Seasonal Palette

There is a hint of fall in the air, even here in deep South Texas. We opened the windows last night and slept with a cool northwest breeze -- at least until the neighbor's dog cornered a raccoon or armadillo or whatever under his porch. Ah, the peaceful country life. Nevertheless, like a chef in a big city kitchen, i find my color sense turning to autumnal hues, longing for the leaf turning rusts and reds and golds that are at least a month away from the hillside!

So here's a little visual inspiration, no matter what colors your actual geography is gifting you with today. For me, it's a tiny little look into the future. 

Above: Beautiful rusted fabric -- a great way to get autumn hues --  by artist Adrian Highsmith. She used this fabric in a series of textile collages for a recent art exhibit in New Braunfels.

Pomegranates are among the early signs of autumn here. This photo has found its way into a couple of new textile pieces -- one will be part of the faculty donations at the Houston International Quilt Show -- and I just realized that I forgot to photograph it before shipping! But, the piece above, finished just today, uses a similar color scheme and another print from the photo above. Look for the companion piece in Houston.

(P.S. I hope the leaves will at least have a tiny bit of russet by the time of my next El Cielo workshop, October 17, 18, 19. The topic -- Altares: Dias de los Muertes. You'll choose the memory or experience to honor;  a person, place, former self, even the birth/life/death cycle of an idea, creating personal symbols and meaningful imagery. The techniques: constructing a art cloth altar with fusing, machine quilting, hand-stitching and embellishing of fabrics you've created with photo transfer, flour paste resist and hand-painting. If interested, email me at susiemonday@gmail.com.)

Above, Not yet, but coming. This photo was taken a couple of years ago, when our fall produced some lovely hues. That's not always the case, but these early cool fronts bode well for color on the hillsides.

Teaching with Web 2.0

As I research options for my on-line course -- probably  "Text on the Surface" after feedback from a number of readers on and off the site -- this video by Dr. Michael Wesch, a cultural anthropologist, came across my path. Synchronicity was working overtime -- Linda wanted me to see if because of the implications for her Mass Communications teaching and research, and it opens ups a whole host of possibilities for teaching with the aid of electronic, digital interfaces. He presents an overview of the educational issues of teaching and learning in a web 2.0 world, and says that no one, no matter his or her age, is starting from scratch with this media --"There are no natives here," he says, explaining that most of what is happening of relevance to educators today had been launched within the past 3 years, and that daily hundreds of other interfaces are being created, tested, marketed, and used or discarded. So, no excuses, you aren't too old. Even today's 18 year old is faced with the same challenges of learning these new tools. Most of them, Wesch says, are still working just superficially, with no experience either at actually using the creative potential of these new tools.

It's a fairly long piece -- and specifically directed to university professors teaching young people -- but if you are interested in the landscape of kids, media, information and teaching, it's well worth the time. Although my ambitions for using technology aren't that ambitious, I do think that as a teacher the meta-message about the learning environment is one that must inform my work, in and out of the studio. Obviously, my "learners" are already looking for something meaningful; most of you who might take a course are already self-selected -- no course credit here. You might just try the first 30 minutes, that covers most of the big ideas-- though the remainder is a fascinating look at how his students recreated world history and cultures through a simulation based on "rules" of anthropology and using web-based tools.

One of the key ideas in this longer piece is well presented in a shorter, visual piece, "Information R/evolution." That how we have traditionally thought about information, as a thing, that can be catagorized -- filed -- in one kind of linear way, is no longer the case. Now information can exist simultaneously in more than one category, can be user-defined (rather than "expert" defined) and is no longer defined to a material form. "There is no shelf."

Wesch also produced "The Machine is Using Us," an great piece produced in 2007 that became one of the most-watched videos in the blogosphere ever. If you haven't seen it, the link is here.

If you are interested in creating web-based learning portals for yourself, fear not. Here are a few places I have found to play around. The first two are wiki-like aggregators that you can customize, keep private or publish to the world. Flock is a social network friendly browser that puts Flickr, My Space, etc all on your home page, Ning is a social network site that lets you build pages and whole sites around interests and then lets people subscribe to them. Stumble is a nonlinear "earch" engine that lets you find web pages you didn't know to look for!

• www.Pageflakes.com
• www.netvibe.com
  
• www.Flock.com
• www.ning.com
• www.stumbleupon.com
  

Please remember: YOU CAN NOT BREAK ANYTHING DOING THIS. You probably can't even screw up your computer unless you have no virus protection and use a PC and that's only if you start downloading a lot of strange applications. Check the site, make sure it's real and exists with actual content, not just links do other webpages,

No one is going to grade you or make you feel stupid except yourself. Yes, you are entering a public arena sometimes, but you control that. Most of the sites that I am exploring have a "private" function where only you have access to the material, links, tags that you upload or make use of. However, I would also challenge you to release some of your fears about going public on the web. I don't believe that I have opened myself up to harm, to stalking, to any physical danger by having a blog or by participaing in wikis (used authored sites). I have made many interesting connections with people whose ideas and input have stimulated my learning and my life. It is a new frontier, and we all can grow with it. 

I'd love any meta-sites that you like to use. New ones appear everyday. Some last, some don't -- we are in the equivalent of the wild wild west frontier days here -- nearly lawless, but there are fortunes to be made.

On-line, On-board, Textile Teaching

Stop Fear, journal quilt, 2007

As those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know, I sometimes float ideas that want exploring for my art business or my teaching practice -- even sometimes my art work. Sometimes something comes of it, sometimes, not.

One of those tracks, coaching, seems to have run its course without much action on my part. After quite a bit of research on the topic, being a coach and making that business works seems to embody the same challenges and work load that teaching art and making art do -- it's a highly competitive field, with many practitioners and many approaches even within the niche of creativity coaching. I am pretty sure that what I was thinking about doing is being done by many people with more skills, credentials, and who see that as their primary passion and gift to the world. Then, too, I didn't find long lines of people clamoring for this service! The best way for me to guide artists and would-be artists in their creative work and their creative processes is to improve my teaching, expand and formalize the materials I use for my workshops, and to keep being a maker, living the maker's life. (By the way, one of my favorite bloggers Merlin Mann, has a lot to say about productivity and the maker's life on his redesigned blog.)

