Off the Wall Friday

Feeling a bit under the weather today...

So I'll Just Host and ask....

What Have You Been Up to Creatively?

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Composition of 2025 on Off the Wall Friday

YOU TELL 'EM, SALLY!

 The doldrums have finally diminished, and all God's people said Amen.   Unless you live off a Great Lake you really can't get a sense of what it's like to go weeks - yes weeks  - without sun.  We'll get a sunny afternoon, and I always go for a long drive, it feels so good.  Today was not such a day though.  The last sun we saw was hmmmmmm Saturday and this morning we awoke to inches of ice.  Lovely.

But...my pile of last year's Art Page-A-Day calendar paintings were sitting there just waiting to do another composition post.  For you that are new, I have had this calendar on my desk for about 12 years now.  At the end of the year, I'm loathed to throw out so many inspirational paintings, so I use them to study the composition and other elements of design.  I personally start every piece - no matter art or traditional - with composition and value.  To me those are the basics.  

New to Composition?  Here is a quick guide - it's basically how you set up the main elements of your piece.

Not rocket science right?  There are plenty more out there too.  You can search this blog for PLENTY of composition posts.    So here are the three I literally chose at random (it's more fun that way!)

American School, Ferris Wheel at Columbian Exhibition in Chicago 1893

I like how this is clearly circular - twice - plus with a cool element of radial going on.  This is one of the few compositions that work well dead center of the piece.  Also, notice how the seats create this strong the rhythm.  Honestly this would be a great one to use for inspiration to abstract out and see where it takes you!

Francois Pascal Simon Gerard, Joachim Murat, 1815

Inevitably when I do a random pick, I end up with a triangular composition because portraits are clearly that.  For the record, I totally would kill for his hair! 

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Apples 1917

When this one popped up I thought...oh that's interesting.  It has two compositions going... a square... plus an implied triangle.  Compositions are always better with odd number of groupings - which I see three.  

Now I know what you're saying...what does this to do with quilting?  Glad you asked!  Picked rather quickly and radomly from my pinterest files...

By Helen Giglio

Now there is a true radial - once again set in the center where it's so strong.  At first glad you might think square but nope - it's the radial lines that are the strongest. 

Think it's only for art quilts?  Think again....

Cosmic, by Mary River Quilt Guild (their raffle quilt - great huh?!)

This one is a golden spiral.  The interesting thing about this is that they use value to imply the spiral along with the radial lines of the main star.  (I didn't have the heart to draw over it)

Anyways ... you get my drift.  I mean you can do what I do.  Go to art museums and try to work out the compositions of your favorite paintings.  Or you can try to pick a composition and then design a quilt using the one you pick.  Even if you pick one at random and do little mock ups.  You never know where an exercise will lead.

So What Have You Been Up to Creatively?

 

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Off the Wall Friday

Taking one more week off - Lake Erie Region in January is brutal

What Have You Been Up to Creatively?

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Off the Wall Friday

 

Sarah Anderson has captured my mood this week in one strip.  If you haven't read her comic Sarah's Scribbles I highly recommend it.  Although the days are getting longer, the cold and grey took me out.  So with that, I'll just host....

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Subversive Fiber Art by Women on Off the Wall Friday

Wonderland, Miriam Schapiro, 1983

 Over the years, I've written posts ranting about how nobody gets what we really do.  I'm mean sure people might understand what a quilt is.  What they don't get is the blood, sweat and tears that goes into a quilt.  Okay, so that's a little dramatic...but really have you met me?  Realistically though, it's that extra "something" that makes quilt making much more than a simple craft.  It's definitely an art form no matter if you do

detail, The Bitter Nest, Part II

traditional or modern or art or a mixture of all three.  

And that's what was celebrated at the Renwick Museum's exhibit, Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women.  This was the final stop in our recent visit to Washington DC art museums. Looking back at the experience, I spent my whole time investigating how each woman made her pieces, wondering what her creative process was like.  I looked at the mark of the hand that was on display and marveled at the artists' choice of textures.  

What I didn't do was really look into the backstory of each piece.  For me, it's normally one or the other.  I can look at a piece as a form of independent art or I can see what the piece is trying to express to me.  Normally, I can't do both in one sitting or at least not on the first visit.  I figured that there would be plenty of the story of each piece on-line, so on my visit, I focused on the art by itself.  

The Bitter Nest, Part II: The Harlem Renaissance Party,
Faith Ringgold, 1988

And I wasn't disappointed.  I only recognized a few of the names I saw.  Most pieces were more than 30 years old, only proving that fiber art has always been around. (Which by the way the world seem to discover when the Gee Band quilts made such a splash)   The one that left me in awe was I finally got to see a quilt by Faith Ringgold in person.  Her quilt, The Bitter Nest, Part II: The Harlem Renaissance Party tells the story of an imaginary family.  The story is depicted through the figures in the center, while written in words around the edge.  Another thing checked off my  life's bucket list....see a Faith Ringgold quilt in person.  

The exhibit wasn't just about the art pieces themselves, but the stories that went behind them  To that end they held an open house where the artists and visitors got to mingle.  Gosh, I would have loved to been at that. Please click here though to see the pictures, because it will show you how amazing the exhibit looked in person.  They also produced a 10 episode podcast, Backstitch to feature each artist talking about her pieces in her own words.  Plus they even have a lecture on YouTube, that I haven't gotten a chance to watch.    So I was proven right - there was plenty of information about each piece online for a deeper dive into the meanings of the art.  

