Art Quilt Portfolio, The Natural World: a review

Announced by a rather splendid peacock on the front cover, Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World is a 192 page feast of color and nature. Curated by Martha Sielman, but not wearing her SAQA hat! There are nineteen featured artists with several pages of quilts and text for each one. Each section is followed by a 10-20 “gallery” quilts. The sections are: flowers, birds, water, animals, leaves, insects, trees and natural textures. The featured artists are: Judith Trager, Paula Chung, Ginny Smith, Ginny Eckley, Sally Dillon, Karen Miller, Cassandra Williams, Betty Busby, Annie Helmericks-Louder, Dominie Nash, Katherine Allen, Annemieke Mein, Melani Brewer, Ruth McDowell, Elaine Quehl, Dottie Moore, Nancy Cook, Barbara McKie and Patricia Gould. A fine galaxy of talent! The range of quilt artists is great and there were several wonderful people of whom I was unaware. It would have been good to include website and blog urls, by the way, so further reading would be easy.

Artists were selected following a call for entries to all quiltmakers and considerable research through online and in print images. Sielman stated that she “looked for artists who had a mature body of work that fit the theme”. The “gallery” artists were chosen both to complement the main theme and to add to the variety. All but two of the featured artists in this volume are American; however, in the next series, People and Portraits, there is a more international mix, with 8 countries represented among the 21 featured artists.

There is an excellent introduction by Martha Sielman – which I suggest you read before diving straight in to the pictures…it’s good to know that background of the writing of the book and some of the artists’ comments and processes. Each artist has written fairly extensively about their inspirations, education and working practice and it’s very telling to read their own words and hear their own special voices. Also quite intriguing to learn something of their lives: I’m envious of Judith Trager’s 96 (!) cousins when I don’t have even one. Maybe she could spare a couple!

Many of the artists give excellent pieces of advice and while their comments are summarized under clear paragraph headings, I would have like a little more continuity between the artists, since the paragraph titles were somewhat various and arbitrary. Perhaps Martha could ask the artists in future volumes to organize their comments into the same sequence and the same topics? Obviously each artist could write more, or less, under each paragraph but it would give consistency. Then you could compare inspiration, working methods, background, general advice, education and so on.

The design of the book is nice and clean – virtually no unnecessary “designer touches” which invariably can reduce a worthwhile book to a cheap magazine. However, the best use wasn’t made of every page…trying to fit two or three small images to a page often left unused white space sometimes quite awkwardly placed. Better to go with one big image per page unless there was some compelling reason to do otherwise. Several times I thought – if only the text had been at the bottom instead of side by side with the image, the image could have been bigger. The pages with one big glorious image are wonderful. I do also applaud the neat, unobtrusive and very complete amount of information that is tucked in beneath each image but I don’t like the unnecessary lines (on just a few images which is odd) with dots indicating to which picture the text belongs (p53 is an example) – but it’s a minor point.

If I had a complaint to make it would be that though the color and the imaginative representations in most of the quilts are excellent, the compositions are often quite dowdy! Making a wonderful picture of a bird, flower or animal and then surrounding it with awkward lumps of fabric to fill out the space makes ordinary what could have been extraordinary. Obviously this isn’t true of all by any means, but, as you look through, lack of training in design, whether formal or informal, really shows.

An interesting gallery section is 13 ways of looking at a blackbird – the title taken from the series of short poems by Wallace Stevens. The pieces in this section are from a group of artists who got together to make work reflecting the poems. It probably wasn’t possible for the whole poem to be printed in the book – so I’ve included it below since, according to Wikipedia, the poem is in the public domain. It was published in Stevens’ first book of poetry, Harmonium, and consists of thirteen short separate poems in which blackbirds were mentioned. There’s a lot more information about Stevens here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Ways_of_Looking_at_a_Blackbird

For the most part the images of the featured artists are superb but I would have loved some details!! Especially of amazing piecing like that of Ruth McDowell, or the hand stitching in Dominie Nash’s work – and others. And some of the “full” pictures are really quite small. Some of the “gallery” images are worthwhile including, alas others not so – presumably added to show the breadth of the field? But is it is good to include weaker work just to show the range? Better work could have had more space – bigger pictures.

I was also sorry to see that Elizabeth Brimelow, who has made some of the most amazing works about the natural landscape I've ever seen, was reduced to one small image in a gallery section. Likewise some other people who have made stunning quilts, e.g. Leslie Gabrielese, Dianne Firth and Nancy Erickson.  However I was told this was because all of these artists have been  featured in the two Masters books which makes sense.

