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Piece Description
Ray Materson was in prison for an armed robbery he committed with a toy gun to support his cocaine habit. He spent the first year of his seven and a half-year prison sentence being mad at the world and angry with himself for what he had done. And then he found a kind of redemption...in a pair of socks. Includes interviews with the artist Ray Materson, and Sanford Smith, the producer of the Outsider Art Show in New York. PLEASE NOTE: I've posted two versions of this piece, one version that runs 3:42, and a longer version that runs 5:28. The short version originally aired on Studio 360 in March, 2003. It has also appeared on the Third Coast Festival website. The long version has not aired.
3 Comments
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Review of Embroidery Felon
I love the editing of this piece. It's very well structured. There's the narrative beginnig, describing the Materson's situation and how he began embroidering. Then it becomes a conversation. Materson talks with himself. The sound cuts in and out rhythmically and sensually, along with a lovely eerie music. Materson jumps in and out of the interview with the curator, so that they have a discussion, an animated discussion full of interruptions--they echo each other.
I agree with the previous reviewer that the piece seems to end suddenly. I'm not sure I don't like that, though. The whole piece is such a burst of energy, I think it makes sense to suddenly fizzle away. And the last line is very beautiful: "emerging from the chrysalis, much more beautiful than it had been." It's an ending, without being conclusive. It makes me want to learn more. |
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Review of Embroidery FelonI think that this piece has a lot of potential. I wish it had been longer. It ended abruptly and I was left wanting to hear so much more. Ray Materson seems to be a lot deeper of a person with a lot more to say than what this piece let’s us hear. Some of the things I really liked about this piece were the way the voices of Ray and some mystery guy kinda overlapped. The mystery guy is gruff and said things like “…butterfly” and then you hear Ray say, so delicately, “…Monarch Butterfly” and the mystery guy says “…escaping from the cocoon” and then Ray says “…emerging from the chrysalis”. It was quite beautiful actually. I would have liked to hear more about Ray’s metamorphosis. What is he doing now? He mentions that he has made this embroidery his work now that is out of prison and I want to know more about that. Beautiful piece, just to short. |
Broadcast History
Studio 360, March 2003
Musical Works
Lou Harrison, "Suite for Violin & American Gamelan: Air" from the cd La Koro Sutro (New Albion)
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Steven Petersen
Posted on December 30, 2005 at 09:19 AM | Permalink
Review of Embroidery Felon
A nice piece about how a man made the best out of a bad situation.