One idea that I've toyed with in the past and that I, here, publicly state as a goal for the next 4 months, is to produce an on-line course. Hold me to it. I will offer the course at a highly-discounted rate  (maybe even free) for 10 to 15 of you who read this blog  -- beta testing, as it were. I will include photos and video demos, an e-book workbook and how-to materials. Get your name on the invitation list by leaving a comment or sending an email with suggestions!

Thus said, I need a little market research, and I hope you will help me with that -- whether or not you have taken an on-line course before or not. Leave comments here on the blog, or send a personal email to susiemonday@gmail.com. In the textile art world, there seem to be two distinct approaches to on-line offerings: 1. short -- 6 lessons or so -- courses that deal with a fairly specific technique, approach, tool or medium, costing about $40 to $80 per course. Some of these are hosted on sites like Joggles, Quilters Keep Learning or Quilt University, others on the artist's own website. Most have some feedback option, but it may or may not be used by the participating student.

The second type of offering is longer, more expansive and cohesive courses with design, often taking several months and costing quite a bit more -- Jane Dunnewold's correspondence course on Complex Cloth fits this. And I know some of the other "big name" fiber art teachers do some similar programs, and they cost usually about $300 or more for a season or a year's course. I don't think I'm ready for this!

In the interest of starting small, the first type of course seems most do-able. Here are a few ideas I have thought about, do any of these sound interesting to you -- or do you think one or the other might find an audience?

• How to make an altered jean jacket using fusible webbing, fabric collage, stitching and original design ideas
  
• 7 Scarves -- new surface design techniques on silk scarves
• An on-line version of my Calling All Archetypes workshop  (this might be a slightly longer one, culminating in making an art quilt to an archetype important in one's life)
• An on-line version of my workshop Words on the Surface, using text on fabric in various media and a variety of techniques
  

Any others come to mind? What price would you be willing to pay for a 6 lesson series? A 10 lesson series? Would it be important to have a shared photo file of student work -- that's easy enough to set up and could be a great place to see the diversity of work. How about a blog to discuss the class assignments? Or do you think these interactive elements are too difficult for most people to use and would make the class less marketable? Hoping to hear from you!

Full Moon/Fool Moon

There have been  a couple of cancellations for the weekend due to illness, etc and would like to find two more adventurous souls to join us for this El Cielo Workshop, either starting Friday evening for potluck, or joining in Saturday morning at 9:00 am to Sunday 3:30 pm. I have all the supplies you might need, so no concerns about that. Just let me knos if you are interested or know someone who might want the details for this unrepeatable experience with moonlight, magic and improvisation on fabric. One of the participants is even bringing a telescope, and in addition to the techniques listed below I've added a few others: deconstructed screen printing, corn starch printing, flour resist. All in a small group atmosphere in the beautiful Texas Hill Country.

FOOL MOON/FULL MOON

July 18-20
Friday night (optional)- Sunday
The moon has long been seen as a symbol of the unconscious, and a sacred goddess of feminine instinct. How does the unconscious, the instinctual, even lunacy, influence your art work?  Do you make room for accidents, for the spontaneous and unplanned? This El Cielo Studio workshop will take advantage of the July full moon to inspire a weekend of intentional accidents, spontaneous expression, and improvisational techniques for fiber and mixed media art, as we open our hearts and eyes to the power of the uncontrolled. Among the activities: guided meditation and journaling, moonlight storytelling around a bonfire and moonlight hike (weather permitting), time in the hot tub, and making an artist altar that explores your understanding of the divine feminine. Fabric art techniques covered include silk painting effects with salt and other additives; faux shibori and low-water dye techniques using the microwave; shaving foam dyeing and other improvisational play.

 

Susie Monday leads workshops and artists’ retreats throughout the year at her studio near Pipe Creek, Texas, about an hour from downtown San Antonio. Designed to nurture the creativity of beginning artists as well as professionals, each participant comes away from a weekend with renewed energy, new  materials and techniques in surface design applicable to fiber, ceramics, jewelry, painting and mixed media work. El Cielo Studio workshops are designed with the needs of the participants in mind;  free time is scheduled throughout the weekend for reading, reflection and personal work in the studio. You are welcome to bring projects in process for Susie’s critique and for peer feedback in an environment of trust and respect. You’ll share meals, poetry and stories, music and advice for living an artist’s life. Enjoy the 25-mile vistas from the deck and strolls down the country roads. A spa and pool, and large screen media room are also available to participants. The fee for each workshop retreat is $160 for each  2.5-day event.. Comfortable accommodations are available from $15 -  $30, one or two nights, inclusive. Some workshops offer a Friday night potluck option. Limited enrollment - 7-8 participants. Directions and supply lists will be sent when you register. Email Susie , susiemonday   at-symbol gmail.com

Improvisation on Cloth

 

Surface design on fabric has remarkable potential as a realm for improvisational work. Because of its multi-layered nature, as one builds up imagery with both translucent and opaque media happy accidents are always happening. And with such  techniques as rusting and deconstructed (or breakdown) screenprinting, one is always working with unexpected causes and effects.

It's with this improvisational impulse that I am planning this weekend's Fool Moon/Full Moon workshop -- though it will also include some left-handed, impulsive-and-gut-instinct journaling as well. But the outer work will take a number of improvisational surface design techniques, with a lot of play time built in. Jazz musicians work magical improvisation upon a structure; we get to do the same on fabric sometimes. I haven't decided yet if I want us to work toward some "end product" like a small art quilt or art cloth where all the techniques are used one on top of the next -- with the end result a piece of fabric for a whole cloth quilt or garment.

