From Here to Tokyo Electron

 

This beautiful exhibit of work by members of the Austin Fiber Artists (and Fiber Artists of San Antonio members who were invited to submit, also) at Tokyo Electron in Austin last night. Here are some photos generously shared by Dorte Weber whose recycled plastic weaving is also in the exhibit.  (One of her pieces is the striped piece here on the wall, but you can see much better pieces of this body of work on her website!)

Here's my Pajaro/Sirena and a piece by Georgia Zwartes.

Georgia Zwartes' Austin Autumn

 The exhibit will be up for several weeks and open to the public during business hours. For more details, see AFA blog.

How to Make an Art Quilt -- at the Southwest School of Art

Starting today at Southwest School of Art in San Antonio (and the word is that there is still room for 3 students).

If you're on a textile path of your own, this class is structured with plenty of independent work time -- and the emphasis is on design process and creativity, rather than one or another sets of technical skills. I'll be demonstrating my own approach to making an art quilt, you'll make at LEAST four small journal quilts and a larger work -- no patterns provided, just some fun approaches to getting it out of your mind and onto the wall.

2369 | Art Quilts

Take your quilting skills into a more personal realm or your art skills into a new medium in this introduction to a variety of techniques for making wall art from fabric. If you have been exploring dyeing and printing, here's the how-to for putting your one-of-a-kind fabrics into art. Or if you've got a stash of cloth or scraps from traditional quilting take your skills into personal narrative. This class will introduce you to piecing and fusing fabrics, design and construction approaches that insure a personal creative vision, and time on the sewing machine as you learn various methods to free motion quilting. Each student will make a series of small journal quilts and work on at least one larger project. Sewing machine optional; please see SSA website for a list of materials. 


Level: All Levels 
Instructor: Susie Monday 
Dates: Mon, 2/4/2013 - 3/25/2013 | Time: 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM Studio: Design Studio | Campus: Navarro 

 PS: I just counted and there is room for one more participant at the last El Cielo workshop of the year: Fearless Sketching, co-taught with artist Sarah Jones, on the weekend of April 12-14. If you are interested send me an email through the contact form on the sidebar!

 

Austin Fiber Artists Exhibit Opening & More

 

Artwork shown (Left-right):Georgia Zwartjes, unidentified, Oscar Silva, Susie Monday

I've a large piece in the Austin Fiber Artists annual exhibition. If you are in Austin, please stop in at the opening on Wednesday!

 

 Another opening the same night in San Antonio:

What: Vive La Difference: 13 Artists, 13 Vision
When: Opening Reception Wednesday, February 6, 2013, exhibit runs through March 31
Where: Weston Centre, 112 E. Pecan St., San Antonio, TX (Free parking in Weston garage on Soledad south of Pecan.)
Why:  Stunning art in a stunning location and 10% of proceeds from sales go to the Make a Wish Foundation. 
Who: 

Pam Ameduri
Lyn Belisle
Lauren Browning
Janice Elaine Cooper

Nancy L de Wied

Charles Ingram

Lisa Kerpoe
Luis Lopez
Ruth Mulligan
Steven Smith

Scott Vallance

Doerte Weber-Seale

Cody Vance
Deborah Wight


Contact Lisa Kerpoe for more information at lisa@lisakerpoe.com if you have any questions.


 

 

 

 

Who is an artist?

We're engaged in looking at our paths as artists this weekend at El Cielo Studio. It's a large group and a diverse one: some of the artists here are painters, mixed media artists, stitchers, program developers and administrators, educators and curriculum writers, potters and movement healers. We are all artists. 

Seth Godin has a manifesto recently published, "We are all artists now". It may make you mad, it might make you joyous; it will certainly make you think. I was a little irritated at first by the "we are all artists" perspective from a "market expert" (even though I do think we are ALL ARTISTS by birthright) because it seemed to dismiss all the hours and work in polishing my skills and mastering my media.

But, the more I read it, the more I am challenged to make sure that my art has the emotional risk, the depth and the meaning that it has the potential to be. Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead. 

