Things are getting more and more eccentric at Casa de la Swain. Changing styles in my textile work, falling in love again with painting and photography...and then there is the ever illusive quest for continuing creativity through working with Eric Maisel. Still on the road teaching, posting now at the Ragged Cloth Cafe and taking the pledge to keep handmaiden up to date.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

What I Did Today

Absolutely the best piddling ever....cleaned the kitchen, watered the yard, bought more Bristol board, stopped by Blockbuster and picked up some movies. Did one new design for the fabric. Took a nap in the middle of the day..unbelievable! Took a long hot bath with smell good stuff....went to the gym. End of story...not quite, going to quilt tonight while watching movies. Is this boring enough to qualify as a day off? I think so. What actually happened was...I had so many things I wanted to do, enlarge some new quilt designs, paint, applique, quilt, that I couldn't make a decision.
Indecisiveness led to...doing nothing. However, there is an appealing meme on DebR's blog. Maybe later because that would mean doing something. Now for tomorrow...shall I piddle away another day?
While Charles and Christy were here on Tuesday, we got into a conversation about art being evocative and self-revelatory. While he agrees that my work is very evocative, he does not find it self-revelatory.....that the human is missing in the work. My explanation to him is that was my goal to take my ego out of the work as much as possible so that the viewer responded only to the references to nature....the world we live in. What do you think? Am I hiding behind this imagery? Oh no, she's thinking again....gotta run before this turns into doing something.
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2 comments:

Lisa Call said...

Interesting question.

First of all I'm not sure I agree - I think there is quite a bit "you" in the earth strata series. Having never met you and just knowing only what I have read on this blog these pieces just fit. To me there is definitely some self revelation going on here. I do agree that some of the more representational work has less of that.

But that said here's my take on the subject.

I definitely see your point about wanting to get out of the way and just let the viewer respond. But in the end don't you have a story that you also want to tell? Isn't that part of what being an artist is about?

You have a lot to tell us in this blog, and it is very interesting and relevant to your art. To also include that in the work, in my opinion, would only make the work stronger.

Maybe your ego doesn't have to "get in the way" but can instead add to the viewer response. Then the reaction to the work becomes not just a reaction to your references to nature but also to you as a person.

So yes - in a sense you are hiding when you don't put that part of yourself into your work because you don't have to risk possible rejection if the viewer doesn't like the work.

As is, if the work is unliked it can be attributed the the subject matter. If you feel you have put more of yourself into the work then the rejection is more personal and that's a scary place to be.

7:38 PM
Deb R said...

I think the choices themselves that we make in what we create - Is there a recognizable subject matter or is it all about shape and color? Is the style formal or informal? Is the mood dark, light, intense, sweet, cold, sexy, scary? Are the colors intense or muted? High contrast or low? - all those things reveal something about the artist, even if what it reveals is that the artist is trying NOT to reveal his or her inner self. That choice - to "hide behind the imagary", is in itself revealing.

Does that make sense anyplace except in my head? It's late here and I need to go to bed.

Glad to see you did the meme! Loved reading your answers.

9:10 PM

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