Just a little busy

On yesterdays post Timaree asked yesterday in the comments “Could you tell us what the differences or main difference is between what you offer versus the wiki?” Timaree is referring to my Encrusted Crazy Quilting which will start on June 19th. It is a good question and I am sure many people think but have not asked the same.

My class emphasises designing a block as well as the technical aspects of making a block. Many people attempt crazy quilting but find it hard to juggle all the bits and pieces together. Put simply with using so much embellishment they find it hard to do. I teach how to design the block so that it reads as well as the technical information on how to make it.

Students have contact with me in the forum for the full six weeks and the lessons also print out to over 200 pages of information. For what is it worth I trained in an art school have 3 visual arts degrees at various levels and if you value experience have taught in an art school for a long time.

For many people you can only go so far with free stuff online. These resources are good and help people learn but the odd structured class does help and online lessons in comparison to face to face lessons are a lot cheaper. There are also many comments from students on the classes offered page which has loads of information on how they are run etc

Perhaps some of my old students who have done the class might leave a comment about this as I often wonder if I give too much away but the challenges I run, the resources I point to are only part of the picture as structuring this information plus teaching design skills into a class is what you are buying.

While I am at it I will remind everyone that I am also running another course Using a studio journal commencing June 27th

OK I am on overload at work so I am taking a few days off blogging. I will be still around approving comments and moderating stitching fingers

 

Mixed media tutorials

This tutorial on wax rubbing is a mixed media technique for anyone who is interested in art journals or if you want to create an interesting textured page background for studio journal.

Each step of the process is clearly described and photographed. It is and easy and technique, not expensive on the pocket and produces quick results.

The tutorial comes from GPP Street Team a blog by Michele Ward who publishes “Crusades” as a series of creative challenges. Take a browse through the past “Crusades” as they are in effect small tutorials on various mixed media techniques

 

Musing over Bonefolder

I know I am little slow but over the weekend I had the chance to browse the latest issue of Bonefolder. It is excellent by the way and well worth popping over to the site and downloading a copy. Muriel Prince’s article Women and Books: Contemporary book artists share their thoughts was of particular interest as recently I have become more interested in book binding and artist books. I have always had an interest in this area and have started to bind my own visual journals. Murial Prince asks why so many women are attracted to artists books as a format and suggests that possibly “it’s the freedom of the multi-disciplinary approach that appeals to women, the not being pigeon-holed and restrained by tradition or convention, the idea that anything goes - the concept can be realised using any and every means at the individual’s disposal.”

It had me thinking half the day because my mind wondered if it was an area of artistic practice where women felt they could carve out a place without having to contend with a huge and historically long pile of baggage like the tradition of painting or sculpture has.

The “no rules” aspect of a particular practice is often highlighted when women talk about a creative practice they love. For instance both crazy quilters and art journallers constantly say that anything goes there are no rules. It is as if throwing away the rules is necessary in reaction to some areas of textile practice. It is as if many women feel that the generations of strict rules about for instance what is and is not done when embroidering a cloth has to be responded to. The thing is there is actually no rules left in many of these traditional areas too. However there are lots of people who still believe there are and are fearful of breaking some unspoken rule they do not know about.

Back to artists books as format you can still explore a concept. The physical size is also small and often intimate which may also be a factor.

Anyway this one article gave me food for thought but I really wanted to simply point to the whole issue as it is well worth reading if you are at all interested in the paper arts or even if you simply keep a visual journal

If you feel like leaving a response here or musing on your own blog about the importance of rules please do and leave a comment to let me and everyone else know. I know I will read it … now must be off I have a living to earn

 

My new online course is available!

I am bouncing around this morning as my new online class has been announced. Yes the news is I have a new course to offer via workshops at Joggles.co

Drum roll please …. It is called …. Studio Journals: A Designer’s Workhorse

The aim to help people keep and use a studio journal and hopefully students will not only put stuff into it but develop designs from that ’stuff’ and take what they design into a fiber form of some sort. Here is a a description taken from the blurb …

Keeping a Studio journal is a process for catching ideas, developing those ideas into designs with the aim of realising those designs in fiber. Unlike an Art journal which aims to be an aesthetic object in its own right a Studio journal is a designers workhorse.