Read it, and let me know what you think.  

(And while you're at it, here's another manifesto from Hugh McLeod, the guy who doodles on the back of business cards.)

Exhibit at Palo Verde in California

Here's a link to a local news article (almost correct says the curator!) about our Art Cloth Network exhibit in California:

> http://www.pvnews.com/articles/2013/01/10/arts_and_entertainment/a_e1.txt

ANd an excerpt:

The only theme of “24 x 80” is size, Weir said. Each of the artists from the Art Cloth Network began with a silk banner, then used dyeing, printing or laminating to create moving, eye-catching pieces alive with sparkling or reflective foils.

One of the fiber artists, Cindy McConnell, created a slide show to accompany the exhibition that follows the process of making one of her three-dimensional silk boxes. Along with the slides are a display of printmaking equipment and a selection of about a dozen different textile, fiber and mixed media items that people can touch.

It’s the tactile aspect that draws Weir to fiber art.

“The touch, the feel, the fluidity, the fact that it takes any kind of treatment appeals to me,” she said. “You can paint it, dye it, burn it, stitch through it or wad it up. It’s a medium that we’re all completely comfortable with. We all wear clothing and sleep on sheets. We don’t have to search far for inspiration or materials, they’re everywhere.”

If you would like to be part of the group -- a really rewarding experience in my creative life -- see the entry requirements and membership duties and fun on the website at http://artclothnetwork.com/join.html.

At our last Art Cloth Network meeting -- and yes, we do accept male members. Russ must have been taking the photo!

Snapguide How-To

 

From a message on Quilting Arts list from Jane Davila:

"Has anyone heard of Snapguide? I'm a recent devotee and have just posted my second guide there. It's a website and app that hosts tutorials, or guides as they call them, on a wide variety of topics. The audience is growing exponentially (over a million in less than a year), and unlike Pinterest, the guides can only be posted by the creators not brought from other sources (eliminating pesky copyright quandaries). But like many social networks you can favorite, share, follow, and comment. The interface to create a guide is elegant and very simple. You can add videos and photos along with text for your guides.

So my thinking is the stronger and more interesting the guides are there, the bigger the audience will become, attracting more high quality guides, attracting more readers, and so on. It was started by some big names in tech and has financial backing from some very savvy tech investors. It is viewable on the web and as an app on the iPhone or the iPad....I wrote a blog post about it and included the links to the 2 guides I wrote. One guide is to make matchbook art notepads and the other is how to transfer images using Citrasolv natural solvent.

I too have made a little snapguide on using some iPad apps to make snowflake designs (great for thermofax designs, too).

I really like the site and understand their financial need to make it work as a social platform (Hey, I don't listen to Seth Godin for nothing -- his STARTUP SCHOOL podcast is amazing if you think about your art business as a start-up). I admit, I would find it great to be able to use Snapguide for private guides as an option, so I coul duse it as an online course!

The interface is really fun, fast, painless and idiot-proof (I am said idiot), and the format makes it easy to use just the right amount of text with your images. Take a look! Add your own ideas, too. I do think they will make it to scale with this idea because the interface is so easy, so nice to look at and, by now, there are a crazy wild assortment of guides being posted!

Here's the link to my Snapguide -- http://snapguide.com/guides/design-an-ipad-snowflake/

 

Scouting the Art of Service

Our team from Alamo Colleges International Program has spent the week with 32 students and mentors from six Central American countries and another 10 from two San Antonio high schools. We started with workshops and tours at Bamberger Ranch and the LBJ National Historic Park, moved on to a day of investigations and invention at The Pearl (at The Center for Architecture), then the CAYA youth spent time with host families and at the schools. Today we are touring the state's Historical Museum, the Capitol and Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

The theme for our week of exchange is service in action in public and private sectors, what it takes to be a changemaker, and sharing stories that have made a difference-- the stories of both public figures and private entrepreneurs, civic activists and citizens, old and young. We've explored the danger of a single story, and what kids can imagine doing today to start solving problems they see in their communities. This youth ambassador program is funded through the State Department and gives young leaders three weeks of powerful experiences in the U.S. These kids started in Washington,then spent record-low temp days in Michigan, followed by our days here in the 70s and 80s! If nothing else, they've seen diversity in weather.

