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| My Miscellaneous Pile (Series) |
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Series Statement: |
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An irritating trend in the contemporary art world is the expectation that if an artist is really a professional, they will work only within a single well-defined concept until the end result is either brilliant or it brings new meaning to the word redundant. It is then acceptable to start working on a new concept.
Allowing something to flow is not the same as forcing something to move. Discipline is important in the making of art but rigid focus is like wearing blinders --.distractions are minimized but so are the chances for inspired creativity. My own work is driven by a dynamic conceptual discipline but also influenced by changes in my mood and energy levels, sunny versus cloudy days, which continent I am on or with whom I spend time plus a host of other things. These unexpected variables provide opportunities for artistic development and change, and are what make life and the art-making meaningful.
Perhaps I fight the pressure to always work in series because making a quilt is absolutely process-driven and very time consuming. It even takes time to figure out how to technically accomplish design spontaneity, so after spending several hundred hours on a single quilt, I am usually not anxious to remain in the same conceptual mode. I need a 'relief quilt'.
The number of hours invested in a single work is often a major difference between making quilt art and working in paint or print media. I suppose I am touchy on this issue because without the opportunity to work with any quilt artists in Medellin I instead share the company of artists whose technical process differs from mine. Within this community to which I have been welcomed, studio time results in a more immediate, permanent end-product (so-to-speak). But these artists must repeat an entire technical process in order to make significant or subtle changes. They cannot really preview results whereas I am constantly doing this merely by physically shifting my fabric around. Aside from the fabric scraps, I have a single piece as the result of my working process.
Of course these arguments are really my attempt to justify this miscellaneous classification for my 'loner' quilts. The truth is no artist's work should need a justification for existence. People, events, emotions et al inspire us, commissions direct us, and sometimes we just want to be a kid again and color on the wall for no reason other than that the wall is there and we have some Crayons! |
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