love forever

The Art- Squam Part II

I don't get a lot of chances to make art for art's sake. That is, most of the things I make are work of some sort. It's incredibly hard to just sit down and make myself something when deadlines and checklists loom closeby. But my one and only responsibility at Squam was to give a speech and I did that the first night!  After that I was free to have fun, make art and try not to take myself too seriously. The last part is always the hardest. I had to keep reminding myself that I could just make what I felt like making, experiement with new techniques and that it didn't have to be award winning work.

So here's what I made:
Day One: Botanical Printing with Maya Donenfeld

This class was all about making prints using the natural world as our inspiration. It might be cliché but I am always so inspired by the shapes of flowers. Maya had these beautiful farmer's market bouquets on each table and they provided the starting point for a lot of my prints. We began with more basic silhouettes, then spent some time outside sketching (So fun!Why don't I sketch outside more?) and then worked on a more complicated print in the afternoon. I experiemented with layers of colored prints over each other. not perfect but I like the idea.
I look forward to using these prints in my sewing projects, incorporating them in patchwork and applique.

Day Two: Cardboard wonders with Diana Fayt

This class was right up my alley because I love using old materials to make collages. Even though I am familiar with multi-media collages, I learned a few new techniques and got to experiement with adding paint to my work, something I haven't really tried yet. And really, the best part of the class was just having the time and mental space to make things and play! I'm really digging how this piece came out. Again with the flowers you say. I guess I was just loving on flowers last week!

Day Three: the Joy of Intention with Alena Henessey

So, the funny part of taking this class was: I showed up without an intention. Duh, what was I thinking? Luckily I recovered from my mind-melt quickly and realized that my intention was to make a safe creative place for myself both emotionally/spiritually and physically. I mean, that's the theme of the whole week! Again, duh.
I made this piece to represent my creative nest: one that is filled with color,layers of print and pattern but has that balance of negative space and openness.
This was just a morning class so I really had to be challenged to make quick and thoughful decisions in my art making. I don't mind a little pressure every once in a while! 

Thank you so much again to Elizabeth and all of my teachers for the best time ever!

Full Circle- Squam Part I

 

What can I say about my week at Squam Art Workshops? There are both too many words and things that can't ever be put into words. But I'm going to try.




It's not often in life that we get to do something that can be described as life-changing. Most of the time I, like pretty much everyone else on this planet, plod through my daily routines, not think or examining the what or the why. When offered a chance to spend five days in the woods making art, I jumped at it. Some of you know that my job can mostly be described as "creative" but my work is not mine, it belongs to the company. It has a purpose and a goal and I don't get to keep it, literally and figuratively. My work is also demanding, and though the daily challenges can be a gift it is also hard to maintain a space just for me.




Elizabeth, the founder of Squam Art Workshops, asked me to be the keynote speaker at the fall session of Squam about a year ago and I have been looking forward to it/quite nervous about it ever since. Nervous because I was travelling and attending mostly alone and because I was speaking to a crowd of 150 people, looking forward because, well, it was Squam and I have always wanted to go.



I have heard that, though everyone's experience at Squam is different, it is intense, cathartic and emotional, like a spark plug of creativity, that kick in the pants we all need to ditch the excuses and start making things. There is an incredible feeling of nurturing and understanding at Squam: there is no wrong way to experience a week there. You can go to ever class and event or none, make new friends or keep to yourself, eat your veggies or have waffles a la mode for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

In five days I re-learned that there are people out there that are "my people", that I am creative and that I can actually speak in front of 150 people and I can do it well.

I learned that the fancy shoes and the big-city cynicism that I often hide behind aren't worth a damn.

I learned that when people tell you to pack layers for cold New Hampshire nights, they are not joking around.

I accepted that loving solitude is OK, that it doesn't make me defective.

I remembered that I like the woods, the quiet, the slowing down, actually seeing stars in the sky.

I remembered what it was like to make things just for me, how good it feels.

I learned that Squam is this little magical wonderland and that I can't wait to go back.

Tomorrow I'm going to talk more about my classes and the work I made...

work.place

Carlie Armstrong is a Portland based photorapher; work.space is her latest project, a series of photo essays of the places where artists and makers get things done. Her photos perfectly capture the DIY spirit of Portland, particulrly because she chose to shoot completely in film. Looking at other people's work spaces is always a voyeuristic pleasure and it's great how unstyled the spaces are- sometimes scrappy and messy but always real and beautiful. Don't you hate when magazines show workspaces that look like they have never been worked in?
A nice side effect of looking at her photos: getting to know so many new-to-me artists! Since I am always on the look out for artists and makers, this website is like a treasure trove of inspiration. 

Portland Garment Factory and Britt Howard

Keegan Meegan Bindery and Press

Grant McGavin

Rachel Hays

12128 Boatspace

Nicole Lavelle

Justin "Scrappers" Morrison

Sandmade

File this under: coolest ring box ever. This "sandmade" packaging by design team Alien and Monkey holdsthe most precious of gifts, creates a sense of discovery in the packaging and answers the age old question of what to do with discarded boxes and wrap. This little box is made of entirely natural materials so it can be discarded right back into nature. In this activity, you are also creating a unique memory to accompany the gift.

