Wow, what a can of worms that opened up! I have every issue of QA and I have read them all from cover to cover except for the one that arrived yesterday. From them I have learned many techniques that I use or don't, depending on what I want to express. I have, I admit, bought some goodies from the SparklyCompany (or whatever it was the commenter called it). I admit to being a bibliomaniac and I read many magazines and books. Some I use a lot, some were a total waste of time and money. But unless you want to make single-technique art, eg, oil painting (but not acrylic), patchwork and quilting (but not crazy quilting), cross stitch (but not freestyle embroidery), you need access to ideas, techniques and materials.
Many techniques I have tried over the years I don't like and many I do. The ones I like I continue to use, the others have been abandoned. Some I would like to do but simply don't have the physical resources, eg, wet felting, but I love reading about how other people use them.
Once we stop learning we may as well check out of life, or at least stop making art. And just because we know in theory how to do something doesn't mean we have to do it, but knowing it may trigger a variation in our own practice. It seems that the original blog writer uses only art quilting to express her ideas, but does she always use purchased fabrics or does she make or dye her own? Does she rely solely on the fabrics, their colour and placement or does she add some embellishments or embroidery or paint? If she does then she needs to find out how to do these things and where to buy the materials.
And then there are the people like me who do not stick to one technique but use many to express many and varied opinions about life the universe and everything. I make crazy quilting for fun and 'prettiness', but I embroider and make vessels and wall pieces to say something. I make wearable art for people to feel different and a bit special. And does it even matter if I am not trying to say something 'big', but just something about my immediate environment? And in the end does it matter what any of us reads or where we get inspiration as long as the inspiration comes so the perspiration flows?
Finally (you will be relieved to know) art can not be made in a vacuum, artists need stimulation to produce ideas. And if those ideas come from a magazine like QA, who cares?
This was my quick response to the blog article when I read it and what I passed on to Eva because I didn't know how to show the link on our blog. "I thought it was an interesting read and something a friend and I have been commenting on for awhile now. Sometimes when starting something new it takes me ages to decide what technique to use and often try to include too many sometimes "gimmicky" things because I have so much stuff and have attended so many different workshops not to mention all the magazine articles introducing new techniques. It is possible that the reason I am enjoying felting is that I already know the technique well and am keen to just explore further!!"
Like Chris I love reading books, magazines and textile blogs as well as attending workshops but have reached a stage where magazines after a couple of years subscription seem to turn out to a given formula and feature repetitive articles. I had subscribed to both Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors from their inception but stopped subscriptions in 2009 as I had become tired of them and wasn't getting any new ideas from them. At the moment I receive Felt, Textiles Down Under and Embellish but I am sure that after a time I will lose interest in these also. Being a member of TAFTA I receive their magazine Textile-Fibre Forum quarterly and have been subscribing since 1996. The reason I still find it an inspirational magazine is that it isn't project based and covers a wide range of textile arts and profiles the artists producing the amazing work. It also covers exhibitions here in Australia and overseas. The UK magazine Embroidery has interesting articles and I used to subscribe to it when Maggie Grey was editor but didn't like the change of direction when a new editor took over(one who didn't last long) I believe from reports that it has returned to being a great read. The focus on the Quilting Arts magazine in the artcle wasn't the point I dwelt on as the other comments regarding technique I found most interesting and I must say tend to agree with.
I enjoy working in many different genres and have up until recently used a variety of techniques some of them gimmicky from "the Sparkle Company". When I look at my work the pieces I feel have been most successful across all genres are those where I have employed my favourite techniques of felting (wet and needle felting)fabric printing and machine and hand embroidery.
I wholeheartedly agree with Chris's last comment. It so good that we can have an open discussion with some differing points of view without offending anyone. Love it!!
Wow, what a can of worms that opened up! I have every issue of QA and I have read them all from cover to cover except for the one that arrived yesterday. From them I have learned many techniques that I use or don't, depending on what I want to express. I have, I admit, bought some goodies from the SparklyCompany (or whatever it was the commenter called it). I admit to being a bibliomaniac and I read many magazines and books. Some I use a lot, some were a total waste of time and money.
ReplyDeleteBut unless you want to make single-technique art, eg, oil painting (but not acrylic), patchwork and quilting (but not crazy quilting), cross stitch (but not freestyle embroidery), you need access to ideas, techniques and materials.
Many techniques I have tried over the years I don't like and many I do. The ones I like I continue to use, the others have been abandoned. Some I would like to do but simply don't have the physical resources, eg, wet felting, but I love reading about how other people use them.
Once we stop learning we may as well check out of life, or at least stop making art. And just because we know in theory how to do something doesn't mean we have to do it, but knowing it may trigger a variation in our own practice.
It seems that the original blog writer uses only art quilting to express her ideas, but does she always use purchased fabrics or does she make or dye her own? Does she rely solely on the fabrics, their colour and placement or does she add some embellishments or embroidery or paint? If she does then she needs to find out how to do these things and where to buy the materials.
And then there are the people like me who do not stick to one technique but use many to express many and varied opinions about life the universe and everything. I make crazy quilting for fun and 'prettiness', but I embroider and make vessels and wall pieces to say something. I make wearable art for people to feel different and a bit special. And does it even matter if I am not trying to say something 'big', but just something about my immediate environment? And in the end does it matter what any of us reads or where we get inspiration as long as the inspiration comes so the perspiration flows?
Finally (you will be relieved to know) art can not be made in a vacuum, artists need stimulation to produce ideas. And if those ideas come from a magazine like QA, who cares?
PS. Sorry for the ramble.
This was my quick response to the blog article when I read it and what I passed on to Eva because I didn't know how to show the link on our blog.
ReplyDelete"I thought it was an interesting read and something a friend and I have been commenting on for awhile now. Sometimes when starting something new it takes me ages to decide what technique to use and often try to include too many sometimes "gimmicky" things because I have so much stuff and have attended so many different workshops not to mention all the magazine articles introducing new techniques. It is possible that the reason I am enjoying felting is that I already know the technique well and am keen to just explore further!!"
Like Chris I love reading books, magazines and textile blogs as well as attending workshops but have reached a stage where magazines after a couple of years subscription seem to turn out to a given formula and feature repetitive articles. I had subscribed to both Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors from their inception but stopped subscriptions in 2009 as I had become tired of them and wasn't getting any new ideas from them. At the moment I receive Felt, Textiles Down Under and Embellish but I am sure that after a time I will lose interest in these also. Being a member of TAFTA I receive their magazine Textile-Fibre Forum quarterly and have been subscribing since 1996. The reason I still find it an inspirational magazine is that it isn't project based and covers a wide range of textile arts and profiles the artists producing the amazing work. It also covers exhibitions here in Australia and overseas. The UK magazine Embroidery has interesting articles and I used to subscribe to it when Maggie Grey was editor but didn't like the change of direction when a new editor took over(one who didn't last long) I believe from reports that it has returned to being a great read.
The focus on the Quilting Arts magazine in the artcle wasn't the point I dwelt on as the other comments regarding technique I found most interesting and I must say tend to agree with.
I enjoy working in many different genres and have up until recently used a variety of techniques some of them gimmicky from "the Sparkle Company". When I look at my work the pieces I feel have been most successful across all genres are those where I have employed my favourite techniques of felting (wet and needle felting)fabric printing and machine and hand embroidery.
I wholeheartedly agree with Chris's last comment.
It so good that we can have an open discussion with some differing points of view without offending anyone. Love it!!