Invoking Clarity

With the full power of the moon behind her, this woman invokes clarity.

But clarity does not necessarily arrive quickly, in an easily discernible package, hovering just above our gaze before wrapping us in its bright tendrils.

Rather, we piece all the various small revelations together, and begin to fathom a more spacious vision with each shining quilt, painting or poem that we “complete.”

Perhaps “completion” is not the direction we want to move towards, with its suggestion of closure.

What we really seek is a perpetual opening, a ceaseless unfolding, until we become so expansive that everything else is part of us, and we of it.

Invoking Clarity ~ by Carol Wiebe

Side view

My First Video!

I’m excited about having made my first video. My husband grabbed a videocam and away we went. My friends Flora and Kathyanne make videos constantly, so I hope they will give me some tips for the next one.

The process is exhilarating!

Here are possibilities to consider for my next one:

• a hair stylist
• a makeup artist
• a wardrobe expert
• a cleaning service (Would they touch an artist studio? Would I want them to?)
• a script

Hey, Use Whatever You’ve Got!

My post about printmaker Karen Kunc prompted a comment from artist Deb Sims:

Am I the only one who has both a sense of “Wow, how fabulous” and “Geez, I can never hope to experience/create/attain this level with my art” when I see someone like this?

My reply?

I think there is a great chain of art making and, like the great chain of being, it has its levels. While you are busy looking “up” the chain and wondering if you could ever achieve that level, someone else is gazing up at yours, with stars in their eyes, and saying the same thing. We just keep doing what we are doing and trust that we will keep growing (and rising).

I really believe that. If you spend too much time looking around, or looking up (to continue the chain metaphor),  you increase your risk of falling. Falling into despair over achieving what those who are “better than you” have accomplished. Falling into a state of vertigo, where you are so dizzy and disoriented that you become immobilized. Falling into bitterness and a blaming mentality, where you accuse others (hopefully, only in your mind) of ignoring, slighting or overlooking you and your work.

You get the picture, and it’s not a pretty one. But forget pretty~the problem is that these kinds of “states” devour energy that could be used to create! That’s your goal, your avocation, your love, correct? So only look up long enough to catch sight of  tips and tricks that are useful to you. Spend the bulk of your time investigating what you want to say, and testing materials that will help your voice be heard.

Consider Nathalie Roland, for instance, who didn’t let the fact that she lacked access to a press prevent her from creating prints with her woodcuts. She had socks and a floor, so she put them to use.

And how about this crew of artists, whose printing press is a bulldozer:

Here they “pull” the print.

Sherrill Kahn, author and creator of Impress Me rubber stamps,  uses a piece of foam core with rubber bands pulled over it to make a printing plate. Peruse her website, and books, for many more techniques.

How about using a pasta machine as a printing press?

Most artists own a  hammer (for hanging their art). This method would qualify as one of those “I just had to get it out of my system” techniques. Some special instructions are important:

It’s best to hammer on a hard surface like a cement floor—you don’t want to ruin a table.

Now it’s your turn. If you know of a unique or, even better, eccentric printmaking method, I would be tickled to hear about it. I want to try as many of these as I can, because they appeal to me (perhaps with the exception of the bulldozer. They are just too hard to rent).

And, by the way, I don’t think Deb Sims has anything to worry about. She has a style all her own.

The Clan of  Too: Altered book I ~ by Deb Sims

The Clan of Too: Altered book I I ~ by Deb Sims

It Is Like Seeing the Truth

Karen Kunc has become well know, in art circles, for her large-scale woodcuts. Kunc’s work has been shown in such renowned places as the  Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of American Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, to name a few. She has actually had more than 100 exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe. She has also taught numerous printmaking workshops around the world.

A slide show of Kunc’s work at Anderson O’Brien Fine Art reveals the fascinating abstract details and shapes that grace her prints. A few more pieces are available for viewing at artnet, and the Smithsonian.

Davidson Galleries provides insight into her more recent work:

The artist creates ambiguous spatial illusions by juxtaposing elements of shape and color and by creating a relationship between the edges of the paper and the breaking or interruption of the image. In Kunc’s work these formal ideas become symbolic abstractions, suggestive of landscape, unusual structures, or plant forms.

