Fibre art

My First Art Quilt

Early days of a Quilt Artist

I came across this photo, it’s my very first landscape art quilt. I had taken a colour theory and design course with Joen Wolfrom at Olds College in Alberta in – I think 1993. My partner and I hopped in an old van with $40 in our pockets, a cooler full of food, a gas card and headed west. Oh to be 23 again! It was an amazing experience. It took me over a year to process everything I learned from her before I completed this piece. I called it Solitude.

This is the quilt that started me on the journey to create landscapes in fibre. This was my launch. It was utterly thrilling to have someone want to buy a piece of my art, though I have no idea who bought it or where it is in the world today. The woman who bought this changed the course of my life. [hr]

Life Changing Moments

I think everyone has a moment when they are facing a choice on their path of life. By 24, I had been a ski instructor, a student, traveler, and was frankly unfocused. I had been raised to believe you had to go to school, get a good education, get a job, then get married, buy a house… you know the plan. Well, I was a bit of a rebel. Not because I was defiant, or trying to consciously rail again the system. I just didn’t fit the mold and I knew that from a young age. As a teen, I had a hard time connecting with people and I wasn’t a great student. What I did know is that I loved life and wanted to find something inspirational to do.

When my mother invited me to work in her store at the age of 22, I did it more because I had nothing else planned. It turned into the best decision I had ever made. Retrospectively, maybe she knew that I needed the encouragement to follow a different path. She certainly gave me the opportunity to explore it. I thought when I started that quilting was for old ladies. That only church ladies who did quilting bees would be in the store. I was so wrong.[hr]

Inspiration in Early Days

Working in my mother’s quilt store gave me exposure to books and magazines in the industry. Not just traditional quilting but Art Quilts. One of the primary resources was CQA.The Canadian Quilter’s Association was in it’s early days, it was only about 10 years old at that point and the Quilter’s Newsletter was a really just a newsletter in book form- no glossy pages, but I was thrilled to have access. There were a few American magazines worth perusing as well and I was inspired. It eventually lead me to enter National Juried Shows and The Rodman Hall Contemporary Quilts Exhibition.

The internet was not a thing at that point, this was the early 90s so print was king. I dreamed of being featured in a magazine or accepted into a national show. So I dove into getting my tools and techniques down. I had no art training and I had a lot to learn before I thought I could actually make my living at it. That hadn’t even crossed my mind yet, I was just enjoying the process of learning.

Taking workshops and classes helped me in so many ways. I’ll discuss the process and how it helped me in my journey in my next blog post.

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Designing an Art Quilt Series: Part 2

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You have the Concept, What’s Next?

Determining the overall concept of a series is one of the hardest parts of the job. Once you have a plan in place, you get to the fun of designing the work. I find having defined parameters helps me stay focused and clear on what can and cannot be in the project.

In Designing an Art Quilt Series: Part 1, I spoke about the bigger picture and overall concept of planning the series, now we will discuss execution.[hr]

Drawing

Once I have my overall concepts determined, I start narrowing down my design ideas. I need to understand how the lines of the subject work, so I take to doing sketches. Usually, I work with a photo. I either use my own, know the photographer ( with permission) or purchase the rights to use the photo. There are plenty of websites with public domain photos and many photographers are willing to be an inspiration. Unsplash is one I frequent. I am always mindful of copyright and seek permission to use the photo, though I am not directly copying it.

I find drawing to be a great exercise, even when working in a different medium. It’s a good way to familiarize yourself with the details. It also gives clients an idea of your vision if you happen to be doing commission work. I take this time to really look at the palette I want to use, where the highlights and shadows are, what elements are imperative when rendering the work. I tend to like to use pencil crayon, but I have dabbled in watercolour and acrylic as well.[hr]

Layout

Once I have the drawing and photos to work from, I will move to the layout in the fabric. The finished size/shape needs to be determined. Often the subject will dictate this, but sometimes the space that will display the work will force you to work smaller, or larger than you may have previously. My preference is to work with large pieces and highlight the subject within the work.

I sometimes work with an episcopio or enlarger to help me transfer my designs from paper to fabric. I often want to add an element of quilting to my finished work so I will play around with patterns that complement the subject and create a sketch on the fabric before I begin. If there are traditional patterns that are found locally, I will try to incorporate those as a final design element.