And I do feel there were too many digital photos on fabric...the day when these were wonderful has passed! Plus, there was a little too much emphasis on realism without obvious intent at communicating personal emotion, especially in the gallery sections.

Edit edit edit!! is the key to good crisp meaningful writing (which of course I should say to myself!)…I saw lots of examples of trite statements that could well have been omitted. And the thing about a book of images is that you want really want the pictures to be the stars while also having all the key information very succinctly given in a well organized manner.

Overall however, it’s a lovely book with a wide range of work and much of it not seen before, a great addition to one’s art quilt library – I look forward to further editions in this series. The next one is People and Portraits, which will be published next spring.  If sales go well, then the 3rd volume will be Abstracts and Geometrics after which (with luck!) will be Landscapes/Cityscapes and a 5th volume on Commentary (political, social, economic).

I’m very happy that books of quilts are now more like books of paintings – lots of images, some commentary and no need for pathetic little projects to keep the little woman happy and out of mischief!

Take a look! See what you think – me? I’m off for mischief!

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

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

Wallace Stevens

---

I
Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.

II
I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.

III
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.

IV
A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.

V
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

VI
Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.

VII
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?

VIII
I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.

IX
When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.

X
At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.

XI
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.

XII
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.

XIII
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.

Mile High Workshop

I just returned from a super week in Denver, Colorado.  One of the best things about being an (occasional!) workshop teacher is that I get to visit really interesting places (I’m afraid there’s no point in inviting me to Boondocksville, Nowhere Land!).  I’d never seen very much of the USA before I started teaching and it’s exciting to have several new places on my list this year.  First up was Denver, Co which has a giant league of quilters – 300 art quilters.  Members attend meetings from as far away as Montana and Wyoming – now that’s dedication!

This was the view outside my hotel window the first day of class.  What a perfect color scheme of cobalt, amber, pink, grey and black with even a little touch of an apple green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the car parks have a glorious view in Denver…this is the scene as we drove up to the venue, a huge beautiful church hall.

 

 

 

 

 

The workshop was Working in a Series – here am I in full spate expostulating as is my wont!

Notice, nobody is asleep….yet!

Describing something to Jean Herman who is working on a large cityscape….below Gay Lasher was cutting out strips for her series on Conversations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

while Patti Joy talks about how she’s going to resize her series of 3 pieces based on a visit to island of Lewis in Scotland.

And below is the sculpture of a happy quiltmaker! yahoo!

It is outside the new and absolutely stunning Clyfford Still museum which I had the great good fortune of visiting after the workshop – thanks to a lovely lady in the group! 

 

 

 

This is a view of the inside of the museum – fabulous, rich and spare, complex and simple and oh so generous in spirit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a great trip! Thank you so much to the Front Range Contemporary Quilters for inviting me to visit your beautiful city – and – for arranging for me to spend time with so many of you.

and now I’m back home…until the AQE/SAQA/SDA opening and conference in Philadelphia – more great inspiration I’m sure.   See you there!  Elizabeth

workshop photos courtesy of Linda Strand, Exhibits Chair, Front Range Contemporary Quilters, thank you, Linda!

Artists, children and retirees

What do they have in common? 

I was reading a book by Penelope Lively (an author new to me, whose writing I love and (hooray) she’s written loads of books! also,  judging by her photo on the dust jacket,  she looks good for a few more!  Eniow, I was reading a book called Spiderweb about a retired anthropologist, in which the main character muses that there are significant similarities between children and retirees in that they do (or should do!) live for what each day can bring.  It struck me that the same holds true for artists. Little children do this naturally, of course, there is no yesterday  that one is regretting and rethinking, no tomorrow that has to be planned for or worried about.  It is just today. 

As a (semi!) retiree I have to keep reminding my self to enjoy each day, each minute for what it brings instead of always “looking forward”.  What are the joys of winter, of spring of summer and of fall?  What is the joy of this particular hour on this particular day in March 2012?  What is special about this moment that I  should especially savor (instead of just gulping down looking ahead to the next thing) now that I’m out of the hurly burly of deadlines and schedules and calendars and into my own clear (alas,  though, too easily muddied!) space.

