Handweavers' Guild of Boulder 2016 Sale

I am so please to have had three vessels chosen to be in the Handweavers' Guild of Boulder 2016 sale and showcase.

While I am no longer weaving or spinning,  I have always been involved in textiles.  Mixed media options have allowed me to combine fabric and acrylic products in producing fabric vessels that sometimes have the look of other materials such as wood, leather or ceramics.

These vessels are entirely made from fabric and embellished with a variety of techniques and finished and/or glazed with acrylic products.

The Handweavers Guild of Boulder is a long established guild that has broadened its base of techniques to include beading, felting and quilting.

I am very happy to have my vessels showcased during their sale week Nov. 2-6, 2016. Here are details from these vessels.

I am a Maker

I am a Maker

I was asked about my intention concerning the fabric vessels I have been creating this past year or so.  My answer was that I hoped to share them with an audience.  Like so many "Things" and "Ideas" close to a person's heart, sharing the joy, experience, idea, passion is part of creation.

The question of INTENTION is important.  I am creating because I want to create. I want to experiment.  I want to play.  I want to express.  But what is my intention?  To bury my product in the closet?  To clutter my counter tops with fabric pots and baskets? My intention is to have them seen. My intention is to continue this creative path, improving and enjoying the process, and sharing them.

Entering shows, approaching galleries, placing my vessels in public view requires me to introduce my work and myself into the world of art and craft.

 I need to choose words to describe myself.  That  requires a choice of label to use on business cards, artist statements, etc..

I am  creative.  I have been encouraged to call myself an artist, but I am not totally comfortable with that title.  I have worked hard to develop the vessels I now make.  I am serious about their form and style and what they bring to an audience.  They are my own creations. My patterns, inspirations, My techniques.  I hope to MAKE many more.

I am a Maker.

I will let the viewer decide if they are art or craft, interesting or not, to be viewed for more than 30 seconds, to be purchased or chosen or passed by.

They are mine.  I am happy to have made them.

Indian Summer

October 8, 2016 - We have had our first hard freeze and the weather is gorgeous!  Indian summer is here.  It is a perfect day to be outside painting fabric.

I have three yards of white cotton.  It will soon become sand, rocks and canyons to celebrate the west where I live.

How great is this?!

Dorothy Caldwell - Human Marks Workshop

As an artist, I have understood the connection between the creative spark from the brain/soul/heart through the hand into the processing of material, stone, fabric paper etc.

After experiencing this workshop, and listening to Dorothy Caldwell, I have a greater understanding of the human factors within this creative transition.  There is a physicality with the use of the hand, an ability of muscle which includes strength, flexibility, and individuality. Tension, length, rhythm, are personal traits of the processes used in creating. Stitch, cutting, lettering, marking with so many instruments and methods are individual to the maker.  Handwriting can be read by an expert and personality traits can be assessed.  The writing can be assigned to a specific individual. So can the result a the physical touch of an artist, a maker, a craftsperson in their hand created pieces.

I can have more joy in the results of my quilts, vessels, painting -  appreciating the  personality, the individuality of  my marks, my stitches.

Not only can I accept the individuality of my marks, I have a better understanding of the history of my marks.  I have a connection to stitchers, mark makers of the generations of the human race before me leaving their marks on what they touched.

I am grateful to be a maker today, using a huge dictionary of marks, using old and new techniques,  using the old and new  products.  I can be traditional or unique and be part of the stream of makers putting their mark on their creations. I can appreciate the individuality of my marks and appreciate mark makers before me.

My tension, my pressure, my rhythm, my creations.