When laying out the design I always try to get perspective, it allows me a chance to see if there are missing design elements. To do this, I use a design wall that is approximately 4′ x 8′, if I had room, I would use a bigger wall! I pin the design and get back from it as far as possible. Sometimes taking a photo helps. You can also use a glass Reducing Lens, there are a few options on where to buy those, check with your LQS.[hr]

Design Elements

Colour Theory with Judy Villett and Joyce O’Connell

When working with fibre art series you will need to create works that have focus and impact. Following the Elements and Principals of Design is a useful place to start. You have already determined the theme, now it is time to “thread” it throughout each piece. There can be many ways to approach this. The important thing to remember is that you have a focus and you need to check that when you select your palette, thread, fabric and embellishments. Make sure that they ring true to the core values of the work you have set in place already.[hr]

Canada Quilt Series Design Elements

I selected common elements in each province that are easily recognizable as significant and typical landscapes, wildlife or architecture for the area. It was more interesting to balance the variety of the subjects throughout the series. I decided to focus on relevant landmarks vs a single subject like only wildlife or only landscapes. It gave interest to the series as a whole and allowed people to engage in the exhibition, guessing which Province was being represented. The consistent elements were size and framing. For each piece, I carefully selected borders that both balanced the finished work and related to the subject. All of the pieces were either landscape or portrait and roughly the same size, keeping the “Golden Ratio” in mind. Having drastically differing sizes would potentially be distracting so keep this in mind when creating a series.

For example, the Newfoundland Piece that features the rugged coastline, deep blue sea and ever recognizable iceberg. I finished this piece with a border of the “Storm at Sea” block in blues and whites. The landscape was calm, so the finished work could support a busy border.

In contrast, the Quebec piece had a lot of detail in the fall leaves of a country road and required simple borders to finished the work. Both represent typical landscapes for the region and palettes for the season.[hr]

When In a Series

I work at 3-4 designs at any one time. I find it too much to take on all of the pieces that will complete the series, a few at a time keeps the series cohesive and keeps me from experiencing overwhelm. When doing a large series, it can seem like a daunting task so I find it easier on myself to take a few at a time and work through those first. When I get to the next few, I can use the previous ones as a reference.

Here it is important to remember that all of the pieces will need to stand alone, but also work in the series. Refer back to the design work and assess, does the piece still ring true to the concepts defined originally? Does it align with the project? If not, it can be set aside for another time, stay focused and keep working at the series. [hr]

How to get an Exhibition

Stay Tuned for Part 3 of this series where I will talk about the ‘behind the scenes’ of mounting an exhibition, from approaching galleries to marketing and opening night events. Sign up for my newsletter to get a notification!

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A Year in the Life of Fibre Artist Bridget O’Flaherty

Living with Family Illness and Coping with Stress

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

A Year in the Life of a Fibre Artist? I’ve been drafting and re-writing this post for a few weeks now. I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to share or what you would want to read. Should I give you another summary of a year’s successes? A list of my wins? My promises for the next year? I decided to share some of my wins, but also some of my challenges. Everyone has disappointments, bumps in the road and challenges and when we just see all the fabulous parts, it can be hard on those that have had tough times.[hr]

The Good

To sum up, the successes I’ve had over the last year have been many! I’ve been creating and designing, planning and networking, building an inventory and exploring new product ideas.

One of the most exciting parts of the year was launching my website and engaging in social media. I have been amazed at the outpouring of support that I have received for my work. Thank you, most sincerely for encouraging me to continue.

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[quote style=”boxed”]I get to wake up every morning with the opportunity to work with fabric, inspiring nature, planning projects, interacting with students, clients, shop owners and other industry professionals. Thank you for that. I LOVE my job![/quote] [hr]

The Not So Great Parts of my Year

My life as an artist is really no different from anyone else’s. I have a home to maintain, support my kids in their lives, support my ageing parents and my husband. Where it may differ is in the details of those, my husband and partner of 26 years is seriously chronically ill, my mother had Alzheimer’s( she recently passed away, I shared a tribute to her that you can read) and my father is critically ill as well. So I’ve had a full share of trials for the past few years, this last year was particularly tough. But they also lead me to one of my greatest decisions.[hr]

I have a Unique Situation

But not exclusive. I sometimes feel very alone with my situation, but I know there are other people out there with struggles that likely even trump mine. Navigating a serious illness with the notion that every day could have a hospital visit, is exhausting. My partner, Aaron has had an undiagnosed illness for over 30 years. It has been investigated in every possible way. We’ve even seen specialists at NIH in Maryland with state of the art genetic testing and the Undiagnosed Diseases Program. We have stopped looking. They (and I mean medical community and alternative practitioners) have no clue. Really, they don’t. That’s ok!