Some of the art projects we did: designing logos, dream posters and towers, designing t- shirts and screen- printing them, writing poems and sharing stories, discussing issues, problems and writing remedies, cures and recipes for solutions.

Growing a Garment and Self-Assembly

How about this approach to art-to-wear? Suzanne Lee is using bacteria to grow cellulose fabric.

“What I’m looking for is a way to give material the qualities that I need. So what I want to do is say to a future [insect], ‘Spin me a thread. Align it in this direction. Make it hydrophobic. And while you’re at it, just form it around this 3D shape.’”

 

Here's a blog with a complex discussion about bioengineering and replicating nature's self-assembly between Lee and Skylar Tibbits, both TED Fellows.

And Tibbits' YouTube videos.

How to Get Unstuck. Part 2

A video suggested by Rachel!

 

I polled other artists about their unsticking strategies and what a flurry of responses! I love all these ideas and comments. Thanks to you all and anyone else whom I missed on this roundup -- I'll keep adding. This is starting to look like a great article.

Michele Lasker says: 

I have been watching the multitude of DVDs I bought from Interweave and Double Trouble for inspiration and it seems to be working. It's hard to get going after the holidays.

I find that when I get stuck it's typically because there's been an interruption in my normal flow of work. usually it's because I just finished a major project (a typical project for me takes eight months to a year, so finishing one is a Very Big Deal) and need some time to get my head unwrapped from the project - there's a bit of a grieving process as I come to terms with the end of my (working) relationship with the piece, and I usually feel pretty emotionally drained by the time I finish.

Tien Chiu says:
(Website: http://www.tienchiu.com
Personal blog: http://www.tienchiu.com/category/blog-posts)

I typically do two things:

(1) Embrace boredom. That sounds really bizarre, but I've found that when my Muse has fled, it's because she needs a vacation. So I accept that I'm going to be bored and relatively unmotivated for a couple ofdays - it's part of the natural creative cycle for me. So instead of kicking myself about it, I let myself wander aimlessly about for a few days. Read books, clean up the kitchen, etc. I loathe being bored, but sometimes I need "time off" to recharge. In my experience trying to jumpstart faster doesn't work and just gets me more frustrated.

(2) Once I start feeling intensely bored (as opposed to bored and depressed), I start flipping through my idea notebook (mine is online, but they can be physical too), books on technique, books of swatches from sample exchanges, etc. I think of it as "teasing the Muse" - if you roll enough balls of tinfoil past a young cat, sooner or later its tail is going to start twitching and it will pounce. I figure the idea notebook and other idea sources make great balls of tinfoil for my Muse, so I simply parade ideas past her until something catches her/my fancy.

And after that, it's off again!


Barb Hilts says:

Me, I clean, which I do after every big project, Christmas included. Cleaning, puts things in order for another project. Out of the cleaning, ideas resurface.

Creative blocks are a period of growth. A dear friend of mine would suggest to work through the blocks in any creative medium, and your new path will emerge. 

From Barbara Schneider: (www.barbaraschneider-artist.com, www.barbaraschneider-artist.blogspot.com)

I watch DVDs of other artists and try to use that time to go to Art Institute or somewhere like that. The Art 21 series on PBS is wonderful. I think there are 7 seasons worth of those with interviews and videos of artists in all kinds of mediums. It's a great way to see a variety of things and get out of your head for awhile. 

And then I clean the studio which always leads to something.

And Lisa Kerpoe chimes in from nearby:

Ha! We're thinking along the same lines. I just did a blog on creativity blocks and was planning to follow up next week with ways to overcome them! My favorite? I keep a drawer of unfinished items. Things that are fairly far along, but for some reason I just never finished them. I pull those out and start playing. That usually generates ideas that then work their way into other projects.
Lisa Kerpoe
lisa@lisakerpoe.com
http://www.lisakerpoe.com
http://lisakerpoe.blogspot.com

And from Rachel in Arizona

This helped me when I was in the grip of the "Oh but I can't do art because..." monster and it gets me out of places where I'm not making any art, and I don't know why. It has also helped with the times I've gotten stuck because everything I make looks godawful and fit only to line the cat box. 