And that leads me to art – as an artist wishing to communicate an appreciation of beauty (or other emotions) I have to be aware of what I’m experiencing.  The work needs to be fresh and personal; if I just rush into it going through the motions – oh I must get this finished for the next challenge, or the next show etc – then it’s likely I’ll be unable to add the savoring of experience and the simmering of thought that makes it Real (rather than copied, trite and stale) Art. 

  Stopping and smelling the roses (or at present, the daffodils!) takes surprising concentration, we have been so conditioned to rush rush rush.  Instead I must think about it, make myself stop and do it.  It’s necessary for the successful life as an artist or an old lady or both! so please, don’t just rush through your day, breathe, experience, savor and think! And, if you have been, thanks for reading!   Elizabeth

PS and by the way, some kind (and, I hope, discerning!) soul has nominated me for a “best teacher” award, so if you’d like to vote…there are, in fact 27 nominees!  also several other “best” somethings…go to this url:

http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2012/03/vote-for-your-favorite-nominees-for.html

and your comments are always welcomed and considered!  thank you.

Eight steps to overcome Quilter’s Panic

D’you ever panic when you're working On the Wall?  I know I do!
Even though I nearly always have a value sketch and a good idea of what I want to convey, plus a color scheme and a pile of sorted fabrics....still, as I start to block out the piece, the doubts start mounting...does this go? does that? Oops! I don't have quite enough of that, oh the other is too bold…
8 steps to overcome quilters' panic!

Step 1: Nerves. Make a cup of tea and steady your nerves. Don’t PANIC!! Don’t be impatient. Don’t be despairing, or self defeating, or foolishly optimistic ( as in “it doesn’t look good now but wait till I get the embellishments on!”). Give yourself time to solve the problem. Solving problems is good for the brain – how wonderful that now you have this great grey cell building exercise to do!!

Step 2. The Plan. Am I actually following my plan? If the basic structure of the plan was okay and every time I looked at it I felt excitement at the thought of making it, then perhaps I’ve strayed from the plan. Are my proportions different? Are my values different? Have I inadvertently changed my color scheme? If you didn’t have an actual plan, what was your intention with this piece? What were your thoughts at the outset? Can you go back to that point and retrace your steps to see where you went off track?

Step 3. An AB (aka awkward buggar). Every time I started a new job or joined a new group I always looked to see if there were an AB who was the reason things didn’t flow well. A thorn in the side, a stone in the hoof, a jam in the drain etc. Look for something awkward and out of place? Something that sticks out and doesn’t go with everything else (could be an odd shape, an odd line or color etc).

Step 4. Too much. Is it too much of something? Sit down, take a long hard look. What actually is it that bothers me? Is something too strong?, a too obvious texture, a too saturated color, too large a shape? Too bold a line?  Try removing the offending object – replace with something a little bit more subtle, less noticeable.

Step 5. Too little. Is it too little of something? No excitement, no pizzazz, no tension.
The piece looks boring! oh no!!  I go back to my source material - did it look boring? If it didn't what have I missed when blocking it out? What wild card could I add to the mix to jazz things up a little?

Step 6. The star. Is there a star? Or is it all chorus without a tenor? (or soprano!). Where is the focal area? Have I emphasized it enough?

Step 7. Step by step removal. Start taking pieces and sections off, review as you go. Very often you get back to the exciting, but yet still balanced and coherent, place where things were going well. Put those unwanted pieces to one side and tell them firmly to stay just where they are! Try not to repeat the same mistake, begin adding pieces at a different point, jump shift yourself into taking a different route.

Step 8. Give it (and yourself) some time. If the above steps have not yielded the solution, leave it for a while….move it to a side wall that you can occasionally glance at. Remember not everything works and if you think everything IS working you are probably wrong!

If you have more ideas to add to this list….or any comments at all, I’d love to see them!!  In any case, if you have been, thanks for reading!  and now….to panic!    Elizabeth

Seeking Innovation

I often wonder what pieces to enter into a show and why the jurors choose the ones they do (if they do!).  When considering which pieces to enter, I try to remember what kind of work that particular show seems to favour.    If there’s a catalogue, this may be indicated in the juror’s statement from the previous show.