Besides the pieces themselves, the highlight of the exhibit was a small room that featured a peak into the work product of the artists.  When I'm doing an art quilt, I tend to have all sorts of "research" before I create.  Apparently, I'm not alone.  Not often is the viewer treated with peak behind the curtain.  Lia Cook was kind enough to show us her thought process. 

The piece I liked the most was Carolyn Mazloomi, Family Embraces (1997).  When I saw it, I said, "OMGosh!  It's hand quilted."  A voice behind me, countered "Oh it can't be.  Nothing that modern would be."  Luckily my back was to the woman because I literally rolled my eyes.  Seriously, the stereotypes of our art will never cease.  Anyways, I digress.  I thought Mazloomi's use of line in such a strong graphic statement really masterful.  And yes, the hand quilting was amazing too.  

The Family Embraces, Carolyn Mazloomi, 1997

Needless to say, it was a fitting end to our visit to DC.  The Renwick never ceases to disappoint.  I just wish it was bigger.  

And that leads me to say...

What Have You Been Up to Creatively?

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American Art and Portraiture on Off the Wall Friday

Scenes from American Life, Beach, Gertrude Goodrich, 1914
(Treasury Dept, From the Cafeteria, Section of Fines Arts Mural!)

 

Our recent trip to Washington DC also included our first visit to The Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.  It is better known as the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  To tell you the truth, until I got home and read the Wikipedia article, I didn't quite understand where one museum started and one ended.  Apparently, the way it's laid out now, it just flows together seamlessly, which is what I observed.  It's such an interesting museum since it's not really laid out in a gallery setting, but more, like it actually is...a reuse of the old Patent building.  

Cape Code Morning, Edward Hopper 

The art is ... well... just astounding.  Since it's not set up like a conventional gallery, there is art everywhere- every hall - every little room - next to the staircase.  You never know when you're going to turn the corner and see a painting that you only thought you'd see in books.  At one point, I spotted my husband after looking for him for 10 minutes and walked right past a treasure that I caught out of my perifacial vision. I stopped dead in my tracks.  OMG!  There was Cape Code Morning by Edward Hopper.  I've always loved that painting because of the great use of color blocking and PLUS I want to know what the woman is so urgently looking at.    Anyways, it made me gasp! out loud.  So much so that the docent laughed.  I had to apologize and say, sorry I just didn't expect to see a Hopper just hanging out here in the hall.  She laughed harder.  

Barack Obama, Kehinde Wiley, 2018

The Presidential Gallery was amazing.  It was fun to go through the chronological order of the portraits and see if you could remember who would be next!  If you're wondering, Obama's painting looks much better in person - way more depth - less characture.  Really it's quite breath taking and I didn't expect that at all.  Trump had a somber powerful photo in place till his painting is done.  He'll probably have the numbers 45, 47 next to his in keeping with Cleveland's 22,24.  Lincoln's portrait was nearly as impressive as his monument.  

One thing I did notice was that there a concerted effort to feature previous marginalized artists through the museum.  On that note, I found a new favorite piece, Three Figures by Lorna Simpson which is an ink and screen print portrait of a race riot being hosed to dispersed.  

Gorgeous right?

I would call this just an intro visit since we only saw 2 floors before I called "uncle" to my husband.  Apparently, 15K steps is all this ole gal could take for one day.  I do love that the museum is open 11-7, so you can see another museum in the morning and this one in the afternoon.  It does have a great art museum gift shop but no place to have lunch of a snack.  Plus, it this amazing atrium which was all lit for Christmas.  I love that it's become vague to put in gorgeous atriums into museums, especially those that are in winter climes.   It always feels like summer in there.   

Obviously, we'll be back.  

So What Have You've been Up to Creatively?

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Word of the Year: Quilt on Off the Wall Friday

The Crosses II, Nina-Marie Sayre

This week I was reminded by Jenny Lyon that I used to a write a  Word of the Year the first post of January.  The ritual started on our Art Quilt email list of the 2000's. (Sigh, I miss that list.  Reddit is just not the same...just sayin')  The members of the list would choose a word and write their meaning why.  It was inspiring to hear the different words from so many diverse voices chiming in from around the country and world.  

Mine always were normally words that represented an aim or a purpose that I probably thought I was lacking in at that moment. Of course, writing a blog post about that aspect I wanted to inspire to do better in was a lot easier than actually doing better in it.  

So, I thought this year, I would aim a little lower and a little closer to home.  I chose

Quilt 

I'm a firm believer that when things get tough, it's time to take a breathe and go back to the beginning.  For me that is just quilting. I'm always the one that has the big ideas, that more is more and who doesn't want it to be more?  The last few years, I've been failing miserably at that.  So why not try less is more this year and just 

Quilt

I'm thinking smaller projects - nothing innovative, nothing taxing...just basic quilting.  

Proverbs 4:18, Nina-Marie Sayre

To start with I'll need to clean my studio, get it back to rights and pick a project.  That's my homework for the week.

Now onto...

Things I Like...

Don't you love when people give you just the right gift?  My sister this year gave me fat quarters of custom printed Spoonflower fabric.  She gave me a little of her taste and a little of mine which is thoughtful.  Here is the stash....

Like how can one fat quarter spark so many possibilities??

Then my sister-in-law who had me in our Secret Santa got me a rug hooking kit from Loop by Loop by Haley Perry.  My obsession with hooking rugs I fear has only begun.  There is something really satisfying about running little loops up and down through a mesh background.  Then if you don't like them, just pull it out with one tug.  Haley is brillant enough to design kits for the beginning to intermediate hooker that have a bit of a more modern twist.  I got the School of Fish and since it's was a busy social time, only have just begun.  

This is what it's suppose to look like

This is reality - LOL!

Did you get Anything Good this Holiday Season?

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