I read a book called Art and Fear, and it made me all indignant because in it somewhere it seemed to hint that I make a lot of excuses to avoid doing art. But but but my excuses are -- er my reasons, yeah that's it -- are all good exc-- reasons. I'm not feeling well! I'm feeling happy, so I should celebrate! I'm tired. I'm bored. I need to go to the store or I ought to clean the refrigerator. And on and on. And I began to have the sneaking suspicion that maybe I could somehow put all these important excuses aside for a little while and just make something. 

That alone didn't quite get me going, but I think it opened me up so that when someone sent me a link to a Youtube of writer Neil Gaiman's commencement speech to the graduating class at an art college, and I heard the following, a light came on and I started looking at art as something I maybe could do anyway: 

"Remember, whatever discipline you're in, whether you're a musician or a photographer, a fine artist or a cartoonist, a writer, a dancer, a singer, a designer, whatever you do, you have one thing that's unique: you have the ability to make art. And for me, and for so many of the people I've known, that's been a lifesaver, the ultimate lifesaver; it gets you through good times and it gets you through the other ones.

"Sometimes life is hard; things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do: make good art. I'm serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by a mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Someone on the Internet thinks what you're doing is stupid or evil or it's all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow; eventually time will take the sting away and it doesn't even matter. Do what only you can do best: make good art. 

"Make it on the bad days. Make it on the good days too. And . . . while you're at it, make your art. Do the stuff that only you can do." 

Or maybe it's just going back to that speech and listening to Neil reading that aloud. :) But sometimes a reminder of why I want to dye cloth is exactly what I need to sweep all the rubbish aside. 

JC at Wellstrong Gallery suggests:

The best advice I've received for coping with writer's block is to write anything. Write a shopping list, a thank-you note, etc. Writing a journal is different, because that's a continuation. Journals do it for some people, but not me. It needs to be something new, and original (the shopping list has to be considered (in its nature) to work, e.g., if for food, for a new recipe, rather than milk, eggs, bread).

I do the same thing to get unstuck in the studio. I have what I call "mindless sewing projects". It could be an old project that has all of the conceptualizing done but needs finishing work (new and original isn't as important, because just handling the art gets me in an art frame of mind), or it could be a "crafts" project like a baby quilt. Or maybe it's prep work like dyeing etc. fabrics. Basically, working is working, and if I just keep working, things start to flow and the ideas and inspiration just come.

My biggest block is a cleaned up workspace. I try to leave something that's ready to just pick and get going on, either on my table, or in a milk crate ready to dump out. That way there isn't any of that breaking into a tidy space reluctance.

And from June Steegstra

I find reading through my books (I have an extensive library) and magazines gives me lots of ideas to addapt for my own.  I usually have two or three projects that are waiting for me to begin.

Su Butler chimed in:

 I remedied it by going to a meeting with people who do entirely different work that I do...I am primarily a weaver and dyer, but the people at the meeting were quilters, paper makers, felters, thread painters etc.  It was terribly inspiring and really invigorated my creative senses.  I am working on a piece entirely out of my usual medium and adjusting to the learning curve, but facing it with tremendous freedom because I honestly don't know what I am doing wrong....and that reminds me of how I need to feel when creating without my own "world"........ and I am feeling more and more creative as a result.   I call this "shock therapy"....introduce something so new and unknown that only creativity can make it happen....even in my ideas are old hat to someone else, they are new to me and it is very helpful and satisfying.

Hope everyone can find a renewal of their creative freedom this year!
 www.subudesigns.com

How to Get Unstuck.

