Inspiration

Usually on a Sunday I highlight some of the lovely new fabrics that are around at the moment that I love. It is a fun post to put together, but it also helps my students who I see during the week - I am spreading my fabric addiction throughout Gloucestershire!

I am planning on getting back to the posts, but this today I wanted to share some of the amazing textiles artists that I have discovered on my City and Guild Journey.

The first is Anne Honeyman.

Anne's work is simply stunning! She uses soluble fabric to create amazing structures with that are delicate, yet complicated. I have played around with soluble fabric and it is great fun. I am full of admiration of Anne and her ability to create stunning textiles with it.

The second artist is Alison Holt.

Alison is an amazing artist who creates pieces that look like photos. You could almost reach out and touch the crashing waves above! Her ability to create perspective and texture with thread is stunning. She is teaching in Gloucester in October and yes I have booked onto the 3 day course!

I hope you enjoy exploring their work as much as I have done.

They are so inspiring!

What's in a label...

Yesterday I had decided to take some time out and visit the Textiles Exhibition at the Museum in the Park, Stroud. Every year the town hosts an amazing Festival of Textiles in May. There are exhibitions and studio open days - the local area is packed with artists of all media working away at their craft.

Artist Hillu Liebelt's Winter Sun series. Photo: the artist
From Stroud International Textiles Website

The work was amazing. All of the different textures and images was fabulous.

I left there smiling and jumping for joy at the artistry of others.

I met with a friend at Prema Arts for a coffee who introduced me as an 'artist' and teacher to her colleague.

Having just come from the amazing textiles exhibition, the title 'artist' didn't sit comfortably and I immediately do what I always do and started make apologies.

I am happy with the title teacher - it is what I have done my whole life, working with babies right up to ladies in their 70's - but 'artist' is a mystical title obtained by attending art/fashion/textile school and going through some formal training.

One definition of artist I have found is:

A person who produces paintings or drawings as a profession or hobby. A person who practices any of the various creative arts, such as a sculptor, novelist, poet, or filmmaker.

I have never had a formal lesson in sewing or quilting, everything I have created has been through trial and error, learnt by reading books, and more recently the internet. So to me I am not an artist. I am Anna a quilter, a fabric addict and a teacher.

 I have been reading The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin, which Gail Gibson recommended I read. Seth Godin talks about not being limited by how high we fly. That we are all artists, not grab a paintbrush and everyone can paint kind of artist, but we all have a passion for something and we can be the artist of that passion. Whether it is accountancy, sculpting, business or ... quilting. Everyone can be an artist.

I am still reading the book and it has made me assess how I view myself and the passion I have for sewing and quilting.

As I go through the book, I am being stretched into thinking of myself as an artist. An artist who feels her way through design, who tests ideas out and constantly plans the next steps in her creative journey.

Does that mean I should feel comfortable with the title artist?

Do you think of yourself as an artist?

I put a link in for Amazon, but I prefer to buy my books at independent bookshops. Give it a go!

Why make more?

On Sunday I popped into my friends house to drop off her Christmas presents and say Merry Christmas before they disappeared to family for the break.

I told her about the yummy fabrics that had arrived from Fabricworm and how lush they are. Then I said I have a couple of designs in my head and would she mind if I gifted her a quilt of one of those designs... I basically need to find homes for the designs in my head - we are kinda a bursting at home!

At this point she asked 'why keep making them if you have run out of space for them?'

Honestly, she did.... she actually suggested I stop making quilts.... my heart stopped for 30 seconds!

Once I had picked my chin off the floor and restarted my heart, I tried to explain that it simply isn't an option!

It got me to thinking though about life as a quilter....

How many projects do I have on the go at the moment?

Well, there is the hexagon quilt, the HST demonstration quilt, a little girls quilt, Tula Pink Scraps quilt and a hexagon patchwork top that needs finishing.....

 



How much fabric do I have?

That is a difficult question to answer and would mean looking through my teaching stash, my secret stash, my secret, secret stash and the scraps shelf... oh and the buckets of upholstery weight fabrics.... best not think about that too much... but a girl can never have to much....

The latest bundle from Floressence

How many quilting books do I own?

Again that is a tough question to answer, it could be close to 50... from my first book 17 years ago to the most recent color, block and quilt by Emily Cier.

Available from all good indie bookshops!

Do I need them all?  Yes.... they are a constant source of inspiration, bedtime reading and yumminess... I actually have a pile next to my bed that I constantly rotate....

Why make more???

I dream in quilts. Often I wake up with a new idea in my head, a new goal.

I dream about colours, shapes, designs... I think about colour and texture all the time.

Each quilt is an extension of my skills, it pushes my skill further and allows me to explore those ideas in my head.

I have tried to not make quilts, it makes my brain hurt and actually I feel sad. That is what happened with my handmade bag business. I loved making bags, but they took me away from making quilts and I got more and more unhappy... the minute I decided to swap and make quilts and teach everything rebalanced..

It is hard to explain to non-quilters, but it is like being an artist of any form. You have the need to create, an overwhelming desire to allow the ideas in your head flow into your medium, be it clay, fabric or paint..... You have to create otherwise it hurts...

Quilting is like that, you have to create otherwise it hurts, the ideas get stifled and everything gets squeezed in until you release the creativity and make a quilt...

So will I ever stop making quilts?

No. When I do my world will no longer make sense, and I will lose a huge part of who I am...

So to solve the shortage of space I need to gift them to the people I love, or sell them...... either way I will never have made enough quilts or bought enough fabric!

Amazing myself..

My life is a juggling act of 3 little boys and 2 ex-husbands.... yeah I know, at 35 I have managed to be married and divorced twice, been bankrupt and been through more ups and downs than a rollercoaster!

So you could say that my self belief is a little bit low sometimes. I take hits from all sides - I either have happy kids and problems with the ex's or happy ex's and unhappy kids... I now keep the kids happy and stable as possible, and let the adults worry about themselves!

Making decisions that effect my little family is so scary, especially when there is no-one to talk to, no back-up. What if I screw it all up and get it all wrong?

I have those thoughts whenever I make a massive decision, but I try to shake it off pretty quickly because my gut has got pretty good instinct and if I follow it things usually work out ok. My gut was screaming out to shut up Funky Diva Designs and yesterday confirmed that I made the right decision!

Yesterday morning I had a meeting at the Brewery Arts Centre in Cirencester. It was my chance to pitch my skills and talent to one of the places I really respect. It is a great space and full of wonderful artists.... I still struggle to see myself as an artist.... so it was realy important to me to get it right...

Well after an hours discussion about my work experience, the classes I have taught and showing them some of my work, I was offered the opportunity to work in three different provisions that the centre co-ordinate:

Workshops on Site - workshops held at the arts centre for fee paying learners (kids and adults)

Working in the Community - working on projects with vulnerable adults in the Cirencester area

Working on School projects - working with schools who attend the centre on day visits teaching sewing to kids.

I was amazed!

Now, the work is subject to people booking courses and it will not be regular to begin with, but it will help me a build a reputation (fingers crossed a good one!) as a sewing teacher in the area.

I am beyond chuffed, but also slightly shocked at how well it all went.

As my dad always emails me: Onwards and Upwards!