As I've been planning the workshop, I ran across an interesting  (1968 vintage) Dover Publication called Design by Accident by  James F. O'Brien, subtitled, "How to create design and pattern by 'accidental effects' Complete instructions for artist and designers." I've come up with several interesting ideas from the book, mostly using his techniques not on the fabric but to make improvisational designs by overpainting varied materials that dry or resist or otherwise create high contrast designs suitable for a thermofax screen. He does a lot of work with drips and splashes, crawls and marbling. I can't wait to try my own versions.

Here's a few suggestions from O'Brien's book:
Soak a piece of illustration board in water, place it flat on a table and drop a pea-sized piece of graphite in the center of the wet board, blowing downward to spread it out. Take a toothpick that has been dipped in liquid detergent and touch it to the center of the graphite area. Allow to dry, then spray with fixative.

Coat a piece of illustration board with Elmer's Glue-All making random brush strokes. While the glue is still wet, apply a coat of India Ink again applying in different directions. Allow to dry.

Dribble a stream of rubber cement from a squeeze bottle onto illustration board. Allow to dry, Spray with ink or watercolor using an airbrush. After dry, blot up any damp ink from the surface, then rub the rubber cement off to reveal the design.

Reading this book, just made me want to play a lot with "unlike" materials to see what interesting effects we can come up with -- any suggestions? If you've recently done something improvisational with fabric, add your ideas to a comment, or send me a private email at susiemonday@gmail.com. Thanks! 

5 Ways to Jumpstart your Creativity, Pt. 4

4. Travel.

OK, every year can't bring a capitol letter Vacation (like last year's 3 week trip to northern Italy). Every month can't include even a weekend outing to someplace a bit closer to home (though I apparently think so with April's trip to Rockport, June's to Corpus Christi and this month's trip to see my sister in Salida, CO). BUT, even with gas prices what they are (and I don't want to hear another word about that as long as y'all are out there drinking bottled water), travel is truly broadening and amazingly good for the creative juicer whether it's in real time and space or a virtual trip across the universe via web sites and other-people's-trips.

 

Think about these possibilities:

 First of all, whichever trip you take, take a sketchbook and journal, ideally a digital camera, along with you. Collect ephemera and souvenirs, take photos, better still sketch and watercolor, interview the experts and the locals. Be adventurous. Don't stick to the tourist destinations, but find out how people live, what they create with their hands, what is eaten, what it' s like to live under that sun. Write in a cafe or under a tree. People watch. Try the contour drawing trick (Pt. 2 of this series.)

Then: 

Prowl the downtown and tourist destinations in your own community. I am never more flabbergasted than when I ask San Antonio residents how recently they have visited the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park and hear that its been a.) years, or b.) never. Hey, some people pay big money and take lots of time to come visit some place you drive by every week. One little day trip or weekend outing can cost little in time and give you an enormous boost to creative visioning when you travel with that intent in mind. You can even take public transportation to a lot of these sites.

Choose a country, city, natural wonder or other vacation destination to study for a month or a season or even a year. Pick some place that fascinates you for its visual, historical or symbolic power. Check out books from the library, even audio tapes and movies. Go to museum exhibits and concerts that originate in your vacation place. Learn a little of the language. Start an imaginary itinerary. Keep a travel journal "as if." Draw from photographs, literally and figuratively for your muse.

Spend just a weekend at a retreat center, state park, or natural area, or an out-of-town workshop venue (like my El Cielo Studio retreats), or some place else that takes you away from your ordinary day and your ordinary city/suburban life. The place might be a spa, it might be a swimming hole or a river raft trip. If you can't afford to go further, spend an entire day at a city park. Take food, drink, books, a quilt to lie upon. Listen, look, experience the weather from dawn to dusk. Live in the natural world, so that means no cell phone chatter, no IM, no radio or ipods. I think of this as a trip away from technology. You can even do it in your own backyard or on the balcony.

Start planning and saving today for that dream trip next year, or the year after. Be realistic, but not too realistic. My experience has been that once I commit to a plane ticket, I will find both the time and the money for everything else, even with the EURO rates lately. It is all too easy to think you'll never have the money or time to see a part of the world that calls to you. First step (if your destination is out of country, get that passport this month). It always helps me to do this one with companions, then its harder to back out.

 

 Eavesdrop on someone else's travel. There are tons of web sites where intrepid travelers tell you all about their wanderings, and then there is Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations on the Travel channel. Another great trip I've taken lately has been with Bill Buford in Heat, a great audio book or read about his education as a cook with Mario Bateli and in Italy. You may notice a trend here, see the next suggestion.

Cook your way around the world. Try a different recipe from a different country each week. Seek out an ethnic grocer if you can in order to buy the ingredients, or order them from an ethnic grocery supplier online. Cooking and art go together in my mind. I think of ingredients the same way I think of colors. I like to look at new ones, and new combinations of them. I eat visually as well as with my mouth. Food is an amazing way to explore another culture, country or part of the U.S.

Then, what to do with all this input. Create with its energy. With the new eyes you had to have. With its content -- sketches, paintings, fabric altars and quilts, photo albums, amazing travel journals. Artist's postcards and ATCs, you'll figure it out!

Update: After Photos

Here it is. Six photos worth a thousand words. (See post before last for the BEFORE pics.)

 

 You can see examples of the kinds of projects we'll be tackling in this weekend's Text on the Surface Workshop.

Note: I had a note that the comment section of my blog was acting up earlier. If you had trouble posting, sorry. I think its fixed now.  

Getting on Top of the Studio: Organization for Organizationally Challenged

  

Or is the studio on top of me. Feels that way right now. Those of you who have attended one of my workshops may be under the mistaken assumption that I am a neat and well-organized artist.

Oh, how wrong.

