A New Class on Abstract Art

I have a brand new class starting this next Friday - April 1st - with the Academy of Quilting; 
it's called More Abstract Art for Quiltmakers. 

I enjoyed writing my first Academy of Quilting class on abstract art (Abstract Art for Quiltmakers) so much - and it's such a huge field, I thought I'd write another one.  The two classes are really parallel rather than sequential - you could take them in any order, or just one.  My first class focused on women abstract artists, so often overlooked and under valued.  I also made a long (and growing!) Power Point of their work - pity there isn't a way to give a PPP in a blog!  Or at least not an easy way for an IT amateur like myself.

So having dipped my toes with the water or rather paint! - for most of them did use paint !   with the first class, I wanted to go on and find out just how abstract art came about, who were the pionaeers...and...they weren't whom I thought!  Kandinsky always proudly presented himself as The First...but actually he wasn't!

Each lesson (there are five) looks at a different movement within abstract art, and from each movement I've extracted a number of different exercises so you can make lots and lots of designs!  From this one class you can probably come up with enough designs for about 5 years!!!

Not all designs are strong, of course, so it's very important to learn both how to generate designs, and how to critique them.  There's nothing so sad as going through the whole process of making a quilt and then finally putting it up on the wall and taking a good long hard look and realising there are significant design flaws, that somehow it just doesn't work, it doesn't match in any way the idea you had in your head.

You can design by drawing pencil on paper, or with a computer, or with paper collage, or with pieces of cloth...there are many ways.  I do a lot of designing with watercolors..but it really doesn't matter how you work...it's having a systematic process that allows you to create what you want to create.

One of the many beauties of abstract art is that often a very simple composition can be extremely satisfying...and also give one great opportunities for the use of hand dyed or painted fabric and hand stitching.  The impact of these is often lost in more complex designs.

Anyway...if you're interested check out the class at Academy of Quilting!
I'm happy to answer any questions....or hear any suggestions for other classes...I usually try to write one new one a year...Each one is almost as long as the average quilting book, I've found, so it does take me a while.  I try to devise a class that is based on something I'm curious about myself, I don't want to do Quick! Fast! Easy!    Those are just not satisfying!!

And, if you have been, thanks for reading......and now for a nice cuppa tea and then to work on my new abstract quilt!!   Elizabeth