A statement on Art. – inspired by Robin and the BJP

I am enjoying my short experience (so far) with the Bead Journal project (and it’s only been a month! Wow!). But this month is so far the most interesting – so far – remember it’s only a month.

First, a little background on me. I was an art major in college. Started in fine art, but moved to Graphic Design because I hoped to use my art to make a living (big mistake, but that’s another post). I draw, I paint, I have used tig welding to make large metal sculptures. However, all of this was in college. High School and College should have been spent exploring my artistic expression and yet I found that art teachers can suck every creative desire out of you.

I was not into “trendy” artistic directions in college. I wanted to go my own way. I love Andy Warhol and all Pop Art, Grafitti art, and realism (especially in my drawing). Every time I picked a direction I wanted to take my art, it got slapped down by some self important teacher who tried to push me into the way they were going. At one point I made a HUGE metal sculpture that I hated for years – I think it finally fell apart in my brother’s back yard. The painting I did here is in the garage – yep, love it that much.

I basically quit doing any art for 20 years after college.

So, why am I doing needlework and fiber art? I had grown up dabbling in embroidery and other crafty pursuits, but mainly because about 15 years ago I got a job in a clothing store that was a celebration of fabrics – there were mudcloth, batiks, saris, fabulous kimonos, tapestries and colorful fabrics from Mexico. I found myself buying them with no actual use for them – just collecting to fondle. I finally realized I had a connection to fiber and fiber art.

Robin Atkins, who I have taken one class from but followed her blog religiously for years, brought up a fabulous point on her blog today – inspired by me, and by a commenter on her own post (and finished February project).

This was to talk about two ways to approach art (her graph):

Making Art < – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – > Just Do It
Do It Right < – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – > Let it Be.

I think this is where I went wrong in art school. The teachers were so full of the “why” and the artistic expression and I was never allowed to create the images I had in my head. They tried to mold me so I was “doing it right” and yet never let me just “do it” or “let it be” – it may have been junk, but at least it would have been MY junk!

So, in my exploration while doing the Bead Journal Project, I am reevaluating and thinking about my original goal which is completely to “just do it”. Why else would I have a goal of one a month? Pushing the deadline just makes me obsess over my choices and the “right and wrong” of it all.

I have more to write on this subject – but more on fiber art and using it as an artistic expression, but I’ll leave that for another post!

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