Karen Kunc’s woodcuts and etchings address the ideas of the eternal forces that shape the natural world as a means to capture a moment, the alignment of chance encounters, the immeasurability of time and distance, and the invisible physical forces at work. She has put these notions into iconic images of creation, preservation, and allusions to human myth and metaphor.

Dream of an Echo~by Karen Kunc

Once again, I was thrilled to find a video on YouTube that gave me the opportunity to “see” some of Kunc’s work and hear her actual voice delivering insights into what she does and why she does it:

It’s really the same kind of instinct to make marks that you can trace all the way back to prehistoric man–that instinct to mark make.

Printedness: it looks so unique. We can identify something as printed, as opposed to painted, or sculpted, of course, or some other kind of printing means, or photography. All of those things have a very specific kind of visual quality that I honor, am influenced by, and certainly use as an exploration for making art.

The actual thing that I’m interested in seeing in art, or student’s art, is the idea of interpretation. Not just imitation. That’s the same quest we all have–to make sense of the world, interpreted somehow. To have that kind of interpretation and transformation of ideas filtered through this artistic persona.

You can sense the energy from carving marks–actually sense that somebody’s hand moved through that material. It’s really a record of that energy transferal.

I’m really on a search for finding out what these things that I chose and led from-which may be very spontaneous and instinctual things–all the way through to finding out what it might mean for me.

Please enjoy Renowned printmaker Karen Kunc visits Oregon State University:

Bookmaking goes hand in hand with printmaking for Kunc.  The Center for Book Arts informs us:

Artist Karen Kunc, also variously known as Blue Heron Press, has been making unique bookworks and limited editioned artists books for over 25 years.

Books by Karen Kunc

This “parallel diversion” (if you can call an ongoing investigation of bookmaking for 25 years a diversion) explores “the expressive possibilities of the 3-D book form:”

Her books incorporate vital, richly hued shapes with timeless textural language, leading to a sense of intimacy and detail, with the tactile resonance of wood, paper and impression.

Kunc, herself, poses the burning question, Why artists books? Kunc is asked this question so often that she surmises: “We all must be seeking our own understanding by asking everyone else for their own justification!” Yet, “[t]here is a sense of this medium having ‘arrived’, with museum interest, traveling shows with catchy titles, trendy themes for publications and craft books, workshops, maturing educational programs.”

What, then, is Kunc’s answer to the question? You can glean that for yourself from her article entitled Artist’s Books and the Burning Question.

The book is a classical form. Its function is accepted, known. Its feel is familiar. My images within this form allow for a validity, a ‘real’-ness, and ‘right’-ness. It is like seeing the truth. This comes about by this acceptance of the knowledge in books and our familiarity with its form.           ~Karen Kunc (from her general artists’ statement)

I have never created an artist book, but am noticing my attention steadily drawn in that direction. As a person who has read voraciously for my entire life, and has training as a professional librarian, I always approached books as a source of reading pleasure (novels and poetry) and information. I study art books, which photographically capture a selection of artworks by an artist or group of artists, or teach their techniques, but never seriously considered the artistic form of the book itself.

I admit that when I am focused in a certain direction, pulling me away from my engagement requires showing me or telling me some thing that penetrates and connects with my purpose (usually in a symbolic way). If you understand that last statement, you could probably achieve it! Art quilts, and mixed media paper quilts specifically, have taken center stage in the last few years. However, other forms are beginning to beckon, and the artist book has definitely joined that group of interests. Painting has gone beyond a mere interest and reached the siren stage.

The artist’s life is always dynamic.

Are You Listening?

This song was just what I needed to hear this morning. Such a serendipitous message begged to be shared:

The group hails from Vancouver, British Columbia (Oh, Canada!), and is called August.