Sometimes not having an answer is the best gift. We have learned to live with it and treat every day as a new opportunity to get more out of our lives. Not knowing what comes next is terrifying sometimes, but it also allows us to assume one day more. We really live one day at a time and it affords us a lot of hope for another one.[hr]

How Does His Illness Affect my Work?

I am lucky in that my partner has good days and bad days, he is not bedridden and he still loves to work at keeping our house going too. He supports me fully in my decision to pursue my art as a business, I couldn’t do it without him. He’s really one of the most inspiring people I know. He experiences daily pain and suffering and yet he literally has a smile on his face every day. [hr]

Crossroads

I reached a point last year where I could no longer manage my own stresses. On top of my partner, my mother had Alzheimer’s and became wheelchair bound early in the year. My father was in the hospital, in and out of ICU for 6 months. That was a year of constant hospital visits. By March I was tapped out. I had reached the “WTF is the point” stage of dealing with illness, death, pain, and suffering.

I realized that any of this could happen to me, anytime. If I didn’t take my opportunity to pursue what I wanted, maybe I would miss my chance. I missed creating, I needed to get back to my art. So after helping my father transition to Long Term Care, I decided to take a break. I took about 3 months to figure myself out and figure out how I could possibly support my family with my art. [hr]

Rejection, Recognition and Resolutions

The year had ups and downs with my art as well. I submitted applications to a few shows with some older work and applied to teach as well. They were rejected, I now know I wasn’t ready for that part of the business. I wrote about the benefits of rejection in an earlier post.

That same month, I received notice that I was the recipient of the MERA Award of Excellence for Artists in my community. It was perfect timing and really validated my decision to follow my heart and my art. I also was accepted into a Small Business Program for Start-Ups. I worked with professionals and learned how to approach my art as a business.

This last year has had it’s ups and downs for me. Like everyone else, I have to take the bad with the good. I’ve worked hard this year and I am feeling ultimately very successful. Even with my bumps for the year, I am incredibly grateful that I get to practice my art. I am looking forward to the adventures that lie ahead for the coming year. I’m excited to connect with you, share with you and continue to explore the amazing world of fibre arts. My resolutions are to execute this year, to make my business strong, to stay true to my art by inspiring others to engage and be available to my family.[hr]

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Designing an Art Quilt Series: Part 1

[hr]Designing an Art Quilt Series

I have been asked about my process and thought I would share with you how I approach a series. I will be completing this in multiple posts. Part 1 – Planning and Research, Part 2 design and layout, Part 3 Marketing. Who knows, there may be more. Let me know if you would like to hear about anything specific.

Quilt Art Design

Without having a process it can be overwhelming and be intimidating for a new artist. Maybe you have always wanted to try, but you are not sure where to begin? I have a tip for you, there are no “right” ways to do it. Design can be approached many different ways.

Planning and Research

Like any work, even in quilt art – planning is actually a huge part of the process. I start with an idea of what I am interested in tackling. Sometimes it’s an image or subject that I have seen that really strikes me. Sometimes I am working with a client and need to meet their wish list. For this blog, I’m not going to talk about commissions, just the original design. When it comes to a series, there needs to be planning on a bigger scale.

How I did it Then

When I began the Canada Quilts Series back in 2000, I had a grand idea: A large venue showcasing large fibre artworks at The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum. There were 75 feet of walls, but I didn’t have a solid idea when I booked the show. I will be honest here, I was flying by the seat of my pants. At 27 years old eager and energetic, I had never mounted a show of this magnitude before. I wanted to get my name out there and this was my opportunity. It was the best way at the time, it had high risks (not completing the show, making crappy quilts or no one shows up – all went through my head) but high rewards as well. In the end, it was a game changer for me. People still connect with me about the show – it was almost 20 years ago!