In general juror’s statements are extremely useful to “mine” for ways to evaluate your work and to help you decide what to enter.  You tend to see the same themes over and over: unity and harmony – everything playing together to “support the aesthetic statement”.  So, I guess, if you want to make a quilt about “rough” – then your lines and shapes and colors and stitching etc should all be “rough” but also be sufficiently integrated to show a high level of craftsmanship – not so easy!  And if your quilt is about “smooth” and all the elements are smooth then you run the risk of it being trite, banal, predictable and, of course, redundant!  to say the least!

Another oft mentioned phenomenon sought by the average jurors  is the grabbing of their attention. Does the image  compel them to want to look longer and further and become lost in the piece? but then what happens to the subtle quietly beautiful piece? probably lost in the crowd…alas.

One juror remarked that it was hard not to favor innovation over adaptation, i.e. work in a series – but not for too long!  Freshness, originality, innovation  are the  concepts of which most jurors are very fond.  I notice that in the local art shows I like to enter these are the key ideas which the juror say he/she seeks.   Though sometimes it is hard to see!  For example in the recent OCAF (Oconee County Art Federation), the juror picked 2 of the following three pieces:

She chose the two more complex subtle pieces rather than the bold strong graphic quilt, which surprised me, so one should be bold and innovative, but not too bold or innovative!

Quilt National, the grand master of all quilt shows (or should that be mistress?), has been said to be  a “standard bearer for change, advocating innovation and [presenting] a challenge to redefine the concept of quilt” (Robin Treen, QN 2007).
To make a quilt that meets these requirments is a huge challenge for those of us still attempting to master this very complex medium that requires considerable technical skills as well as a thorough knowledge of composition and design – and on top of that the requirement to be always forward-looking, breaking fresh ground, leaping upward without a nice comfortable crampon or two!  And very often I feel that those who have mastered the medium then find it hard to be yet more innovative, introduce more and newer ideas.

On the above occasion the simpler bolder piece was the one that was picked. Hmm…

:

but then this piece was rejected:

 

 

 

 

and the one below (which is okay, but definitely not as strong as the one on the right) was accepted…

 

 

 

Well with the upcoming shows, I shall try to be innovative, but not too much so, bold and subtle, obvious and obscure.  I wonder if I dare to enter my unrecyclable piece anywhere?

 

I’m sure those quilt police would just love the ratty old towel upon which this piece is based…but arn’t those dye splotched towels we have in our dye studios so beautiful?  and they are truly innovative…you don’t see them anywhere else…..hmm…..

 

well, if you have been, thanks for reading!  and do let me know your thoughts, especially if they run counter to mine!  I’m interested in all ideas….especially, of course, the innovative ones!!  Elizabeth

Art quilts “Made in America”

Reading the October issue of Art in America magazine  (yes, I really do need to get caught up!), I was continually struck by the number of paintings and art works that are very clearly based on fiber work.
And, it made me realise that with the new SAQA definition of an art quilt being an amalgamation of:
the old (now appearing to be quite fuddy duddy!) Quilt National definition of “3 layers stitched together and never before seen by virtually anyone on the planet”! (“Oh I can’t show you a picture of my new piece I might just enter it into Quilt national”!) ……
PLUS
“anything that references” the art quilt
all of this artwork is now eligible for SAQA shows, and the artists eligible to be SAQA members.

Consider the work of Stephen Westfall for instance.   He paints beautiful renditions of various well known diamond variations, half square triangle variations, bars, squares within squares.  They are really super, bold and strong, with eye catching colours, crisp and dynamic.  Who could want more?  Why bother with cloth and stitching in the post post modern world? (or is it post post post?) Especially those of us with fingers that no longer want to push a needle and thread around; you can hold a brush with your toes!

Eric Beltz draws  cross stitch samplers.  the old fashioned kind with morals.  Somewhat updated I must admit!  as in: “Happy is that people who have no history” , “I snow all about you” and “Revive”.  These are gorgeous totally meticulous renditions of great grandmamas samplers.  ( I wonder, by the way,  if his art reviews all start with “these are not your grandmother’s samplers” – such an overused phrase there’s probably a key stroke short cut to it on journalists keyboards).

Jenny Hart too, and oh dear, how is this website headed “this ain’t your gramma’s embroidery”!!  I swear I had not visited this site before I wrote the above paragraph!  Oh my, the contagion of these phrase. Like, whatever!

And what about Dorothea Rockburn’s work?  It is very reminiscent of a current vogue in art quilting for what I call surface design samplers. “ We made this wonderful fabric in a workshop and don’t really want to figure out how to incorporate it into a piece, so I think we’ll just kind of overlay a few of the best bits and stitch them together.” Actually those folk would do well to see just how Ms Rockburn makes those glorious samples work together!!