One of the unexpected benefits of teaching in my studio is that I am forced to clean, tidy and organize at least once a month. Pride and necessity coalesce to motivate me before the participants arrive. Truth is, I work with piles of stuff, large piles, scary piles. When I am in the art-making mode, I just can't be neat and tidy. All those mountains of material must magically return to their bottles before anyone else can fit in the space, as large as it is. Having a large studio has been a mixed blessing -- I have room to continue working without cleaning as I go. Great for flow. Not so great for organization. This is not a plea to the universe for downsizing, BTW. I LOVE my studio. But it does look like Vesuvius after the erruption at times (like now).

What does work:

Keeping items in like categories, no matter their end results or techniques. ie all the batik materials together. All the scissors together. All the textile paints together. If I get too fussy about my sorting, I'll spend all my time trying to keep it together. Big lumps of categories work best for me, no alphabetized sortings of dye colors -- though I do write the colors large on the lids, so I don't spend all my time squinting.

The art drawer cabinet is filled with "roughly" sorted colors of smallish pieces of fabric. So if I need a green I know where to go. If I need all the green, I can dump the drawer out on the design table. I don't spend time folding or neatening up these drawers, they are the surprise grab bags of the studio. Larger pieces of fabric are folded (sometimes) and stored in large plastic bins by type -- silks and silky stuff here, florals there, dyed pieces in progress in another,  white linens in yet another, clothing to cut up in another. These are a bit unwieldy, but the best system I've found so far. When the lids are down and the bins stacked, the studio returns to visual calm.

I'm lucky, since the space was once a full kitchen, bath and studio apartment to have lots of shelves and drawers for supplies like scissors, dye and paints. The quality of these fixtures is lousy -- drawers are falling apart, hinges are dodgy, and someday I'll have to do a remodel, but for now, it works well enough. 

Moving things around as a motivational factor. I don't like things to stay the same forever spacially. I like my desk in different places, the design tables moved around and reconfigures. Some stuff is too heavy to move, but it works for me to rearrange as part of the neatening it all up process. 

Paper work also tends to pile up, no matter what "system" I try. A few methods have stuck, but maintanence still takes me longer than I wish it would, and when I'm busy with a production deadline, my "inbox" becomes a nightmare. Here's my paper system for now:

Open file box with hanging folders for my 43 folders. Also three hanging folders  for "Read and Review," "Errands," "Dreams and Goals." Anything dated (deadlines, maps, supply lists, appointment papers, etc) goes into the proper day or month folder. And, even if I get behind on sorting -- my May  folder items are still waiting to go into the proper days -- this system has been a godsend, saving me hours and hours of looking for lost stuff.

Three small file cabinets that fit under the bar for a.) business paperwork, including workshops and exhibits, b.) household bills and important papers, c.) everything else in alphabetical order,  also modeled on David Allen's  Getting Things Done.

In the virtual world, I aim for INBOX Zero. That keeps me relatively mindful of what's coming in and going out via email and gets me to tend to little wiggly stuff as it happens.  Not that I always achieve it -- but the days are over of finding myself with 478 items in my inbox. I also keep my calendar (one calendar only) on my computer (ical) and copy email dates, appointments, deadlines into it, printing it out about once every two weeks so I also have a hard copy. I now have an iphone and that has helped enormously, because I can carry synced versions of my calendar, my contacts and email along with me.

PS. This whole thing depends on a BIG inbox (a card table actually) where papers, supplies, art etc. coming into the studio lands until I take time to sort it out. At least if it lands in one place, I have a halfway decent chance at finding it if I need something BEFORE I get it back in its home.

Having so nicely listed my  ideal, it's time to tackle the actuality.  Time  to put on HGTV, read a few inspirational organization blogs*, have my Diet Rite cola iced up and ready to go, sset a timer for 1 hour increments (as a reward for each hour of cleaning, I spend 15 minutes doing something more fun) and visualize how nice it will be to have everything back in its place. As additional motivation, I will post some follow-up AFTER photos.

And, if you have any suggestions that might help me tame the beast, please post a comment.  I'd also like to hear how other artist's organize materials and supplies. What works for paper, doesn't always transfer to stuff -- and what works for linear thinkers, doesn't always work for us spacial/visual thinkers.

*No time to list more of these now, but I'll add them to tomorrow's AFTER post. 

Up on the Majestic Mountain

 

 

Just a quick note until I get my long-promised e-newsletter together this week. The beautiful Majestic Ranch Arts Foundation will host a weekly fiber arts class this summer -- hopefully continuing throughout the year. I'll be there for the first six weeks, then Lisa Kerpoe , with her incredible eye for color and art cloth, will teach the second of two sessions.

The Majestic Ranch is located at the top of a spectacular hilltop about 5  miles from El Cielo (as the crow flies!), on State Highway 46 between Boerne and Hwy. 16 to Pipe Creek and Bandera. It's a pretty convenient location for those living in Boerne, Kerrville,  Bandera, Helotes -- and for those in the city who would like a little country respite each week. For more information, click through on the links above. I hope some of you will be able to take advantage of this wonderful setting and the studio fun with fiber.  

Teaching and Learning

 

This piece of art cloth was made in Kerr Grabowski's Deconstructed Screenprinting weekend workshop. 

 

The pondering that is going on in my morning pages today goes something like this: Who am I learning from? What do I want to learn? What is mastery? Where do I need to stretch, how do I need to polish?

As an artist, especially if one is past the earliest stages of one's education, this can be a tricky place to land. While I relish the role of teacher, I have a longing for the path of the learner, the student. I haven't taken a formal class longer than a weekend workshop for several years now -- the workshops provide great infusions of new techniques and new energy but I seem to have a need for something more sustained ... I enjoyed and profited from the 28-day Artist Breakthrough Program offered by Alyson Stanfield, but this longing is for  something directly related to my work as an artist.

