Sensation and Sensibility

I keep thinking about something the curator from the Museum of Art and Design said when he was jurying the last Art Quilt Elements show.  He was disappointed that there weren't any quilts using contemporary art ideas: video, electronics, synthesizers, installation devices, things that look like quilts but arn't made from cloth and vice versa!

Jeff Koons

Dogs made from balloons recreated in metal and blown up to giant size, strange materials like elephant dung.

  I mean have you ever tried to sew elephant dung to cloth?
though it looks like somebody has managed to make shoes from it!!

  Looking at the most recent Art in America magazines I can see where these ideas are coming from; there's hardly any straightforward painting represented in the articles - though plenty in the adverts!  It's a bit like the fashion magazines that you buy to look at the advertized clothes rather than the peculiar arrangements of cloth on immensely tall, anorexic, terminally depressive models in postures designed to dislocate half the joints in your body.

  Articles in art magazines and jurors from the art world are avant avant garde - they want to see something new, however awkward and unsustainable.  But most art is there to add beauty and meaning to our lives and I'm sad that many contemporary artists seem to have forgotten that.  There seems to be a real dichotomy between the two kinds of work.  With a few exceptions, though, I really think that work that shows Truth and Beauty (yes, those currently unfashionable qualities!) will be that which will stand the test of time.

Where Bong Trees Grow

 Meanwhile we have a choice!  If you want to be provocative and catch the juror's eye, then start attaching the wires right now!  If you want to show the world the beauty of the stitch, the cloth and the marks made by the maker's hand on the cloth then you might not get into some shows, but in the long run I think you'll be more satisfied by what you've made.

I'd love to hear from you if you disagree with me!! It's also very good if you don't!  Opinions please!

Meanwhile I'm gearing up for a new Inspired to Design course which starts with Quilt University this Friday;  there's time to sign up until Friday or even Saturday if you've thought about doing it.  This is the workshop that goes with my new book also called Inspired to Design and available from me (signed, dedicated) or from Amazon or your local quilt store.  Taking the workshop would support you working through the processes and I would give you as much feedback as you wanted on both your designs and your quilts.  Might even figure out what to do with that elephant dung!

And, if you have been, thanks for reading!   Elizabeth