I just received my latest copy of the SAQA journal which had a great article by Cindy Grisdela outlining Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi's (http://carolynlmazloomi.com/) keynote address. Dr. Mazloomi is a highly influential, African American quilter, historian, author and curator. In the '80's, she started the Women of Color Quilters Network, http://wcqn.org/.
Dr. Mazloomi is a storyteller in her quiltmaking and tells the story of people of color around the world. Her quilts are inspiring and definitely thought provoking. On her website, she also offers wonderful portrait quilts of Billie Holiday and Bob Marley. I particularly enjoyed the black and white quilt scenes available as silkscreen prints. Just lovely and very ornate.
I was slated to teach some work that I have been doing with drawing on fabric at the SAQA Makerspace event this past April but was unable to attend the conference due to a back injury. So, I was especially on the look out for the 2016 conference highlights presented in the SAQA Journal.
Reflections on "Being a Good Artist"
Let me just start by saying that the title of her talk, "Being a Good Artist is Not Enough" is so appropriate in this day and age. Her thoughts about having a thick skin for rejection and the courage to keep trudging on is so important for young artists and even for those of us who have been at it a long time. For me, art and the art of creating has been a way of self-expression since my childhood which is over 40 years now. Check out my ongoing art inventory HERE. After a while, you don't care about the rejections. The folks that react negatively to your work just don't get it and that's perfectly okay. What I have realized though over the years, is the need and the responsibility to get out there and share your work. So, I agree with Dr. Mazloomi about having a thick skin.
Separating yourself from your work
Dr. Mazloomi talked about separating yourself emotionally from your work in order to move on past mistakes/flaws in the art, criticisms, etc. I like this approach to looking at artwork. In recent years, I've done some things that have really helped me move on with my career in making art. By separating myself from my art quilting, I've explored different mediums such as photography, surface design and painting on canvas. By separating myself from my art quilting, I've been able to think and be more fluid in other mediums. This has been crucial because I've discovered other parts of myself that the art quilting process did not bring out.
Producing art every day
As an extension to this theme, for the past two years, I've also engaged in the daily art making movement. This movement is wonderful in that it encourages you to be more productivity and to be more fluid in your art expression.
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| "Bohemia" digital art quilt (2015) |
Committing to some kind of art practice each day enables you to let go and just create. For me, it has been a cathartic experience that I continue to this day. While I don't create in my studio everyday, I still do create several pieces of art a week. Most of the times, I'm working on collections around a theme. This keeps me fluid in the language of art making.
Remembering why you create
From Cindy's article, Dr. Mazloomi referred to creating art as a spiritual thing and as self-expression. I think this is by far the most important thought. After being on the competitive quilt circuit for 10 years and creating for 14 years, this very thought has brought me to rethink why I do a lot of things in my art life. Like many who start in art, I had dreams of fame and making money from my art. I've since learned that I don't have to run my art like I run my business. These are two very different worlds in my book. I've run a technology consulting business since 1995 and have had to be very focused on the bottom line (sustainable profits) all the time. The underlying goal of my efforts there are to create and maintain a sustainable business that will help support my family.
On the other hand, in my art, I can create for many different reasons - only one of which is to make sales. In my art life, I make art to understand the world around me, to heal and inspire myself and others, to go back in time, to learn new techniques, etc. My art life gives a freedom that my other life does not and could never give me. In my art life, I have evolved into being more free and hopeful about the world and my place in it. No pressures, no competitions, no judgment on my part. I accept that fact that there are many people that create art and many occasions that I and my work will be compared to others. This is a fact of life but has little influence on my actions and the art that I create.
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| "Waves" digital surface design (2015) |
On the other hand, in my art, I can create for many different reasons - only one of which is to make sales. In my art life, I make art to understand the world around me, to heal and inspire myself and others, to go back in time, to learn new techniques, etc. My art life gives a freedom that my other life does not and could never give me. In my art life, I have evolved into being more free and hopeful about the world and my place in it. No pressures, no competitions, no judgment on my part. I accept that fact that there are many people that create art and many occasions that I and my work will be compared to others. This is a fact of life but has little influence on my actions and the art that I create.
Uplifting the world with your art
As time goes on, I realize that my art is better off being a means of deep self-expression. In this capacity, it will serve me best. Now, I do have some business ventures in fabric through FabricWorks Studio (www.fabricworksstudio.com) but the way that I run this "business" is more like making a contribution in fabric.
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| "Dreamcatchers" painting on canvas (2016) |
So, the bottom line of FabricWorks Studio is to offer design collections that people can learn from, be inspired by and enjoy. The only responsibilities I have to my art is to create art that is true to myself and to share it with the world. I know that somewhere out there in the world, someone else will be made a little happier from it.
References
Grisdela, C. (2016). SAQA Journal, Volume 26(2). 2016 Annual Conference Speaker Roundup. pp. 24-25, 40.
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