Where will it show up? Who do I need to be learning from? What would take me to the next level in my work, without just being a "technique  of the momemt." I suspect it might take me deeper into the world of precision, or sewing, or traditional quilting. I'd like something demanding and stretching, something that challenges but contributes validly to my path and work. It will take a bit more meandering, I think ,for me to answer this question.

Meanwhile, I challenge you to the same inquiry. What would you like to end the summer with that you don't know now? Is it  a new skill or a new work habit? Is it more precision or more determination? Is it fluency of idea or better drawing skills? Do you really need a new technique -- or do you need to spend more time in your studio or at your desk? If you could pick any (teaching) artist alive to apprentice with this summer, whom would it be? Can you create a virtual version or that apprenticeship by setting your own learning goals for the next three months? Cobble together a plan that includes self-study, time with books, a couple of short-term workshops or classes, a once-a-week drawing salon, a monthly gallery crawl or museum day?

P.S. If you think a weekend at El Cielo might answer one of these questions for you, check out the schedule on the workshop page -- next weekend's Text on the Surface still has a couple of openings! 

Round Up

 

A wide assortment of odds and ends have landed in my inbox the past couple of weeks -- worth sharing but without much of a common thread to tie the ends up neatly.

From Leslie Jennison:
"There is a great article in the Wall Street Journal weekend edition 
about the burgeoning quilt-making industry which features Caryl Bryer 
Fallert.  It is of interest because the article brings up the 
economic strength of the industry."

 From Martha Grant:
"I thought you'd like to see my finished altar from your workshop! I'm happy with the way it turned out. You can put it on your blog, if it'll fit. I'm benefitting from learning the assembly process for this, because it's factoring into my genealogy series for the New Braunfel's (Art League Gallery) show. (Which is taking on a life of its own.)"

 

Many of you have already seen this quilting video, sent to me by Diana Kellerman. The quilt world seems to be getting a great  deal of media attention right now!

 "If you missed the CBSNews program Sunday Morning  on March 16 we would like to share the 7 minute video with you here. The Sunday Morning  program highlighted the quilting industry and International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas with a spotlight on all time favorite quilter, Ricky Tims." (The annoying commercial at the start is pretty short.)

Since I've been working on my website, several people have sent me links to other artists who have their work on iweb created sites. Here's Alicia Merritt's, some incredibly beautiful work.

And, finally, although sans photos since once again I got too wrapped up to take any pictures, a short report from the weekend workshop. I really enjoyed the "words" part of the event, although I think we could have worked another hour -- hard to do though when you start after work! The eight women writers who attended were involved and inspiring in their work. Five of them came out to the studio on Saturday for the visual arts part of the workshop, learning techniques for adding words and images from the night before. Again, lack of time was the only challenge. If I try this one again, it probably needs at least another hour.
 
 
..

Word Play for Artful Cloth

 

Last minute warning: This  Saturday brings a new and different workshop to El Cielo, one involving writing and art making. The seesaw of words and images is one that I teeter along with all the time (that's one reason I keep this blog, to keep my hand in on the adjectives).

First, on Friday evening participants will meet at Gemini INK near downtown San Antonio (right around the corner from my old neighborhood in King William) for a writing workshop I'll conduct. Each person is bringing personal photos to work with during the writing exercises. Then we'll meet the next day out here at El Cielo from 10 to 4, take what's been written and turn it into a fiber art work. Some of the techniques explored will include sun printing (weather permitting), stamping and stenciling, thermofax screenprinting, and printing on fabric with inkjet and transfer methods. 

I've got room for a couple or so more participants, so if this sounds good, call Gemini Ink to register --

Gemini Ink
513 S. Presa
San Antonio, TX 78205
210.734.9673
Toll free: 877.734.9673
Fax: 210.737.0688

It's a little different structure: the workshop at Gemini Ink is $75 payable to Gemini Ink. The workshop at El Cielo is $70 plus a $15 supply fee payable to me. If you'd like to just come to the fiber arts portion, that's an option, too. Just email me at susiemonday@gmail.com for details and directions.

Bring to the Friday evening workshop at Gemini Ink four or five photos of people, places, and experiences that are important to your life: images from childhood, a memorable vacation, vintage photos of ancestors, your quinceañera or bat mitzvah, anything that moves you. You’ll translate the photos into powerful moodscapes, capturing even intangibles that don’t show up in the pictures. Next morning, pack a sack lunch and come out to El Cielo Studio near Bandera. There you’ll combine your photos and your writing with textile dyes, paints, photo transfers and other surface design techniques to create your own unique fiber art piece ready for hanging. Fee to Gemini Ink: $65/member; $75/non-member. NOTE: Saturday, April 12 fiber art workshop at El Cielo Studio is a separate fee payable to Susie, 10 am – 4 pm, is $70 & $15 supply kit.

Altars for Archetypes

 

Julia stitches on her altar. 

 

Some powerful images were birthed at the weekend retreat. I have had promises from all to send me pictures of the finished altars, but these in-progress shots should give you an idea of day 2 in the studio. Day 1 was devoted to a series of exercises, and one of my favorites was this one from a book by Evelyn Virshup, Right Brain People in a Left Brain World (actually I found it quoted in a section of Eric Maisel's Creativity for Life).

 I reccommend you try  part one of this exercise before reading part 2 (at the bottom of the photos).

Part 1:

"Create two animals on one piece of paper. They don't have to look like anything you've ever seen.Take about 10 minutes to do the drawing. 

 

Julia's altar. 

    

Martha and Sue, in progress. 

 

 

Margaret, above, Pat and Julia, at work. 

 Part 2:

"Describe the animals. Write down three adjectives that describe them.  Note the animals' expressions. Can you make up something the animals might want to say to each other? Can you write free verse or fantasy about what the animals say or do?

"The second animal often has qualities that contrast to those of the first animal. The exercise generally reveals polarities, contrasts or conflicts within a person; it will show different, sometimes opposing facets of personality...Observe and learn from the fantasy animals you've created."