Linda Kidder, Rae Armour, Beverley Elliott, and Meg Tennant

These women have BIG senses of humour, and assure us that “they may not be spring chickens, but things are still cookin’ in the hen house!“

Wit, wisdom, womanhood, harmonies & hilarity weave the musical tapestry known as AUGUST. The music group AUGUST combines four award-winning recording artists & singer songwriters: Beverley Elliott, Rae Armour, Meg Tennant & Linda Kidder. When AUGUST comes around, it’s time to kick back, relax, and enjoy the music. They are equally at home on the stage or on the back porch, combining folk, country, bluegrass, and pop. With their sunny blend of harmony, humour, and timeless melodies AUGUST captures the essence of summer’s sweetness and light all year ’round.

Who can resist wit, wisdom AND womanhood in one package? I definitely relished the invitation to “come and play” along with them (especially if there are angels involved).

If your ears are singing (so much better than ringing), order August songs through August Music.  Each of these artists has built a solid singer/songwriter recording career, but together, Rae Armour, Beverley Elliott, Linda Kidder, and Meg Tennant are musical dynamite!

A contagious sense of fun really comes through this group’s music. I also caught those mellifluous harmonies and meaningful lyrics. Whether you’re dancing in the sunlight, or standing in the darkness, music like this reminds you that “someone is listening.”

(Many thanks to Sheri Gaynor, who shared this song on Creative Awakenings.)

Cloak Yourself in Dreams

Courtney Putnam from The Healing Nest wrote a post about manifestation that I consider a superb way to start stimulating my thinking for the summer. Actually, this is timeless “advice,” and Courtney offers it with such disarming humility and humour that one could almost miss how expertly it is written.

Courtney makes a salient connection between the “intangible” imagination where our dreams and intentions reside, and the way our hands, our whole physical being, in fact,  help us embody those dreams.

She asks a lot of questions, Ms. Putnam does, but rather than leaving you hanging on another rhetorical hook, she masterfully maneuvers those queries in the direction of  a very inspiring answer:

Without these wishes and intentions, what are we to manifest? How is manifestation possible without imagination? How are we to transform a guitar riff in our head into music without our little imaginative muses working away inside us? Or what of the poem incubating in your heart or the love you wish to find in your life? Without imagination, dreams, and intentions, how are we to embody what we want in our lives?

And what of manifesting good health and well being? How do we do this? I think we do this in the same way we manifest an emotion as a painting. We imagine ourselves in good health, with calm hearts and minds, with lightness and joy, and we make these intentions visible. We paint them, draw them, state them, draw them on the bathroom mirror, walk them, stretch them, or share them with a friend. In all, we give them a chance to be real.

Web ~ by Carol Wiebe

What dreams are you letting languish, instead of pulling them out of your imagination so that you can “wear them like cloaks and walk around in them?” Courtney recommends applying sequins to those dreams to attract the light, and make manifestation even more likely.

Waiting for someone else to discover us, or validate us, is like trying to use another person’s passport. Your hopes and dreams are your passport, so allow them to show you the way. Encourage them to transport you wherever your deepest desires want to go.

Give them a chance to become real.

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living. ~ Anais Nin

Triple Lotus is not a Figure Skating Term

The lotus is a symbol of purification.

Triple Lotus~by Carol Wiebe

Global Oneness states:

The root of the Lotus sunk in the mud represents material life, the stalk passing up through the water typifies existence in the astral world, and the flower floating on the water and opening to the sky is emblematic of spiritual being.

I tripled it for good measure. Trinities have proven to be quite effective alliances, especially in spiritual arenas.

Perhaps I will land a quad next . . . or is that simply hubris?

The Fantastical Quilted Narratives of Izabella Baikova

Bonnie McCaffery has been conducting  interviews with a wide variety of art quilters on her site for years. Some of the artists she “chats with” are well known to me, others are a wonderful surprise.

Izabella Baikova, or Bella, belongs to the second category. She first entered the Festival of  Quilts in 2006, and in 2008 The Tower, based on a personal dream, was one of the top 8 finalists in the festival, extending Baikova’s reputation well beyond her Russian homeland. Her work is now in private collections in Russia, Hungary, Switzerland, Japan, Germany, and the USA.

The Tower~by Izabella Baikova

Bella appears to possess a highly romantic sensibility. Her quilts are based on fantasy narratives, several of which she expounds upon in the McCaffery interview. Bonnie responds: “Your work is very deep: there is so much thought in them, and detail. And stories!”

