When it comes to dispaying art quilts at home, it's impossible to get a really good idea of them as you'd need a huge house to put them all up on one wall. I've loved it when I've had a solo show in a gallery somewhere, because that's what it takes to really get a sense of where you are going with your work. But alas, at present, gallery opportunities are not available!
However, it struck me that I could clear a wall in my basement studio and hang my paintings. First I had to mat them - well the mats got hung up with covid! But eventually arrived....so that took several weeks. Then I ordered frames - I have tried a number of different ones, including some surprisingly pleasant looking and inexpensive ones ...but made in plastic and purchased from That Store we ladies do not patronize! Finally I decided if a painting is worth hanging it's worth a decent frame...and you can order the elegant simple Neilson metal ones from several places on line. The paintings now chosen (all from 2020), matted and framed...the next job was to clear all the junk off the wall!
This accomplished, I decided on a salon style of hanging which is a fancy way of saying hang as many as you can in one space!!! And so, you can see the result in the photo! Room for more too....which is great gives me an incentive to get to work.
The best thing is that seeing a body of work at one go you can really get a sense of your direction, your style, your focus, where you might challenge yourself next. I do have one or two "odd" ones in the mix where I tried something else...but I love the impact of a number of works based on one idea. And you can ask yourself when you see a whole show like this: is my work any good? is it strong? Am I moving forward, or just repeating yesterday's ideas? Am I learning? Am I alive?
e.e. cummings: “…It is Art because it is alive. It proves that, if you and I are to create at all, we must create with today and let all the Art schools and Medicis in the universe go hang themselves with yesterday’s rope. It teaches us that we have made a profound error in trying to learn Art, since whatever Art stands for is whatever cannot be learned. Indeed, the Artist is no other than he who unlearns what he has learned, in order to know himself; and the agony of the Artist, far from being the result of the world’s failure to discover and appreciate him, arises from his own personal struggle to discover, to appreciate and finally to express himself…. …“to become an Artist” means nothing: whereas to become alive, or one’s self, means everything. …
What d'you think? Dare you give yourself an art show? I recommend it!
And, if you have been, thanks for reading.... Please comment!!!! I will read AND reply....but now for a nice cuppa tea......Polly! put the kettle on! would you, dear? Elizabeth
PS to see the paintings individually please check the watercolor page on my website.
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1 comment:
Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for the post. Thank you for not buying your frames from That Store. I have not shopped there for more than a decade, though now and then it would be convenient to get some notion or supply there.
I don't paint and don't make art quilts, generally. However, I do have several of my smaller quilts displayed on walls in my home. I think there are 6 of them on the main floor and a couple downstairs. And there are large stacks of quilts in a couple of other places!
Recently I found out our public library (which is mostly closed still) has DISPLAY SPACE! And the assistant director of the library is a friend of mine! There is a possibility that I can curate quilt displays there as things open up. Pardon all my exclamation marks, but it is an exciting possibility. :)
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