Focus

 

What does focus feel like?

I am taking an online course -- actually more of  a group coaching program --  that asks me to focus on a specific goal for 28 days. (My goal is to plan a creativity coaching service that complements and extends my teaching and studio work.)

This focus thing is hard for me. Really hard. Even in attempting to focus, I find myself all over the map. Am I really such a flittery-gibbit? Oddly enough, I know that one of my strengths is my ability to focus on the task at hand, in hand, on the table top. Once I am in the flow with a concrete activity, it is easy for me to have my headlights on the task and the work gets my total attention. BUT, focus that is conceptual -- to narrow my thinking and planning to a specific end -- rather than a hands-on goal -- like finishing that piece of art on the table -- is more difficult. I don't know what to do with the sea that I am already swimming in. I am trying to transfer the feeling of concrete focus to conceptual focus. What does it feel like in my body, in my spirit?

Last week (the first of the 4-week program) I made a bit of progress. This week I want to do even better. One thing that seems to help is intention (and stating that intention out loud): Today I will spend 4 hours on my Breakthough Goal, and 4 hours on the other work that needs doing, chosing the most important tasks, making a "next action" list and checking them off as I get them done.

Another thing I learned last week is that the more specific and measureable my actions are, the more likely I am to accomplish them --As one of Linda's statistics professors says, "If you can count it, you can do it."  For example, last week I  set a goal to collect 50 names for my mailing list, as I am planning a quarterly newsletter and want to send it to a wide audience. At the Joan Grona sale, I made it a point to ask every single person who walked into the gallery to give me contact information if they would like to receive arts event and workshop information. And it worked. I now have 50 new names to add to my list.

So, off to the studio -- today, to the desk -- focus, focus, focus. I'd love to hear any strategies that help you accomplish your goals, especially those that help to make the fuzzier conceptual ones more like real on-the-table tasks.

More Soy, More Fun

 

Soy you want ta make some pretty cloth?

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I have been fighting technology all day, and making bad puns seems to be the only way I can get back on the sunny side.

Things were a lot more fun this weekend at the Soy Batik workshop at the Southwest School of Art and Craft. Eight participants attended, most of them from outside of San Antonio, and only one person was an APKTM (Artist Previously Known to Me). We were up to our eyeballs in dye and wax and the place reeked like a Chinese restaurant from all that soy wax. (One of the things I miss about beeswax is its luxurious scent. But I don't miss the hasstle of removing it from fabric, as opposed to the hot-water wash required by soy wax.) I think everyone did splendidly, but I always think that, because they do. This group of artists were particularly eager, experimental, able to take an idea and fly with it. Teaching is one of my true delights in life. I share with the "students" all over again the pleasure of the techniques, the sensory joy of the materials, when I see how others react to their "first time" at something new. That seems particularly true with hot wax and painted dye. The colors can't help but make your day.

Marta from Del Rio works on a watery swirl -- inspired perhaps by the creek that will be the focus of an art and science project this year in her home town. She and Linda (in back) are spearheading an exciting study at their art center, housed in the old Fire House.

Here's a sampling of work in progress. I left my camera at home on the second day, so I am waiting to receive promised photos from the participants. Unfortunately some of the emails I collected are impossible to decifer, others are just wrong, so I hope the magnificent 8 involved will see this post and send me the pics.

 

Roberto took a particularly adventurous hands-on course. He gave us all recipe calendars from his sales merchandising -- Nestle's Mexican product line -- La Lechera.  Take my word for it, the Dulce de Leche is fabulous.

 

 

One of Sharon's pieces in progress -- doesn't this look like a fabulous magic carpet? 

Under the Big Quilt

 

The Wanderer/The Dreamer, Susie Monday, 2007 

 

I just filled in my faculty contract for the Houston International Quilt Festival. For those of you reading who are not in the quilter's world, this is an annual journey to Mecca for many a quilt-hearted soul, from traditional to fringe element. Or bead element. Or doll or wearable or art quilty edgy element.  Acres of quilts, acres of quilt-related items, hundreds of classes and workshops.

I was asked to submit a proposal earlier this year for the Mixed Media room, was accepted as a teacher, and so will join a 147-member faculty for the 2008 International Quilt Festival in Houston, October 27-November 2. I'll be teaching a three-hour workshop that is a short.sweet version of my Artists Journey/Artist's Journal workshop on Monday, 6-9 p.m. -- this is at the VERY START of the conference before many have arrived, but I am thrilled to be on the schedule at all. I also will be demo-ing an Inspiration card deck project in the Mixed Media Miscellany Ampler on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2-4 pm abd again on Saturday, 10-noon. I have also submitted a proposal for another demo of my art quilt artist altars. It will be a full week for me, and, judging from my previous visits to the Quilt Festival, quite an inspirational time.

The catalog comes out in July I believe, and at that time you can register for these (and other!) great workshops. If you've never been to festival and like fiber art of any sort, try to make it part of your travel plans this year. My first visit completely shook my understanding and comprehension of the world of the quilt, and subsequent visits continue to do so.

• International
  Quilt Festival/Houston
  October 30-November 2, 2008
  Houston, Texas
  George R. Brown Convention Center
  Order the class catalogue
  

Meanwhile, due to a couple of people changing their plans, I have two openings for the March "Calling All Archetypes" workshop. There is only room left for sleepover participants for one of the studio beds  ($15)  or for the sofa in the living room (free bed), so if you are interested contact me soon. The workshop is March 7,8,9 beginning with a potluck on Friday night. Here's the plan:

Explore the inner team that keeps you going, makes a difference and sometimes holds you back from your best life. Working with exercises inspired by Julia Cameron, Caroline Myss and  the Tarot. Create a unique fiber art quilt altar to one of your personal archetypes, learning fusing techniques, sun-printing with dye and soy milk (weather permitting), photo transfer and machine quilting. Suitable for all levels,  and inspiring for those  beginning an art journey in fiber. Note: Friday night is an optional evening potluck and stayover. $150 if payment is received before March 1, $160 thereafter.

