I seem to be sort of stuck lately. I am finding myself not really wanting to work in my studio (And it isn’t because I just want to knit, Mother - you bad girl, you.) I just feel like I have run out of steam.

In a way, knitting is easier because I don’t really have to be as creative. With art quilting, I have to come up with a new design (unless I’m working in a series, which I don’t do very often) for each piece I do: new design, new fabrics, new quilting. With knitting, I find a pattern, select the yarn, have Mom show me whatever new technique I need to learn, and then I make it. Knitting, for me, is more challenging technique-wise while art quilting seems to drain me creatively.

My studio is really messy right now, and that isn’t helping either. Don’t slap me for saying this, but I keep thinking that my studio really is too small. Well, it isn’t so much too small as it is that the shape of the room - long and narrow, makes it very difficult to work in. I have 2 sewing machines (with their own tables) set up, a computer desk, chair for visitors (Mom, Marcus, etc.) ironing board, file drawers, book case, cube shelves, 1 large design wall and 1 small design wall, and a tv. I would like to move the chair, a small swivel/recliner, out of my studio and move the computer desk over which would hopefully make room for a new table to layout out fabric on or cut out pieces. Marcus would need to rewire a lot of the stuff on my computer desk, though, and it is going to be hard for him to find the time for a while because of all the work he has to do lately.

I guess I should probably bite the bullet and just starting cleaning my studio.

On a happier note, Mom is coming tomorrow for the Wool Fest at Lake Farm Parks. We are a disappointed that one of our favorite vendors, Ellen’s Half Pint Farm, cancelled to due to illness. Ellen dyes the most beautiful fiber, especially silks and soy silk. Just gorgeous! I was supposed to take this great silk class from Ellen’s sister but she won’t be coming either. Oh well, maybe next year. At least Mom and I will get to see them at this really nice fiber festival at Hemlock, NY, this fall.

I’m sure Mom and I will manage to get in enough trouble at the Wool Fest this weekend, even without Ellen’s help.

Last night, Marcus and I went to the Gallery Talk at the Fairmount Show. (Where I got second place in the textile division, for all you late arrivals) The Gallery Talk is when the judge(s) come to talk about the artwork and people can ask questions, etc. We went last year, because I had won an honorable mention, and it was absolutely fascinating hearing about various pieces and also hearing about my piece in particular.

It was very interesting again this year. One of the judges, Charles Deihl, a local artist and art instructor at the Valley Art Center, was there and said he always asks three questions concerning any piece of art:

1. Is it Compelling? Does it make you stop and look at it or just walk on by?
2. Is it Well-Crafted? Is it enough of a technical nature to carry the artist’s idea?
3. Does it Tell Something about the Artist? Is it unique?

I really liked what he had to say and I do agree with him that a good piece of artwork, whatever the media, will have those three qualities. I personally feel both “Wildflowers” and “Staring at Eternity” posses them, and from his comments, I think that the other judges did, too, mostly. I was really glad that he talked about both “Staring at Eternity” and “Wildflowers,” though he spoke more about “Wildflowers” since that won an award. I asked him to be brutally honest, which was a bit difficult for me since he was speaking in front of 30 people and it isn’t easy to have one’s work critiqued so publicly. He didn’t mention “Stepping Stones” at all, and I didn’t mention it either since I really wanted to talk about the other two and didn’t want to monopolize the floor. So here is some of what he said:

• When I asked why “Wildflowers” received an award when I personally felt that “Staring at Eternity” was the stronger piece, he said that it had been a toss-up between the two of them for second place because they were both good. He also implied that he himself had preferred “Staring at Eternity.” That made me feel good, to know that both of them had been considered for an award.
• He felt that the quilted flowers in “Wildflowers” were childish in comparison to the strength of the surrounding blocks in the quilt and that it detracted from it
• He like the backs better than the fronts on both quilts (Now, I’ll agree that the backs are pretty incredible, especially when compared to the backs of other textiles in the show, but better than the fronts?)

I don’t get to have my art quilts critiqued that way very often, so I really appreciated his comments and his constructive criticism and I thanked him afterwards. It was definitely worth waiting to hear him speak about them.