And then there’s Canadian artist Liz Magor’s folded  blankets and sheets "newly cleaned (well that's very artistic!), neatly folded and draped over hangers of different dimensions [and]  the blankets were irregularly spaced along one wall of the gallery" to think about.

Perhaps we'd do better just to wash, iron, fold and hang up the lengths of fabric from which a quilt "could be made" thus evoking the Power of Potential!
And perhaps they would "hover and vibrate with inchoate meaning" - how I'd love to make a quilt  that hovered with inchoate meaning!! oh yes!  I’m vibrating at the very thought…. especially if it produces "faint echoes from our own planetary realm of art"!!

All these “quilts” are Made in America too – no Chinese reproductions here!!  Actually, if you think about it, if you really want to buy Made in America – buy art!!    Especially art quilts (however they are made!).

Art is such a wonderfully incestuous activity!
   So if you have been, thanks for reading! 
And do please send your comments (however tongue in cheek), they add so much to a blog. 
Elizabeth

P.S. the quilt at the top was just awarded The Edward Lambert Memorial prize at the Athens Annual Art Show; I’m thrilled and honoured.  Ed Lambert was a much beloved professor in the art department at the University of Georgia.  He gave great encouragement and support to many artists (including me, I’m happy to say) and was revered by so many in Athens.  He died suddenly last year, a great loss to our community.

Early work and later voice

Trying to tidy up my image files yesterday (and if anyone knows of a quick and efficient way of doing that I’d love to know!), I came across my first few pieces.  I didn’t start with  traditional quilts, but with screen printing – this was back in the 70s when long skirts, wide trousers and kaftans were all the rage and that’s what I made most of these lengths of fabric into.  (above an early screen print from the 70s, to the left a quilt made from many deconstructed screen prints about 10 years ago).

 

 

 

 

 

Even back  in the seventies I liked the patterns and designs created both by man in city scapes and buildings and by nature, especially hedgerows and natural scenes.  Though I’m not quite sure where the weird combination of characters in the full length skirt on the left came from!  Four panels, printed in black on gold polyester!!!  The more modern piece below (a quilt entitled Midwinter and available for purchase by the way) shows the same tree shapes occurring but the animals have hibernated for the winter – not that you see many giraffes up on the moors at any time of year! And the trees are appliqued rather than printed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started screen printing when a friend and I bought a big old fashioned silk screen and squeegee between us and worked on her kitchen table in a very old 17th century cottage by candlelight, while her husband played Chopin on an old Bechstein.

I used textile paint and newsprint and usually designed the images while sitting through interminable staff meetings.  I have a feeling I even cut out some of the stencils in those same meetings – the conference table was huge and perfect for this kind of work.  Oh for the good old days!

It is interesting looking back how you tend to continue with the same ideas; I’ve made loads of architectural quilts since then and am now back to nature and landscapes and still have very much the same sense of design.  The two small images are screen prints from the 70s used for jeans!  The larger image below is a quilt made from screen prints much more recently.

D’you find you keep returning to the same themes? Can you see your “style” and the “mark of your hand” in your early work?  At the SAQA meeting in Philadelphia in March I’m moderating a panel on the development of the artistic voice with three guests whose work I’ve always admired: Dominie Nash, Emily Richardson and Lorraine Glessner.

In the discussion I’m going to ask them:
What have the been key experiences in your artistic life?  
Is this something that a person coming new to art in mid life could orchestrate?
Or is an art education necessary to being able to make strong and lasting work?
What advice would you give to people who started making traditional quilts through a love of cloth and sewing but now want to take what has been a pleasant hobby to a much higher level where they are creating pieces that will bring them and others much joy when hanging in their homes/hospitals/waiting rooms etc?
How does one  make the leap from a hobby to a higher plane!
At what point should  quiltmakers think about "developing a voice" - is this something that just happens, or can you guide yourself into it?  And should you?
What is it do you think that makes you an artist? 
How would you define that description of a person?

Do let me know your answers to these questions…and if there are any other questions on this topic you think I should put to the panel.  And, if you have been, thank you for reading and especially thank you for commenting – I always read the comments with great interest.

Elizabeth

PS I do have pieces for sale, they vary from time to time – they can be seen by clicking on the “pages” listed at the top of this post.