beyond our own experience.  Other folks at Art Emergency started coming by and we could see the joy on their faces when they picked up one of our colorful “door draft snakes.” Their reluctance to then put it back down confirmed to us we were on to something wonderful.  At our first pop up show, we saw people’s eyes light up as they spotted their perfect snake, wrapped it on their shoulders, squishing and feeling the crinkle of the buckwheat hulls…these snakes were little friends…and there should be a friend for everybody.

People who've taken one of these creations home tell us how much they love these fabric snakes. They tend to live on couches and go for rides in cars, rather then being resigned to the drafty thresholds of houses. We hear that they make particularly great toys for children!

Available at Art Shows in the Lawrence, KS area. Online ordering coming soon.