How I do it Now

Today, I do not wing it. It worked then, but I think that was luck and I had good supports in place to help pull it off. Now I am a planner. I prefer to work more methodically. Don’t get me wrong, the art is still imperative, but the project has many layers and I need to work on that first. Focusing on what speaks to me as an issue, I begin with a concept and look for inspiration. I take photos while on drives or walks, on vacation, wherever I can. I am always thinking of designs and always see potential thread paintings. Brainstorming ideas helps and I write them all down using Google Keep for lists if I need a fresh idea.

The Plan

I will actually look at the project as a plan.

Who am I showing to
What do they want to see
Why do they want to see it

I create a mission and goal for the exhibit and outline the values I want to stay true to.

After I have figured that out, I turn to the logistics. Where will I display, when will I do it? I will often work a this part of the process alongside the creating of the works.

Once I have landed on a topic I want to explore, I will collect ideas for the individual quilts and consider many things. I want to find topics that interest me, but I really want to find the topics that will speak to my audience. The planning and design are the heavy lifting in my opinion. I spend a long time working out the ideas for the overall concept of the series. Then I work one at a time. I can’t fit the ideas for every quilt in an entire series in my head all at the same time, so I plan out 3-4 of them and get started.

The final part of the planning is how will I execute – this is an exercise in time mapping – I work out a reasonable time frame for each piece and put that into my schedule so I am able to complete the series and keep working at other parts of my business as I go.

photo by Pauline Donalson

My Next Series

Right now I am really excited about endangered species – well not excited – interested in highlighting the urgency for protection. I am passionate about protecting wildlife and nature. Bringing a focus to species at risk is near and dear to my heart. Where to start though? There are over 200 species at risk in Ontario alone.

So let’s talk about my first piece. The Rapids Clubtail Dragonfly. I chose this insect because it is found locally. Well, it’s hopefully found locally. Being endangered means that there are few of them. This year there were no sightings! So I have my subject, now I need to research. Where does it live, what is the habitat when sighted, what is the size, colours, variations and striking features? For this, I actually enlisted the help of a local biologist Pauline Donaldson. She was happy to help bringing the plight of this creature to light and sent me all kinds of great information and photos for me to study.

Researching to find images that are striking to me, I gather all of the information I can. I do not look at other artists who have worked in the subject. I do not use images that are copyrighted. If I need to use an image i.e, it is the perfect setting and I can’t get my own, or find an open source – I ask permission. More often I move on to another image, I would rather have clear use of it rather than muddy the water with another artists work. (Just my two cents on copyright).

What’s Next?

Stayed tuned for my next blog post Designing an Art Quilt Series Part 2 where I talk about the drawing, layout and execution of my pieces.

The Best Reason to Own Art

Art and photo ©Lyla Cravero

Why do we buy Art?

When we consider the number of households in Canada and the number of rooms in a home, it adds up to millions of pieces decorating walls. Most of it is reproductions, personal photos or a relative’s. It is fair to say only a marginal percentage is purchased original art, but what compels people to seek out original art? Why do we have it in our homes at all? This is a question that seems to have an obvious answer, doesn’t everyone have art? I wanted to understand what motivates and drives people to place it in their home and look at it daily. Is it a status symbol, family heirloom, décor, something inherited or is there a bigger need filled with owning art?

It’s all about Connections

When I asked the questions; why do you buy art and what is your favourite in your home? Most of the time I heard about connections to the artist: a family member painted it, a friend, a loved one, a mentor. The art itself was somewhat irrelevant. Sometimes this applied to the person who gave it to them, it really wasn’t about the subject. Though one could argue that the subject became interesting because of the emotion around the presenting of the gift.

When prodding further, art subjects almost always trigger a memory or inspiration for people and tell a story they identify with. A connection to the land, the architecture, the sunset, the colours, the texture seemed most common. Pretty well every answer came back to sparking an emotional tie to the piece to a person, thing or place. They evoked special memories, a treasure and keepsake, this lead to feelings of peace, contentment, nostalgia, love, inspiration and improved self-worth.

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
― Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island

It is good for your Health

There are studies out there that show that participating in art relieves stress. It can have a calming effect and can contribute to the overall well-being of a person and improve recovery times in some health situations. Some work is designed to be a social commentary and is intended to spark conversation. It does not always have a “calming effect”, it is subjective and can have different meaning for people, often different from the artist. That’s the beauty of it. It feeds the soul of the person observing it.

