Breaking Through an Art Barrier

I have crossed a line.

For many years, I’ve regarded myself as an Artist.  I’ve received a lot of comments and admiration from friends, family and even a few strangers, but a little piece has been missing there…. Not quite sure what, just a nagging feeling that my art is recognized as such by most.  Quilting is an art; there are a lot of “art” components to it:  arrangement, color theory, assembly skill, etc.  However, it still falls into the “cheesy, homemade crafty” at times, and the average person often regards it as such.

When I show quilts to what society recognizes as traditional artists (painters, sculptors, etc.), they show a great deal of admiration.  There’s a kindred spirit there; artists recognize artists in ways that other people do not. 

Quilting will ALWAYS be my first love.  I built up to it all my life; first by sewing and embroidering by hand, then by making decorative items with many kinds of stitches, through the line drawings that I’ve done since I was small, and up to the present where I do tons of techniques.  It’s taught my color theory, and how to create in ways I didn’t know I could.  However, part of it was also a stepping stone to creating in another medium.  I will always quilt, I create piece after piece to satisfy the artistic need inside of me. 

HOWEVER….

I want to share that art.  I want to share my visions.  I want to create joy for people looking at my pieces akin to the joy that I feel making them.

Fabric and thread won’t / can’t be that medium.  The old fashioned reputation is just too hard to overcome.

Glass is going to be the medium that takes my quilted visions and melts them into a presentation for the larger audience.   (Yes, the puns there were intentional… J )

I think my latest piece just broke through that barrier, crossed the line, and gave me a starting point for including many others in my art. 

Here it is:

The style is that of quilting in a way; cutting up whole pieces of fabric/glass, reassembling the pieces into a patchwork, and embellishing (quilting) on the top!

I put this piece together, and left it in the kiln to be fired.  I don’t have my own kiln yet; this was done at my favorite studio http://www.studio-rush.com/index.html.  I went back a week or so later, and the owner/artist looked at me.  I could tell by her face and her attitude that she too thought the piece was wonderful!  It was a very fulfilling moment.  Then I saw the piece, and I was amazed as well…  I still am!!

I’m going back to the studio on Sunday and I’m getting ambitious.  I want to create a larger version – as long as the kiln can make it (about 30 inches).  I’m thinking about 8 inches wide, same style as my current masterpiece, and created to be a display piece.  I have no room here, and the cats would destroy it, so I think I’m going to install it at my father’s, take some wonderful pictures, and try to show it sometime in the next year.

Enameling

I take a lot of classes at the Studio at Rush Creek.  I have a favorite teacher there – Irene.  Sometimes I take classes just because she’s teaching.  Such was the case with a “enameling on Copper” class this past week.

Here’s what I made:

·         The three progressively sized golden pieces are going to be linked together for a pendant

·         The flower shaped with a flower painted on it will be used with beads to make a full necklace

·         The large round with lumps on it will be have three “dangles” of some sort attached to the three holes on the bottom

·         The large round that is simpler will have one dangle, probably something long

I discovered an interesting thing the other day….

I love purple.  (That I knew…. Hang on for the rest)

I dress in purple, I had a purple car, I have a purple bedroom and a purple office….

I started using a lot of orange a few years back, but I don’t wear it much, don’t want any orange rooms, and an orange car?!, no thank you…..

However, oranges, reds and yellows feature in my artwork a LOT

Out of these enameled pieces, I really think that the yellow/golden/orange pieces are by far the best of the lot, and the piece that is purples and greens (the accent color I use most with purple) is just a bit of a dud.  I’ll dress it up with some nice beads, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I have a personal palate and an artistic palate of colors and they are NOT the same at all!!!

Back to My First Love

Last weekend was the Minnesota Quilters’ Show.  Last year, I bought the Challenge Packet and entered.  Please look at previous posts here about my trials and tribulations in this endeavor.

It all came to a conclusion last Friday!  I saw a piece of mine hanging at a show!!!

Here’s a picture:

It’s a bit hard to see, but there are four elements to the “challenge”

·         Challenge Fabric #1 – this is the large white bits on black that is in 16 spots in the piece; all triangles.  Sort of makes a “bow” on each of the center black shapes, and then off at the edges.

·         Challenge Fabric #2 – This fabric is in 12 spots in the piece.  It was supposed to be 8 only in my original design, but once I had the quilt mostly pieced, it was obvious to me that they weren’t showing well.  It’s the busy fabric from the very corners.  If you look closely, you will see eight triangles of it towards the edges.  It just wasn’t prominent so I added the corners (they were supposed to be all black).

·         Green fabric – my challenge color was a dark green.  It blends in this picture, but if you look closely, you’ll see that it makes a “ribbon” all the way around the quilt.

·         Green marker – since my challenge color was dark green, I received a green fabric marker that I was to use for embellishing… no further detail given.  The fabric that looks all white in this picture actually had line drawings of women’s heads and hands on it.  I used the marker to color in bits of the women – jewelry, some flowers, eyes….