Two of the Hill Country Angels, part of an on-going series of flying funky angels (alterego me doing a freedom/escape flyover)

I walked into the studio yesterday after a prolonged time away -- I've been either sewing already designed pieces, finishing up final bits like facings and hanging sleeves and final touches of hand embroidery, doing other art-related activities like teaching or well, eating and hanging out with family and all the other fun that holidays bring. My partner had an extra long break from teaching at Northwest Vista College, so the pleasant and necessary distractions were plenty until she went back to the classroom yesterday.

Consequently, I found myself stumbling around, unable to focus and at loss for a starting place. It seemed a lot easier to do the business of art, especially the part that has to do with roaming around on Facebook or Pinterest.

BUT, with intention in mind.

I turned off the screens and considered my options. 

I have a few completely new ideas I want to explore for some entries to exhibits, but the momentum to go from flat stalled out to full speed ahead was daunting and scary. With relief, I realized that I could get back into the design swing of things by working on a commission piece that is a continuation of a series of flying angels over landscapes. A collector wants a piece for a wedding gift -- an angel over Monterrey, Mexico. It's one of the reasons I promote and adhere to working in not just one, but several, series that stretch over years of work.

Although the deadline for this commission is further out than the other new pieces, I know that if I can get in action quickly, get my hands and mind working with the actual materials, and not just the idea of materials, in the end I'll make more efficient use of my studio time.

Coming along just fine:

The first two photos show my sketches on the wall -- these were done using projected images; the angel from a previous piece (for size and placement mostly, she will change), the famous Saddleback Mountain profile of Monterrey and a Joshua Tree silhouette -- this is one of the area's signature plants.

The photo above is a rough audition of some of the colors I plan to use -- the view will be a sunset late twilight view of the mountain with cityscape below, and angel above. This is coming together very nicely!

Moral of the story: turn off the screen, dig into colors, and go with what you know as the doorway into what you don't know.


 

The Power of Imagination

If you have ever doubted the power of imagination, take a look at this video about artist

Janet Echelman. 

Here are the lessons I took from this video:

Perseverence: Turned down by seven art schools, she kept on her path

Observe: Pay attention to the people, skills and resources at hand.

Just say yes: Did not knowing how to do something ever stop this woman?

and most of all

IMAGINE. Possibilities, solutions, collaborations, successes, the future.

 

AND, guess what, Janet Echelman is coming to San Antonio as the keynote speaker for the Surface Design Conference. You can attend by joining SDA and paying the conference fee, or wait and see if there are space-available tickets open closer to the date. There will be numerous fiber arts exhbits, events, workshops and all kinds of textile and fiber adventure going on at the conference. Dates, June 3-14, including pre and post workshops. 

 

 

For more about Echelman, see these other videos and links:

  1. Janet Echelman Sculpture

  2. Janet Echelman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Echelman
  3. Janet Echelman is an American artist specializing in public art installations and sculpture. She graduated from Harvard University in 1987 with Highest Honors in ...
    Major works - Gallery - Upcoming Projects - Awards [8]

  4. "She Changes" Sculpture by Janet Echelman - YouTube
    ► 5:36► 5:36
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7VtnkMzxPs
    Oct 16, 2006 - 6 min - Uploaded by jechelman
    This newly completed sculpture commission by Janet Echelman, changes shape in the wind. 160 feet tall, the ...

  5. "Her Secret is Patience" by Artist Janet Echelman - YouTube
    ► 6:34► 6:34
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rwy6IS0cHo
    Oct 14, 2009 - 7 min - Uploaded by jechelman
    "Her Secret is Patience" is a new monumental sculpture, completed in April 2009, by artist Janet Echelman ..

From the Museum

Here are just a few of the images I took at the Museum in Fairbanks at the University. I've captioned with the names of the artists. The ones I've selected are images that feed my imagination and give me a sense of story -- something I try for in my own work.

Contemporary mask

Sara Tabbart, carved wood, detail of "Winter Lake"Dance stick, Kay Hendrickson (Qiawigar), 1982

 

Gut parka, Siberian Yupak, St. Lawrence IslandFox, Forehead mask, Cup'ik, re 1946

Snow berm at flood plain park, this past week

Here We Are, iPads in Hand

And fun, indeed was had by all.