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
― Pablo Picasso

Owning art gratifies a desire rather than a need like clothing, furniture, technology etc. The desire to connect with a place, a memory, a feeling or person. The initial attraction may come from the impact, the craftsmanship, style, quality, colours, or connection with the artist, but ultimately the driving force behind a person making an art purchase is personal. It’s between the viewer and the art. Some believe that beauty (in the eyes of the beholder) opens the heart and feeds a deep well of contentment.

Fibre Art Connects people to Traditions

When I ask what connects people to textiles, it is almost always about family and lineage. The historical context is important for the traditional crafts like quilting, knitting, weaving, sewing. An aunt, grandmother, mother used to do it and it reminds people of that. There is a thread connecting to the people in their lives, a tactile relationship and an emotional tie to textiles. People are always compelled to touch my fibre art. Bringing nature and landscapes into contemporary fibre art bridges traditional craft and artistic imagery. It can be a very powerful way to engage with a viewer.

When I started quilting, one of my first quilts was a traditional sampler. I then moved on to geometric modern art quilts and now blend the landscape with the traditions of quilting like in the Offset Log Cabin quilt.

This speaks to the traditions not only of quilting but also the craft of log home building. They are never square! I love to work with clients that are interested in creating a keepsake in thread painting. Custom work is one of my favourite and most satisfying projects for so many reasons. Choosing an image from a memory like a family homestead, cottage or vacation to have represented in a commemorative quilt is one of my most common requests.

Connecting with Landscapes for Peace of Mind

I spoke in another post about mindfulness and fibre therapy, this was referring to doing it. I think the same really applies with observing, viewing and owning art. It gives us an opportunity to pause, enjoy, derive pleasure from what we are viewing. It’s worth reflecting on and taking the time to own art that speaks to us tol improve our overall well being.

Fibreshed and How to Bring the 100-mile Diet to Fibre Arts

Earlier this month, I learned a new word: fibreshed.

It happened when I took some time for professional development and attended a live webinar on Natural Dyeing in the Fibre Art industry. It was not a word I was familiar with previously. Now I am fully on board and ready to work for the cause. There was a panel discussion on the state of the industry with experts from around all over North America. This was hosted by Craft Ontario and the experts have been working in the textile and natural dye industry for many years. So, Fibreshed…it’s essentially sourcing your project or product materials and services from within a geographic region with ecological systems at the core.

It’s kind of like considering the 100-mile diet for fibre.

The chain of custody of the sweater is a great example. Wool from sheep, spun a local mill, woven, turned into cloth, clothing is made, used and then recycled or composted all within close proximity of each other forming a cradle to cradle system. The Upper Canada Fibreshed is working towards connecting the sources of the product in this geographic region. Wouldn’t it be great if we could track our origins of all of our needlecrafts?

It is so important to have these discussions, and how the fibre arts world needs to embrace sustainability more. The toxicity of current dye practices and the ecological impact is at the forefront of importance of many textile companies. It really fuelled my passion to pursue this as a core principle in my work.

The ways I integrate eco-art into my work

Every decision I make now in my work is framed around the question ‘can I add a sustainable element to this and what does that look like?’. My goal is to create sustainable fibre art that raises awareness of and evokes an intimate connection to the natural world, using materials from sustainable sources. I want to bring that narrative into all of the work that I do.

I source materials with these criteria in mind:

Organic
Certified
Natural fibre
Locally produced
Does it have recycled content
Location
Processing

I’m not always able to find these answers immediately on websites and sometimes have to contact the distributor directly. Sometime they have the answers, sometimes I never hear back.

Finding notions and supplies is a little more challenging. I have had some luck with an organic cotton thread company from the US Fibreactive Organics. Their pallette is restricted but there are options to dye it yourself. I recently came across a brand of Guttermann Thread that is very exciting and I plan to bring it into my work this year. The Sew-all Thread 100 m rPET is a 100% recycled content polyester thread. I’ll be writing a blog in the coming months on the testing of this thread. I am very hopeful as it has a range of 52 colours and combined with the organics should offer a good selection for the work I do.

Finally, I’ll be tracking sustainable supplies as I find them and will be updating my Supplier List quarterly. Get this straight to your inbox, join my Fibre Tribe and get the Monthly Thread Talks.

Do you have any recommendations for sustainable fibre suppliers?

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What does it take to Find Inspiration?

Sometimes you just need to get out of your routine.