The Russian website describes Baikova’s process as a game played between her and the unknown:

Months pass from the moment of origination of the concept to its full implementation. This “romance with the material” lasts up to two years. The idea gains shape, is gradually filled and saturated with details, hues, gets colouring. And it is only after the artist takes grasp of the image that deprives her of sleep, that bursts outwards without giving her a minute of peaceful existence, that she takes a textile in her hands, to give birth in a short time to a composition that will result in your insomnia, the same way it once made Izabella Baikova sleepless.

View Baikova’s wondrous gallery of quilts, keeping her credo in mind (translated from the Russian):

For me it is important to maintain the freedom of a creative life. It means being able to release a life occurring on the level of concepts, to let it flow freely, to bring everything to it, without subjecting anything initially to censorship. To react to everything that occurs around, to choose from hundreds of possible thoughts, dreams, feelings and reactions, and to unite them in the single expression reflecting the moment, passion, content. When it is possible to work wholeheartedly, on an intuitive edge, the work has a psychological force.

Her work can also be seen here. I was quite taken by the conception, composition, and humor of Little night serenade 13. Allegro (named after Serenade No.13 in G major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart).

Little night serenade 13. Allegro

A visit to her website will be rewarded by the fact that every section of this quilt, or any other quilt in her gallery for that matter, is clickable for a larger, more detailed view.

Izabella Baikova’s dedication to expressing the stories that flow from her very vivid imagination is made even more eloquent by her meticulous, elaborately detailed work.

Summoning the Courage to Create

I have been thinking about the subject of original work, and accessing one’s own ideas. In A high calling, I spoke of  Jenny Bowker’s delight when she helps an artist who wants to do original work, but is somehow unable to access her own ideas.

I went on a little web rampage to see how other artists speak about “originality.”

Kate Franzman, who is a New Media Project Administrator at Indianapolis Museum of Art, writes that originality is overrated and she is not afraid to admit that she rarely has an original idea. What she does is tweak.

Giff Constable starts his essay Art & Originality with the acknowledgment that “the debate of whether original thoughts still exist has gone on for centuries.” But he puts himself  firmly into the camp that considers originality to be attainable:

I believe very strongly that originality still exists in art and painting, although it is getting tougher. Originality exists in something as simple as your signature. Too often we close off our creativity by over-thinking and seeking approval. Yes, we are social creatures, we need approval, we need community. But to those of us who are hard-wired to seek our own path, you have to remember to put aside the comments of fashion and the criticism of the establishment. Believe in yourself, pursue your individuality, and the journey will be worth the trouble.

Martin Roemer says he is unique, like everyone else:

The difference between artists and the rest of humanity is not that they have unique feelings and thoughts but that they can bring them out and make them tangible. When people are particularly moved by a piece of art it is because it gives form to the same thing that is inside of them. When you read an engaging novel that ‘speaks’ to you for example, you are really reading about yourself. When you are lost in a movie, it is yourself that you see. One of the best things about art is that it allows us to see something of ourselves that we didn’t have the means to see otherwise.

Ryan Mulligan believes in idea swaps, concurring with a teacher of his who advised, “Don’t worry about someone stealing your ideas. You will have more.”

“Ouch,” is my response to John Kenneth Galbraith, who quipped:

Originality is something that is easily exaggerated, especially by authors [or artists?] contemplating their own work.

He adds insult to injury with:

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.

Lynne Hull, an environmental artist, quoted another artist to preface her own thoughts on the subject:

A wise potter I once knew said: “Originality depends on the obscurity of your sources” but I’ve come to believe that originality depends on knowing your sources well and taking the ideas of those sources on to a new level. This is why we visual artists need to know art history–so we can build and expand on the ideas which came before and not just repeat them endlessly.

Seth Godin has devoted many words to encouraging originality, including directives like “Find your voice, don’t copy someone else’s.”

College art teacher Marvin Bartel assumes originality as a possibility when he poses this query:

Grades without rationale give no useful information that helps a person be creative.  When we give reasons, do our criteria include credit for the originality as much as for following prescribed requirements?