In progress:

Me, and Elements members plus one: Charlotte Bird, Kathie Cook, Margo Klass (back of head), Ree Nancarrow (below) and Margo. Not shown, Jerri Roberts. 

A GREAT GIFT:  Raven tile by (and with) ceramicist Nancy Hausle-Johnson.

Here are a few photos of some of the iPad art made by some of the participants.

 These are all just little samples. In order, the artists: Kathie, Margo, Charlotte, two in a series by Ree.

Have iPad will Travel

Teaching this week in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the weather a balmy ( for them) 16 above zero today -- and weather above freezing yesterday! But whatever the temperature, the people are warm, welcoming and, with six participants in the workshop, we're open and eager to play digitally.

We've covered a number of journaling apps today, then, went on to drawing and sketching, with a few fun specialty art apps thrown in for good measure (check out Tile Deck and Doodle Dandy). Tomorrow we'll be looking at various ways to create images for thermofax screen designs, and a bit on photo editing, then close with using designs as direct prints, for digital printing services, and finish up with to make some fast notes, like this one, on da.vinci.

More photos of the group and our work tomorrow!

Where Do You Start with Art? Part 3

Drawing in a new medium might be your inventive step. Think outside your usual constraints.

INVENTION!

The next step in making a study (see the past two posts for more information) is the big, fun one of actually doing something with all that brainstorming, experience and research. This is, of course, the point of it all. But even if you shortcircuit the PRIMING and just take one or two of my previous suggestions, you will end up with a much deeper, more resonant and powerful piece of work in the invention stage. 

If you have the time and inclination -- and the deadline isn't looming -- here are some of the INVENTION exercises we use with kids, and that I use in my fiber arts creativity courses. These activities may not be exactly in your comfort zone, but that's the point.  Whatever textile art (or other art) you create after playing in these ponds will be rich, rich, rich.

INVENTION

After the priming experiences, choose and play with materials in one or more of the following ways, and then express your own version or personal definition of the subject as uniquely as possible. You may have other suggestions or ideas for media or genres. This is just a wildman version of ways you can take your ideas! 

Movement Play

Use some or all of your bodies and/or locomotion (movement from one spot to another) to explore the subject, and then create one or more of the following:

  • ·         Physical games
  • ·         Dances
  • ·         Pantomimes
  • ·         Dramas
  • ·         Improvisations

 

2-D Play

Use the subject to create one or more of the following:

  • ·         Drawings -- on canvas, paper and fabric
  • ·         Paintings -- on canvas, paper and fabric
  • ·         Collages -- fibric, mixed media, paper cloth
  • ·         Prints -- screen, stencils, stamps
  • ·         Art Quilts
  •   Art Cloth
  • ·         Maps, graphs or diagrams
  • ·         Stories or poems related to your drawings

 

3-D Play

Use the subject to create one or more of the following:

  • ·         Puppets
  • ·         Masks
  • ·         Models
  • ·         Sculptures
  • ·         Constructions
  • ·         Stories, dramas, environments or exhibits related to your creations

 

Word Play

Generate words related to the subject and use the words to create:

  • ·         Stories (written or tape recorded)
  • ·         Poems
  • ·         Tongue twisters
  • ·         Monologues/dialogues
  • ·         Slogans
  • ·         Invented words and definitions
  • ·         Riddles
  • ·         Books or a library of books 

Tech Play

Use technology to create with the subject, creating one or more of these:

  • ·         Slide shows of photographs
  • ·         Transparencies on the overhead projector
  • ·         Videos
  • ·         Animations 
  •   Digital books
  •   Photos to print on fabric

If you'd like to have a guide through this process, and you live somewhere near San Antonio, consider taking my course at the Southwest School of Art. The first four weeks of the course will be devoted to Making a Study.

Next blog: REFLECTING

Where do You (Start) Finish with Art? Part 4

The final step that we artists need to take with our art is that of REFLECTION. This is the step that often is shortchanged, but it can give us a chance to take the next best step.