Finding inspiration can take a bit of work and can come in different forms. There is the kind of inspiration that feeds your soul, a walk in nature – a trip to a gallery, and there is the kind that excites and feeds your work. This week I concentrated on feeding my soul.

I went to the Art in the Garden festival at Kiwi Gardens near where I live with my son last Sunday. One of the most striking artists was Liz Ciesluk. She does amazing fabric sculpture, it was so intriguing, wild and so different from anything I do! It was a glorious day to be walking in a mature garden. Not to mention with really talented and interesting artwork sprinkled throughout the property and woods nearby. There was great music and good food to complete the day. This was an inspiration session that truly fed my soul.

Fibre art by Liz Ciesluk

A memory neither of us will soon forget.

We then went to Purdon Conservation Area near where we live. They have over 16,000 wild orchid blooms. The Showy Ladyslipper is a plant that requires very specific conditions to thrive. Joe Purdon worked hard cultivating and nurturing from 1930 and preserved a place for them. There is the added bonus of the rare and endangered species of the Pitcher Plant. We went on a banner day and the blooms were out in full force. As an added treat for the day? We saw a nesting Woodcock in the grass beside the boardwalk. It was very shy and hard to photograph, we got a good look at her chic once we finally saw it not 2 feet from us!

Making time to expand my knowledge and giving myself permission to explore inspiration is often put aside as I have busy days and work to be done. But I really think it will make for more interesting and compelling work ultimately and keep my adventures in my art interesting!

If you would like to follow my journey sign up to be part of my Fibre Tribe. It’s free and comes right to your inbox monthly.

What do you do for inspiration? Please post in the comments below, I’d really like to hear from you.

Fibre Therapy and Mindfulness

Just a few weeks ago,

I had a friend come by my place and ask me to help her make her first quilt. She’s a nurse and has a fairly stressful job at times, so she wanted something that she could do to help her relax on off days.
She was a complete newbie, had never really even looked at quilt books, magazines or stepped foot in a quilt store. It was pretty exciting to help out someone like this, but I also realized that I had to be careful to let her be the one to decide the path she wanted to take.
There are so many options, applique, hand, machine, modern, traditional, etc., not mention the art side of textiles! So we talked about what she liked and what she imagined she would work on. She wanted to use the machine and my first thought was: great a quick quilt. Let’s pick a couple of fabrics from my stash, a pattern and we can crank this sucker out in a day.
But she had a different need in mind. She asked if she could come and look through my stash to find fabrics, and we settled on a fairly simple 25 patch block set with lattice. She wanted blue and white. After spending 3 hours playing with my fabric (I have a large stash of small pieces I inherited from my mother that I will never use – but that’s another story!) she ended up selecting more than 60 fabrics. “I just can’t give any of them up, I have a relationship with all of them now.”[hr]

It made me pause and realize how important this process is

We have tools that make things faster and easier. We even have pre-cut fabric, jellyrolls, and patterns to suit, kits that are ready to assemble and machines that sew without us with the touch of a button.
What is this doing for our connection to the craft? Historically, women have gravitated to textiles for practical reasons, but have also contributed to an art and expression that has been woven deeply into our cultures. I believe it’s why we still reach for needlecrafts and textiles. In quilting, there was often a story to the fabrics used – old clothes, a quilting bee, creating a legacy handed down through generations.
Today we are finding new ways to explore these crafts, but I think we need to pause.

Being Mindful with the Craft

Mindful Fibre Art, Slow Craft, Slow Makers and Slow Textiles: these terms all represent a movement – a cultural narrative that really resonates with me.
This movement gives permission to take the time, celebrate details and revel in techniques that give you the opportunity to focus and relax while connecting your hands and mind to the moment. I have written about the concept of a fibreshed or the 100 Mile Fibre diet in another post.
There is an environmental component, recognition of where the materials come from, what the ecological impact is of these and making conscious choices along the way. There is also a social context, connecting with and creating a community around the traditional crafts. Now don’t get me wrong. I am all for technology, I am, after all a free motion machine embroiderer and quilter.
But it’s about slowing down and enjoying the process, appreciating the steps and having a connection with each and every part of what it takes to make these beautiful works of art. Part of the mindful textile movement is to create space to consider the rhythm of the process, slowing down, making conscious decisions to enjoy each fabric, each colour, each thread, each stitch. I think we can adopt the concept even with machine work, it’s more about being mindful, giving ourselves permission to appreciate the process and honour the tradition of the craft.

