Interesting but not fulfilling

Well the four day show and sale (see last post) proved to be an interesting little tidbit, but not exactly filling or satisfying in any way!

Here is a couple of photographs that demonstrate this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice the vast amount of interest being given to the quilts by these customers!!  One is looking at t-shirts and the other at jewelry.  The overall impression I got from the public was that while they loved the quilts, what they really wanted to buy was  either stuff with which they could adorn themselves rather than their walls, or, “safe” useful items to give as gifts.  I really think you have to be in the art world in some way to want to own some art and also to feel that art is a worthwhile expenditure.   I did sell some items: the two quilts I had discounted heavily, a couple of watercolors and one of the shadow boxes which is great.  But every piece went to an artist or an art teacher. 

Is this a reflection of art no longer being taught in our schools? If you’ve never made art you don’t realise its worth both in monetary terms and in how much it can add to your life?  I think this is probably so.  I know there are things of which I have no appreciation (sports for example) because I grew up in a totally sport-free environment.  Also I am “eat-to-live” rather than “live-to-eat” having had a father for a cook who thought that the way to fry rice was to empty a box of it into a frying pan.  “What’s for tea, Dad?” we would ask when we came home from school.  “It’s a mistake” he would reply!  We learned a lot from all those “mistakes” we ate!

I also think the lack of awareness of the value of art is a result of television.  We are bombarded from birth with advertisements many of which suggest that improving how we look (by virtue of the products being advertised) will bring us sex, money, fame and success.  Have you ever seen real paintings, or beautiful artifacts or art quilts being advertised on television??   Have you ever seen a well endowed young woman (or man for that matter, though endowed somewhat differently!) draped over an art quilt?

Furthermore, now that the financial crisis is upon us I notice that communities (ours included) are saying oh one place we can easily save money is the one percent for art idiocy that we used to do.  So there will be even less awareness of art in our futures, and, more importantly, in our children’s futures. 

And are those one-percenters buying art?  Or are they buying more and more houses in exotic places, so many that they don’t know how many they actually own?

However, I am most grateful that there are few artists and art lovers around who do still appreciate art!! Thank you so much for your encouragement!  And now, back to the sewing machine….if you have been, thanks for reading!  And do write in with your comments, the cogitations of others are much more interesting than my own!  Elizabeth

PS C&T just brought out a nice little postcard book: 30 “architectural quilt” postcards of which 7 were ones I made I’m happy to say – though I couldn’t stretch them to include any of the industrial architecture!