The evening was very interesting and useful and Marcus and I got to meet some very cool people, but I was a little frustrated at times for two reasons:

1. None of the three judges had any textile background. I (and remember, this is my personal opinion and that as a textile artist, I am quite biased in this area) felt that their lack of textile background made it a little difficult for them to accurately judge textile pieces since textiles are so very different from other kinds of artwork like photography, oils, watercolor, etc. A lot of the same principles can be applied to both oils and watercolors, for example, so it seems to me that someone with a watercolor background could more easily and accurately judge an oil painting than they could a textile piece. (And no, I don’t have any kind of painting background so this is very much my own opinion, not scientific fact) On the other hand, I think it would very difficult if not impossible for the Art Center to get a judge with specifically textile experience because then they would be obligated to also have a judge with a sculpture background, one with a photography background, one with digital, etc. So I am not faulting the Fairmount Art Center at all. I think they are doing a great job with what they have. I would like to emphasis that I am not annoyed with either the judges or the Center, I am simply a little frustrated with the system as a whole because this isn’t the first show where this has happened.
2. (WARNING: Long Rant to Follow!!) The second frustrating factor was this: A very ignorant older man rather loudly and at some length complained that most of the textile pieces were completely machine done and “computerized.” (I think his wife had entered a rather traditional-looking, hand-quilted quilt that didn’t win an award. If I am correct, and the quilt I’m thinking of was his wife’s, hers was the only hand-quilted quilt in the show) He insisted that the Center have two textile categories for future shows, one for completely hand-created quilts and one for machine, the same way there are separate categories for oil, watercolors, digital, etc. (This won’t happen because hand- vs. machine- creating is a technique issue, not different mediums) This poor man was very derogatory in his tone towards machine-created quilts and kept saying that most of the quilts in the show were made using computers. (I think he meant Pantograph Quilting Patterns using a long-arm machine where the quilting stitch pattern is traced from a paper pattern, usually by a laser dot - very rough description, I know) To my knowledge, maybe one of the quilts used pantograph quilting and only on half. And that’s a big if since it could have been free-hand. I don’t actually know for sure since I didn’t ask. I actually felt sorry for the guy since at least 4 other fiber artists in the room got very verbally defensive of machine-arts. Marcus, who held me back, said that he had been afraid that things were going to get ugly.

I was rather insulted by this gentleman for several reasons. One is that just because quilts were “traditionally” made by hand doesn’t mean that machine-created quilts are less worthy. Besides, these are art quilts in an art show, not pieces meant to be exact replicas of antique quilts. Our Great-great-grandmothers didn’t hand-sew and -quilt their quilts just because they necessarily enjoyed making them that way; they made them by hand because there were no sewing machines! Studies of antique quilts have shown that as soon as sewing machines became available, quilters began machine-piecing and, gasp, machine quilting lots of their quilts. (Please read this very interesting article for more information regarding this topic.)

The simple fact of the matter is that it would be almost impossible for me to duplicate my machine-quilting style by hand. Good grief, “Staring at Eternity” took me 25-30 hours to quilt by machine! And “Wildflowers” took about that long, too. (And that’s just the quilting, that number doesn’t even include the designing, piecing, or binding!) Can you imagine how long it would take to achieve that same look by hand?! Decades! Now, I am not saying that hand-quilting is bad. I am not even saying that hand-quilting is outdated, because I really don’t think that. I think that hand-quilting can be gorgeous. I think that you should choose whatever method of quilting will best achieve the look you are going for, whether it be hand-, machine-, or a mixture thereof.

I, personally, (And this is just me, I am not speaking for other quilters, art or traditional) am more creative using a sewing machine to create my art quilts than if I pieced and quilted them by hand. Think how impossible it would be to make strip-piecing style designs by hand! And that is just one example.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I resent people expecting modern quilters to use only traditional techniques and equipment. They don’t expect painters to hand-grind their pigments from various roots, bug skeletons, and dried cow urine! (Yes, cow urine. From cows fed exclusively mango leaves. Gee, now that sounds fun to gather!) If a painter chooses to go that route, that is his or her decision, not an obligation. I realize that I may be a little intense and that some people may think I am stretching comparisons, but I really do feel that way. This was just the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.

Anyway, lots of food for thought. Something else interesting is that I entered “Wildflowers” in a different juried art show last fall and it got rejected. I enter it in the Fairmount Show and it gets second place. Life’s funny that way, isn’t it?

If you have any thoughts or opinions regarding today’s topics, please feel free to comment. I will try to respond to any discussions/comments. I will warn you, though, that any completely hateful comments will be deleted. (This goes for further posts as well.) You don’t have to agree with me, I want people to be honest, but please don’t be mean.