It feeds the soul, its fibre therapy and I need it.

Apparently, so did my friend.

Does anyone else need a little fibre therapy? I love to go into a fabric store just to look at the bolts of fabric all lined up in colour gradients, or take out some fabric and iron it – just to smell it…when I’ve had a rough day, it totally takes the edge off.

Art, is it Really in the Eye of the Beholder?

I attended a great lecture this weekend.

It was held at the Art Gallery of Burlington for SAQA members. If you have never heard of SAQA, check out the link, it’s a great resource for fibre arts! Anyway, they had a gathering of about 40 engaged fibre artists and the curator of the gallery talked with us about art; What makes a Work of Fibre, a Work of Art? One of the questions he raised was; what is the difference between a professional artist and a commercial artist. There was more to his presentation, he did relate it back to fibre art but I want to stop here, the question is worth pausing on.

Commerical vs Professional

Why is there a difference between a commercial artist (one who makes money selling their art) and a professional artist? Presumably, a commercial artist is good at what they do, they are successful after all. Robert Bateman was used as a good example. Technically he is spectacular. He has sold hundreds of thousands of prints, he is a household name, clearly, he is successful, but is he a professional artist? It’s a good question, one I’m not sure I have the answer to. I thought I knew; art is subjective, it’s in the eye of the beholder, only they can choose what they think art is right? Well, I’m not so sure anymore.

Here’s the interesting question. Is there a greater obligation to the development of art in culture? To move beyond technically sound and appealing images? Should we as artists be held to a higher cause of championing, evoking emotion, moving people with our work? Maybe there is more to being an artist than just being technically gifted, maybe we need to search out the questions and hope to provide some context for dialogue. I certainly have looked at a Robert Bateman painting and have been astounded at the precision of his brush strokes but now I’m asking the question; is he as significant as one of the Group of Seven or Monet in art history? Will he be a topic of discussion for his artistry? I’m not convinced he will be.

What does it all mean?

This context really got me thinking about my own work and the meaning behind my images. I like what I do, I love a beautiful image. I am now asking myself if that is enough. Am I seeking to be a successful commercial artist? Everyone would like to be able to make a living being creative. Do I need to be breaking boundaries in the fibre art world, can I do both? I don’t think there is a wrong answer here. It is just interesting to challenge myself with the questions. What drives my purpose to create in the first place? I’m looking forward to discovering the answers in the work I produce. I discuss creating a series of work in another post.

The remainder of this discussion was about fine craft vs craft. Again very valid forms, are they art in the greater context? Perhaps not since Quilt-art based on function is a craft, the traditions have been passed down for centuries now. I think there is room to manoeuvre in the medium though, I think it is young in its development, there are opportunities to use the form to speak to art. The art context of fibre work has been developing fast over the last 40 years and accelerating. It’s an exciting time to be a fibre artist!
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the topic, what is art for you? Send me an email with your thoughts!

Competitions

Are they a good way to kickstart Inspiration?

I’m embarking on a mission to get myself going in the quilt world again. I have had several false starts over the last couple of years and not without good reasons. But I really miss quilting. I miss the hum of the sewing machine, the quiet of the creative moments. I love the colours and the layers of threads that start to make sense after long hours of stitching. I miss it a lot. So I am looking to challenge myself.[hr]

I scanned the internet, found several quilt shows and competitions with deadlines that seem attainable with interesting themes and prestigious prizes. The question I have is; does it make sense to put that kind of pressure on myself? After all of these years will I still be able to put a quilt together that is competition worthy? Will my work measure up to the current contenders of the quilt world? I have no way of knowing really.I know what I would say to anyone else having the same self-doubt. But it is harder to reflect that advice to myself. I think it is an age-old issue with artists.

After all this time, will they still like my work?

I have seen some amazing work come out of the Quilt National Exhibition and the Grand National Show, as well as even the local guild shows. There are some really talented quilters. The art element of the quilt has moved forward while I have been on my sabbatical. Categories I where I was turned down in 10 years ago are now open to the type of work I do, paths have been forged and acceptance is much more readily available to the contemporary art element of quilting. I know I have nothing to lose by trying and I’m hoping it’s not too much pressure. I’ll let you know in a month if I actually will make it happen!

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