To learn more about Alien and Monkey, head over to their website here.

The View from Down Here

 

I have been spending a lot of time on the floor of my studio lately. I love working on the floor and I love my new studio. I can honestly say that this is the first work space I have ever had with good natural light. It makes all the difference in the world. Seriously, I could spend hours in here.

This is what my studio looks like from where I stand (or actually, sit).

 

 

Craft-athon

Who else is madly making presents for the holiday season? There's so much to do still but I can't help but feel a little bit of gratitude: this is the first year in more than I can remember that I haven't had to scramble to make something for a craft fair, to fill up my Etsy shop or to get that book finished. That's right, all I have is this full-time job and a few hours of free time every weeknight plus a two day weekend. It's kind of novel.

So I'm really going for it this season: baking, decorating, making gifts like crazy...it's awesome.

This is the mess that I made on Saturday afternoon. I'll show the finished products once the gifts have been gifted!

What about you? Are you making, buying, a little bit of both? And most importantly, are you in the holiday spirit?

 

 

 

Stealing This Next Year

Best. Costume. Ever.

found here.

 

Sol LeWitt at Mass MoCA

Mr. Loveforever and I went up to New Hampshire for the long weekend to spend some time with family and unplug. On Monday afternoon, we drove down to the Berkshires for the night and stopped at my absolutely favorite museum ever: Mass MoCA. 

Mass MoCA often focuses on large and complex art installations that would be difficult to show in most museums so their shows are always pretty amazing. Seriously, there is always a few, if not twenty exhibits I see there that take my breath away. After viewing installations using such far flung materials as wax dipped flowers, taxidermy, miles of rope and reams of tissue paper, it's hard to get excited about painting and drawing again. That was my first thought as I walked into the Sol LeWitt retrospective. I admit that I am not always the biggest fan of Conceptual and Abstract art, but the museum did an amazing job of showing the painstaking process behind these deceptively simple works.

My favorite part of the exhibit was the short movie that showed the installation process: the drawings at MASS MoCA were executed over a six-month period by a team comprising twenty-two of the senior and experienced assistants who worked with the artist over many years; thirty-three student interns from Yale University, Williams College, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and fourteen other colleges and universities; and thirteen local artists and recent graduates and post-graduates from many of the nation’s leading studio-art programs. The video showed how much work goes into measuring and taping and marking off, then carefully painting each of these geometric drawings with incredible precision. Amazing!

Of course my camera crapped out in the middle of the exhibit so I only have a few photos but you can see a photo of every piece in the retrospective plus information about the installation here.

Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts: Art vs. craft and a Giveaway too!

World renowned quilter Kaffe Fasset has a new book out called Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts (Stewart, Tabori and Chang), and oh boy, are they spectacular! That's one of the things I love about quilts: that very simple fabric circles, squares and diamonds can be sewn together to become these mesmorizing works of art. 

I love the way the quilts are photographed in the book (by Debbie Patterson) and I really love the spreads where Kaffe shows his inspiration: tiles, cobblestone streets, piles of shipping containers. You can very clearly see how these photographs translate perfectly into quilts.

Speaking of art, I asked Kaffe if he thinks what he does is Art with a capital A and here's what he said:

I'm not trying to create a deep art statement through my craft, but I suppose it’s as much art as you wish to make it. I am deeply challenged and satisfied by the task of putting as much beauty and wit as I can into a traditional form. I feel after 40 years being involved with so called craft that I'm not anywhere near bored with making use of my hands to create further variations on my themes—the most important of which, to me, is colour. Colour is deeply mysterious and has the power to transform our level of consciousness, which, isn’t that what art does? The same as poetry and sonata forms are to writers and musicians, colour is really my subject in all I do, and that is a never ending study. There must be something to it or I'm sure I'd have dried up years ago.

I guess that brings up an important question: is art defined by the audience, the beholder or is defined by the artist who makes it? Does it even matter if you love what you are creating?
I think a lot of people who make things don't think consciously about making art but just because it's subconscious doesn't mean it isn't happening. I personally have a pretty broad definition of art: I think any original act of creation and expression that comes from within is art. As much as I love the art that hangs on the walls of museums, art exists in many many other places. Without that belief, I'm not quite sure where I would be.

If you would like to get direct feedback on your quilt-making skills from Kaffe and his co-author Liza Prior Lucy, join his quilt-along!

And now for the giveaway!! Please leave a comment below and let us know: is there a difference between art and craft? What is it?

Comments close on Monday the 24th at 5pm. Good luck!!

The SPORE Project

"The SPORE Project is a worldwide effort developed by Doug Rhodehamel to promote awareness for the support for art in schools and creativity in day-to-day life. The project illustrates the importance of self expression, resourcefulness and creativity - specifically, how to look at one thing (a simple paper bag) and see what it can be instead of merely what it is."

More than 63,000 mushrooms have been planted throughout the world! I love it!