(The photos in the post are examples of a small archetype piece of mine --above-- and participant work in progrss from a recent Archetypes workshop in Arizona.)

 

Playing in Plano

 This art quilt was juried into the DAFA sponsored Federation of Fiber Artists exhibit in Plano -- with about 58 other works, it will be on display through the month at the Plano Art Center. The link will take you to a gallery of all the work in the show.

The title is "Floating Above It," and the work is inspired by the song by Talking Heads song "And She Was"
The lyrics:

“And She Was”

“And she was lying in the grass
And she could hear the highway breathing
And she could see a nearby factory
She's making sure she is not dreaming
See the lights of a neighbor's house
Now she's starting to rise
Take a minute to concentrate
And she opens up her eyes

 “The world was moving and she was right there with it (and she was)
The world was moving she was floating above it (and she was) and she was

“And she was drifting through the backyard
And she was taking off her dress
And she was moving very slowly
Rising up above the earth
Moving into the universe
Drifting this way and that
Not touching ground at all
Up above the yard

“She was glad about it... no doubt about it
She isn't sure where she's gone
No time to think about what to tell them
No time to think about what she's done”
 

 

Hard at play with a bunch of Babylocks. Theralyn Hughes, Pat Schulz in front, Jack Brockett and Ruthie Powers can be spotted in the back.  

 

Just like in the quilt, the wind is whirling up the ridge after a couple of wonderfully warm and sunny days.  Alas, I've been stuck deep inside the studio shuffling papers, filing forms, putting my month in order after playdays with the Federation of Fiber Artists (the Texas coalition of Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and now, Austin) fiber arts groups. The every-other-year conference, hosted by Dallas Association of Fiber Artists, was in Plano this past weekend. I took a couple of half-day workshops -- 3-d shibori techniques with Carol Lane Saber and needle felting with the Baby Lock embellisher with Sara Moe. What I learned: 1. instant set dyes work great for hotle room dye workshops, given the water, batching limitations and 2. I am not immune to the seductive appeal of the needle-felting embellisher.

But I resisted (for now) given that the winter's equipment budget went for a new laser printer and ink jet printer. I figure the Babylock will still be there when I get around to it. I certainly understand why its the toy of the moment for fiber artists. I had believed myself to be immune because I am not particularly interested in adding a lot of fuzzy texture and random frays and textural tornadoes or 3-dimensionality to my work. I like the flat plane of fabric and I prefer to develop a sense of visual  texture with patterned layers of imagery. BUT, when I found out I could actually create fabric out of little bits of other fabric, and that I could quite subtly add an element of pattern hither and yon, I was a goner. This is too much fun. Three hours barely gave us enough time to see Sara's examples and to put a few needles into action. The only downside I can see is that I will break way too many expensive needles figuring out what and how to use this machine, when I do  spring for one.

(Addendum: Deborah Boschert also posted some great photos and information about the Federation conference here.) 

On another front in Plano, we had the Federation exhibition at the Plano Art Center, a wonderful repurposed space with character, tall ceilings and a nice ambiance. Juror (and keynote speaker for the conference) Joan Schulze chose 6 awards of merit, among them Laura Jeanne Pitts, Leslie Jenison and Leslie Klein of FASA.  (Was there another San Antonian awarded an honor -- I can't remember!) Anyhow, I counted myself among good company.

Below: Leslie Klein, Leslie Klein and Martha Grant, Leslie Jenison, group shots of happy artists Rachel Edward, Yvette Little, Jean Peffers and my  art quilt amid a crowd.

 

MORE at the show: Pat Schulz's piece inspired by her travel in Guatemala, Pat, husband Gerald and Rachel; Laura Jeanne Pitt's stunning art cloth and Lisa Kerpoe's layered art cloth is peeking out behind the talkers.

 

Deconstructed Screenprinting with Kerr Grabowski

 

One of Liz Napier's deconstructed pieces in progress-- stitch to be added! 

 

Kerr with a workshop participant Laura Jeanne Pitts' work behind her.

 

FASA sponsored an inspiring and energizing workshop this past weekend with Kerr Grabowski. Kerr is known for her lively and creative  art-to-wear, as well as her well-honed techniques -- in particular what she calls "deconstructed" screenprinting. Her methods for using a screen to transfer textural images are fun, freeing and allow for lots of personal expression. All of the participants made wonderful samples and yardage, and I won't be surprised to see how far each person takes the ideas. Kerr is a generous and supportive instructor, willing to share what she has learned from years of experimentation, so that we all benefit from her experience and expertise. Take one of her classes if it ever comes your way! All of us at this one (in the perfect venue at the Southwest School of Art and Craft) were clamoring for another next year -- and plans are already underway to make that happen.

Here are some additional pictures of the workshop and some of the work -- sorry if I get the artist name wrong, just send me an email for corrections. I don't have time to upload all 50 photos (and that might task your interest), but Kerr promised to publish others on her site as well. 

Mary Ann Johnson's exploration of texture and shape.

Diane Sandler's yummy piece of work using deconstructed screenprinting and drawing with dye. 

Creativity Coaching?

Line Collection, 2008

I have a question for all of you: I have been thinking a great deal about my "mission" and my "business." Although making art is very important to me, even more important (in a life mission kind of way) is my commitment to helping others develop and strengthen their own creative and unique "voices." That's why I teach in the ways I do, and why I usually end up doing the other consulting in arts ed fields that I do. 

