ongoing adventures of the itinerant artist
This is a series of 6 online lectures available via The Stitchin' Post.
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Reflections on the Life of an Itinerate Quilt Artist - Aug 27 2020
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Getting There From Here: How Do We Do It? - Sept 24 2020
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Eye to Eye - Oct 22 2020
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Promises and Possibilities: Design in Action - Nov 19
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Dancing on a Tightrope: Risk-taking in Art - Dec 17
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The Purpose of Play: What’s the Point of Working in a Series - Jan 21
Don’t worry if you have missed the Live presentation. You can get the video from them! Check The Stitchin' Post for signups and fees.
1. Reflections on the Life of an Itinerate Quilt Artist
We are all products of our history and my quilts come directly from my life. This lecture traces views and thoughts of people, places, ideas and objects that have inspired and moved me from my childhood in rural South Africa to the rather crazy traveling I have done over the past 30 years. I show images of my homes and quilts, the people and places that influenced them. The process of quilt making is enormously important to me and I track various works in progress in my studio, as well as discussing how changes around me have affected and influenced my work. Also included are images of artists whose work I admire from around the world in places I have visited.
I think this provides a close look at a working artist and teacher, where it all comes from, what makes me laugh, what the challenges are, and where I hope to go with it....and that always changes, so come and enjoy my journey with me as I reflect on what it means to be an Itinerant Quilter.
2. Getting There From Here: How Do We Do It?
Where do you start? How do you sort through your ideas? How do you know what to do?
How does an artist, in any medium, but particularly using our chosen medium of quilt making, find a starting point, know how to focus and edit their work, choose suitable techniques and bring the work to completion?
Join me for this talk that offers a variety of approaches to the age-old questions of How Do You Do It? How do I know where to begin and what to leave out? What do I do when I simply loathe what I have done? Enjoy looking at a variety of works, and see different individual solutions and possibilities to making original work.
3. Eye to Eye
Find your own Inner Artist in this slide lecture designed especially for quiltmakers and other fibre artists. A visual feast of paintings, drawings and other art works from celebrated artists, shows us how we all use the same elements of design in our various works, be they paintings, traditional or contemporary quilts. Discover how artists' eyes interpret and present their work, and enjoy a new view of the work of numerous artists including Klee, Kandinsky, Matisse, Klimt, Hunderwasser, and several Old Masters along with many exciting fabric works.
Continue your journey in my third lecture as I helps you bring out your inner artist by Learning to Look! See with new eyes as other artists have done, understand, interpret and then make.
4. Promises and Possibilities: Design in Action
“I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else” Pablo Picasso
Where can you go with some of those heaps of ideas, small sketches or even stitched fabric units you have, and what can you do with them? This talk takes an in-depth look at the possibilities of putting them together into a composition and the arrangement and organization of visual elements that make a successful composition or design. We look at the raw elements of design, and see how they can be put to use in the process of a textile composition.
5. Dancing on a Tightrope: Risk-taking in Art
“An artist is an explorer” Henri Matisse
This talk is about challenging yourself to do something totally new that you may not have tried before. It may be a new color palette, a new design approach, or even totally new materials. Take your quilt making and fibre / textile art to a whole new level!
Travelling a new path can be very scary, but we will look at how other artists have done it, and how you can find new views, freshness and excitement in your work, while having the safety net of what you already know.
6. The Purpose of Play: What’s the Point of Working in a Series
“Creative work is play. It is free speculation using materials of one’s chosen form” Stephen Nachmanovitch
In this talk we look at that all-important process that we might have left behind in childhood!...the need to play, maybe to become a little obsessive, to look at surprise results and allow for different solutions. Over the years, working in a series has allowed numerous artists to sharpen their aesthetic sensitivities by focusing on one aspect or design, and really discover how refining it can enhance their work. Learn how focusing on a common theme can help your work become more sophisticated, more recognizable and more satisfying on all sorts of levels. We will look at some of the series chosen and worked by various artists, and discover how we can decide on, and work within our own possible themes.