Floydiana has valued Floyd County’s textures metaphorically, as social fabrics. But the area has many literal ones. Many of these are agricultural: the hide of a cow, the fibers of a straw-bale, the fabric of bib-overalls…. Texture may be fundamentally tactile–i.e., perceived by nerves in the skin or tongue. The fingers easily distinguish between a steel and nylon guitar string, and the tongue knows grits from meal.
The senses are an orchestra that directs the conductor. Even the ears can help define a texture–a phenomenon that an be explored by holding a mug fashioned by Jayn Avery: first rub a smooth part with a finger-pad, causing a squeak; then with a fingernail rub the textured lace/cloth imprint, evoking only dullness. Of course the eyes, ever vital, both reveal and infer texture by registering shape, pattern, depth, and color.
Here are photographs of animal, vegetable, and mineral textures that characterize Floyd County, Virginia. Some subjects are natural, others man-made, others both (i.e., domesticated animals).
Funky defunct, Floyd. Demolished May 2014.
Wall on Barberry Rd. near Woods Gap Rd., Floyd.
Silo of Jacksonville Center.
Fleeces and filaments along Bethlehem Church Rd.
Outcropping of mafic (likely), rich in magnesium and iron, on Stonewall Rd. (Geology by Fred First. Mafic is dark, and rich in magnesium and iron.)
Facing of Lineberry Building, N. Locust St., Floyd.
Lid of sarcophagus (top view, close-up). Cemetery adjoining Hotel Floyd.
DEX Company, Volvo truck-lot, Industrial Park (Christiansburg Pike).
Car hood after collision with deer.
Masonry and woodwork, Farmers’ Supply Corp.
Siding of Notebooks/Blackwater Loft Building (100+ years old).
Alluvial soil and cobble in valley near Goose Creek Run.
Stalagmites of chestnut stump on land of Charlie and Glenda Brouwer, Akers Rd. NW. Rendered in elegiac sepia. Boot in lower right corner: for scale.
Sycamore. Photo by Fred First.
Fur-felt hat by Teagan Dobkin. Courtesy Troika Gallery.
Mennonnite “veiling” worn by Andrea at the Bread Basket, 2167 Webbs Mill Rd., 2014.
Coiffure and Michelle Neukirch, 2014.
Floyd County bedrock over Little River—many-millioned, river-wrinkled.
Logs of Tomkins cabin discovered inside Bell house, 173 Weddle Ln. SE, Floyd. Adze marks dent chestnut wood (pre-blight and pre-worm).
Sowers Mill dam (Sowers Mill Dam Rd. NE), itself ground by time.