I make, exhibit and sell art in order to have credibility to my main "audience," which at this time in my life is other artists, often it seems, other women artists who work in fibers. And, because personally, I NEED to make the art I make to feel whole and fulfilled at a spiritual level. But, in honest truth, my driving motivation is not making the cover of Art in America or hanging on the walls of the American Museum of Craft or turning up on the Today Show as some kind of superartist. I don't have that kind of ambition or singlemindedness! I have entered enough juried shows to know that I can sometimes get in and that it has more to do with what show and what juror than it does with the quality of my work. I have a style and a body of work that is evolving fast enough and consistently enough that I don't feel stale or stuck. And I think what I do is a pretty good example of an artist finding her style and voice.

As I sort through the expenses and income of the past year (and I do need to make a living doing this or some other work) I am thrilled to find that the workshops here at El Cielo Studio have been successful both creatively and financially. And, that those workshops that are less technique oriented and more conceptually dealing with artistic and creative growth are the ones that seem to be the most in demand.

I have had the idea of perhaps also offering some kind of "creativity coaching" or maybe even an on-line course that would help emerging and developing artists locate, develop and strengthen their one-of-a-kind visions -- finding a style or "voice" that has at its foundation their unique perceptions and process of work. The point would be to move some of these emerging artists more quickly along the path from being dabblers and workshop junkies and pattern followers to finding their own most powerful areas of creative "production," whether their goal is selling, exhibiting or just for personal enjoyment. My work with children and teachers for the past 35 years has had this kind of approach at its core, based on my early work in the  "Integration of Abilities"course,  the children's theater work, and late Learning about Learning, with my mentors Jearnine Wagner and Paul Baker.

What do you think? How could I make this work? Do you think there is a potential market for this kind of coaching? It would differ from traditional coaching in that much of the work would be hands-on assignments, with the "clients" sending  images of their work (or posting them) for feedback, direction, analysis and critique. I think that some kind of "group setting" for this kind of work will be best, because sometimes the things people need to see and recognize about their personal approach and individual style is best seen in contrast to what others are doing. So some form of on-line group with lists, photos to post etc, seems called for. However, with a recent book study group that I set up on the social networking site  NING, it's been obvious that MANY people (of a certain age anyway) have a resistance to using  more complex internet interfaces, and don't feel comfortable about poking their way around to learn new interactions. Maybe an orientation session would solve that problem?

Anyhow, this is as excited as I have felt in a long time about a possibility for my work. I'm getting those tingly little feelings that either mean it's a good idea, or that whether it is or not, I better try out a version somehow and see how it flies.

 I plan to participate in a new online course/group, the Artist Breakthrough Program,  offered by Alyson Stanfield, ArtBizCoach, with this idea as the core product to plan during a 28-day online format (if I get accepted). That should give me more experience in the nuts and bolts and possibilities of the online group, too.

Anyhow, I'd love your feedback and comments. If you were going to take part in this kind of thing, how would you like to see it work?

 

Texture collection, 2008 

Meanwhile, back from future plans to the world of almost-right-now, I have a new session of Independent Study starting at the Southwest School of Art and Craft. I am planning on opening each session of studio work with a short creativity lesson session and a quickie demo of a new or underused surface design technique. The school's facilities for doing large dye and print work are superb -- each participant will have a full 4 foot by 8 foot print table for her or his work. If you live in the San Antonio area, consider signing up for this 6-week course on Friday mornings, through Feb. 28.  (And there are a few spots left still in the next two El Cielo Workshops -- Feb. and March. )

Artist Journey/Artist Journal

(back to front) Cher, Dian and Leila work on their creative maps. 

 

This weekend saw a new reiteration of the Journal workshop -- the third year begins at El Cielo Workshop. It was a full house, a new moon and a wonderful group of caring, sharing women...again. I am blessed to have this space, this time, these skills and an audience of co-creators for my quirky kind of teaching. What I like best: the small size of the group, the all-day/all-night rhythm, the pacing of working and playing, eating and talking. The sharing of trials, tribulations, victories and strategies for living a creative life. Playing with materials, new and old.

Friday night began with my co-instructor Sue Cooke showing us all how to make a small lovely Coptic bound journal, with decorative papers, real bookbinding stitches and all the right amount of patience. Saturday and Sunday brought the group through pathways toward a way to use journaling in the way that makes the most sense for each individual, and along the way we all worked on studio rituals, goals for the year and recognizing what must be given up to accomplish those goals. (Ah yes, the old 24-hours-in-a-day reality.) Here are a few of the mixed media Journal Boxes made by those present. (click on the thumbnails for a larger view) In order, boxes by Heather, Sharon, Leila, Cher, Dian. I love open-ended forms, as you can see. The same instructions and a stash of materials, a few simple kindergarten cut-and-paste instructions, and look how different these minds are!

Here are a few more in-process pictures.

 

 

If you are interested in being part of the next El Cielo workshop artist's retreat, call or email me as soon as possible as each workshop is limited to seven at the most (and a few people have already reserved). Coming up: 

THE HEART OF ART

February 9-10, 2008
Saturday & Sunday
$160, most supplies included. Accomodations, free to $30. $150 if paid by Feb. 1.
Romance your creative self with a focus on heart energy. Try your hand at mixed-media valentines to yourself, chocolate as edible art, and heart chakra mediations and movement to inspire an art cloth scapular  as heart armor/amor. Where our passion is, so lies our potential for genius, for inspired work, for speaking in the voice that is truely your own. The work we do from our hearts surpasses that from any kit, any class, any technique. Start the journey of identifying that one-of-a-kind self that longs to have its say in the world.

CALLING ALL ARCHETYPES

March 7-9, 2008
Friday evening to Sunday
$160, most supplies included. Accomodations, free to $30. $150 if paid by March. 1.
Explore the inner team that keeps you going, makes a difference and sometimes holds you back from your best life. Create a unique fiber art quilt altar to one of the archetypes. learning fusing techniques. Suitable for all levels, great for those  beginning an art journey. Note: Friday night is an optional evening potluck and stayover for a small additional fee of $10.

And don't forget: 

SOMETHING SPECIAL: Workshop in Tuscany

March 16-22 in Lucca, Italy.