Read the essay Ten Classroom Creativity Killers for more “confessions” from Bartel, all designed to assist your ability to boost student creativity.

World Reflected~by Carol Wiebe

I could easily spend the next decade weighing the pros and cons of where, and even whether, originality exists. However, like most rhetorical questions, the answers arise from the arena of belief. If I deem a work of art to be original, in my mind it is. If I believe I am creating an original work of art, for all intents and purposes, I am. A person with greater education or more extensive exposure to fine art, might disagree. S/he may be supported by experts who have set forth criteria by which to judge the originality or quality of art. But for the person wiping tears as they behold a painting that has moved them deeply, the worth/worthiness flows from another place. For art as an investment, art criticism is crucial. For art of the heart, one’s own, individual aesthetic is paramount.

Rollo May brings our discussion to an entirely different level, one of moral obligation:

If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself. Also, you will have betrayed your community in failing to make your contribution (The Courage to Create, p. 12).

You can  read extensive quotes from one of May’s books, The Courage to Create, on Google books.

That is where I am going to leave this discussion, at the point of exhorting you to summon your courage to create, or keep creating, what only you can. Whether or not your creations are original may be a subject for debate, but if you are striving to “listen to your own being,” you are making a substantial contribution towards furthering creativity. Your work becomes ours~it delights us, moves us, teaches and challenges us.

And I, for one, salute your purple heart.

A High Calling

I was happily engaged, clicking the next button from quilt to quilt on Jenny Bowker’s site, and imagining questions I would ask her if I ever was in a position to enjoy a face to face conversation.

For instance:

1) Could you name a few persons you might choose as role models (of desirable values) for your daughter, since Barbie obviously does not meet the standard.
2)  What did the water taste like from the water fountains in Damascus? Was it as good as the coffee?
3) You mentioned that the pictures on the walls in your house give you places to go to when you are dreaming. Could you describe some of those travels? Are they as vivid as the physical travels you embark on?
4) Why did you reveal the text on your Hearthstones quilt after stating that it was not really meant to be read? Do you expect that your curiosity must always be satisfied?
5) If you tallied your reactions, which would win: looking forward, or looking back?

Ammonite Fault, Fern Fronds with Chalcedony, and Radiolarian Drift had me in their thrall.

Ammonite Fault~by Jenny Bowker

But then I entered Twisted Thread and was confronted by two stunning images of quilts “based on portraits of tradesmen in Egypt.” They were frustratingly small, so I went hunting. Luckily, her blog, Postcards From Cairo, revealed the pair I sought, and a few other gems that would rival any found in a Sultan’s palace. (Also see her Flickr Photostream.)

Untitled~by Jenny Bowker

Untitled~by Jenny Bowker

Twisted Thread contains the following quote:

[Bowker] believes that because we spend most of our lives wrapped in cloth, people respond to textiles in ways that they do not respond to paint on canvas and this is indicated by the way people want to reach out and touch the work. It gives quilters a specific language that relates especially to women.

I think I will have to adjust my previous list of questions to add a sixth:

6) What led you to choose male tradesmen as a subject for a traditionally female art form? Did the irony appeal to you?

I happen to be one of those persons who does reach out to touch paintings, especially when there is mixed media involved. Also, my paper quilts end up being quite hard surfaced (much like leather). No-one would want to, or be able to, sleep under one of them. Nevertheless, I did not take umbrage with these remarks as I continued to explore the Bowker universe. Her bio included a science background, and a husband who is a diplomat. Wide travel has imbued Bowker’s work with a flavor and flare that truly arouses the senses.

And then I found the pearl, a statement that so resonated with my purpose that it caused my being to reverberate to its clarion call:

I teach and really enjoy it. There is no greater delight than to offer tools to a quilter who wants to make original work but doesn’t know how to access her own ideas.

It’s such a simple, precise statement; so matter-of-fact. Yet, it expresses a very high calling~one which I also aspire to. How fitting that Jenny Bowker is a tradesperson herself, employing her tools to facilitate others in the construction of their own, original work.