FEEDBACK

We tend (I do, anyway) to rush ahead to the next thing without taking time to notice the feelings of satisfaction, of completion, of learning from the process. To simply bask in the sense of rest that completing a big project can bring us. It's the creative engine equivalent of the corpse pose at the end of a vigorous and challenging yoga practice.

Reflecting on what one has done can be as simple as asking "what worked?" and "what didn't?" Not jsut about the final product, but about the process. Did the timing work for you? Did you have a lot of stops and starts, and i so, did they add or subtract from your sense of satisfaction.

IMPACT

It's a good time to get sahre and get feedback from others as well. To notice the impact that the work has on others. Is this a piece that has power and meaning to others? Even if you don't have an exhibition opportunity, can you share it with a critique group, some othr artists? Or anyone whose opinion your respect and trust. What could have made this piece of work more interesting, more powerful, more you. Is it distinct or similar to work that others are doing? And if that is true, what would make it more your own?

Making it with Art Cloth Network

I belong to several big national fiber art groups, a couple of regional/local groups and one special art cloth group, national in scope, but limited in size. ACN offers a really particular and personal experience to its members. And, while the requirements are fairly demanding, very specific and targeted for the encouragement of making complex, beautiful fabrics, the actual breadth of members work is astounding and inspiring.

Its not a group for those who want lots of benefits without putting in time and effort, but the friendships and support that this group have built for me are remarkable and enlightening, despite the occasional fracas and foment that comes with the territory (herding cats, right?)

Jeanne Sisson, membership chair, sent this out today. Look at the info, the member pages, and if it seems to be something that appeals, follow up with a request for information.

From Jeanne:
The Art Cloth Network is open for new members! If you'd like information about the group, see our website at http://artclothnetwork.com.

The members of the Art Cloth Network find that the opportunities for community, conversation, sharing of techniques, inspiration, and resources benefit our art and creativity. We have recently increased our membership limits to 30 members in good standing, including those on formal leave. When the number falls below 30, we accept new member applications. We currently have openings for up to eight new members.
The current deadline for membership applications is March 15, 2013, and you can send in your application materials at any time prior to the deadline. You will be notified by April 15, 2013 whether your application has been approved.

Send a request to jeanne@jeannesisson.com in order to receive detailed information and application instructions (form website).

INTERMISSION

Just to keep you going on this set of posts about making a study. Here's the reason. Here's the starting point. Make a study to figure this out, and you will never have a bad day at work. From Ruprecht Studios, beautiful images, beautiful message.

For the fullscreen on Face book, link here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151397745507577&set=vb.150082065062250&type=2&theater

 

Where Do You Start with Art? Part 2

 A trip to a museum to see and photograph (if allowed) related art could be a "big experience."

MORE WAYS TO PRIME THE MIND. See the last blog post to figure out what and why-for this is all about!

Research.

Start with a list of questions about your topic. Write as many as you can. Review your questions and, if possible, discover additional questions to ask and answer about the subject -- perhaps by sharing with a group. Use one or more of these methods to track down answers, possible answers and even just hints of answers to your questions:

Search the internet.

Look in the library.

Read related books or magazine articles.

Interview someone.

Create a survey.

Experiment.

Check out YouTube or other online sources of video or audio.

After researching, draw, write about and/or graph what you learned, what was most important.

Generate ideas.

Use your imaginations about the subject in these and other ways:

Daydream

Ask "what if" questions.

Brainstorm or mind-map

Consider the subject from as many viewpoints as possible

Think WAYYYY outside the box

Big experience.

Design for yourself, if possible, a large, concrete, “unforgettable” experience related to the subject or theme of your study. Examples:

An excursion (can be imaginary)

A live animal

A live demonstration/performance 

Participation in a big group or collaborative event

A visit to a museum or park or historical site that gives you ideas about your theme

See a movie or documentary related to your theme, if possible on the big screen!

PS: Dr. Cynthia Herbert (my friend Cindy) added two more great ideas to her list. Since she inspired this whole series, I want to include the ideas, so look below in the comment section -- and add your own ideas, too.

The next post will feature ideas for INVENTION.