its not so black and white

I got an email the other day asking if I was abandoning art altogether in favor of crafts like knitting and crocheting and spinning. It got me to thinking and after having some back and forth conversation with the recipient, I decided to go ahead and mention it here too.

I haven't been in the fiber art world a very long time, only about eight years now. The people who do know me know me from my found object art quilts. I'm pretty proud of the things I've accomplished so far. Owned a fiber art store for three years, got into many juried exhibits, been in several invitationals, been published in books, been published in a magazine, curating exhibits. Its been busy busy busy.

And I love all of it. But here is the thing...the fiber art realm is a huge place. I am of the opinion that knitting and crocheting and spinning is also art. They all take skill, patience, and creativity. Isn't that what art is all about? Those who design these items work hard and produce beautiful things and it goes back to my number one love about all this: its a connection to the past of doing art by hand.

The name of my store was Lost Arts Stitchery, it focused on all the needle arts that people say are gone, things of the past. I don't believe that, never have. So moving into different areas of the fiber world seems like a natural progression to me. It is the act of creating that I love most and I'm still doing that, in spades. So I'm content with the things that I am working on now.

So am I abandoning art quilts? No, not at all. I'm just taking the time to refine the way I think about them, modifying my beliefs about how I should work and removing the things that annoy me in favor of methods that make me happier.

When will I finally get to the point where I begin producing work that doesn't involve yarn and needles and hooks and wheels? Not sure. The thing is, I'm actually feeling easy about what I'm doing right now. None of it is forced, its all very meditative and in all honesty, that's what I need most right now. The past few years have been a whorl wind of madness, some good, some bad. I'm finally slowing down and finding my footing again. I know that in the stillness I have from the work I'm doing now I will find what I need in other areas of my life. I refuse to force my muse into the things I have built into my mind that I should be doing.

And its working. My sketchbook is filling, things are moving around in my head. Nothing that I feel I want to make but there is a definite foundation building. And I think it will be my most honest work ever, something that will feel more like an extension of me then anything else I've ever done.

So it is my sincere hope that you will hang in there with me, that you will still find the blog amusing and that I'm not boring you to tears. Change is inevitable and I need to figure out the shift that has happened in my mindset toward my own artwork. In the meantime, I am not capable of sitting still and not making anything. So I am rooting myself more firmly in the knitting/crochet/spinning world. Makes me happy. And that's what I want more then anything.

Happy creating.