This course covers the process of using a Studio journal to create designs suitable for textiles such as contemporary embroidery, or quilting. To use a Studio journal as part of your creative practice you do not have to know how to draw but there are some tricks to establishing a process that leads to a design that can be applied to textiles. This workshop covers the process of how to keep a studio journal, how to develop and idea further, and how to turn it into a design suitable for a project in fiber

Painters keep a sketchbook to take visual notes of what they see but their finished paintings and their sketches are very different. Writers keep notebooks but their published book is not the same as what is first put down. Notebooks are starting points for more developed ideas. Both writers and painters go through a process using their sketches and notes as a starting point. Fiber artists do the same thing when they develop a design. Studio journals can be used as the starting point for textile practitioners. This is what this course is about.

Each week a series of design exercises are introduced. Students work though these in order to develop designs that can be applied to fiber. They aim to develop design skills and the habit of using a studio journal.

Please note that this course is about keeping a studio journal as a work horse not about creating an art journal that is a finished object in its own right. The emphasis is very much on using a studio journal as part of a design process to produce something in fiber. The course contains design exercises and techniques and discusses how these might be applied to textiles. It is a course where students spend their time designing for textiles and working in their Studio Journal rather than working a step by step project. That said I am definitely not going to discourage anyone from jumping in and making something!

This class will begin on June 27 and click here to order it from Joggles.com

Also my Online class Encrusted Crazy Quilting will run again

Also taken from the class blurb …

One of the delights of crazy quilting is that there are no rules. This is liberating on one hand but for those who are beginners they often get stumped as to where to start and how to control what they do to start! Encrusted Crazy Quilting offers students the opportunity to learn how to piece, develop and heavily hand embellish a crazy quilt block with hand embroidery, beading and exploring different embellishing techniques while solving design, composition and colour issues. This class is suitable for beginners to intermediate crazy quilters.

Encrusted Crazy Quilting will start on June 19th Click here to order or find out more

How the classes work
There are two major components of online classes, the lessons themselves, and the forum. The lessons are the guts of the class. The lessons are an Adobe PDF document are disseminated to the students by joggles.com. Each student is given a User ID and password as well as the URL to the class webpage where they are expected to go and download each lesson. There is a one lesson per week. I have designed the lessons so that people can work at them as much or as little as they choose. Some people have more time to put into them others do not. I understand this, for this reason I have designed the lessons to be self paced.

The expectation is that the students download each lesson weekly and progress through the class. They can choose to just do a few hours stitching or more. It’s up to the student.

Each student is invited to register at the forums, which is where all class communication takes place. While not real time chat, you can post messages. I check the forum daily to answer questions and join in on the chat. Students can post images of their work online so I can give them feedback. Participation in the forums is totally voluntary but I think this is the fun part of the process as it is where students get feed back from me, bounce ideas off each other and share pleasure in learning a new skill.

 

Artists books at the Victorian and Albert

For those lucky enough to get there in person I bet Blood on Paper will be a great exhibit. Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book is an exhibition hosted by the Victorian and Albert Museum which celebrates artists books. The work of 38 artists is on display. Key artists include Picasso, Matisse, Miró, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor and Anthony Caro.

Since the Blood on Paper exhibition page is thin on visual material (to be fair it is just an announcement page) I went exploring the Victorian and Albert Museum Prints and Books collection online as my interest in artists books was once again tweaked. Artists books are defined as “books, unique or multiple, that have been made or conceived by artists. There are fine artists who make books and book artists who produce work exclusively in that medium, as well as illustrators, typographers, writers, poets, book binders, printers and many others who work collaboratively or alone to produce artists’ books.”

You can search the V&A Artist’s book collection and discover not only artists books but altered books and an old favourite pop up books! Use the drop down menu found under the object type tab on the right hand side of the screen .

So what did I find? I thought I would share three objects from the collection that caught my eye.

I really liked the concept behind Karen Chance’s ‘Parallax’ as the book folds out like an accordion to literally present ‘two sides to a story’. I also liked how Sarah Jackson’s use of a Canon copier machine to produce ‘Votes for women ; Exercises for the growing girl’ echoed the concept driving this piece ie democracy. Mapa ed Veneiis’ Geneviève Seillé is a book object made from an old wooden school desk.

As you can tell I am still obsessed with artists books.

 

Artists books in Australian Collections

I have spent a good part of the weekend poking about the Artist’s books sites. If you are not sure of what an artist book is check out how wikipedia defines an artist’s book. Reading it you might think that this type of work is an American genre but it is not. They are made world wide and Aussies make them too.

State Library of Queensland defines and artist book as “an artwork in a book format, or an artwork which has its origin in the form or concept of the book. The term was originally coined to describe books which had their origin in the conceptual art movement of the 1970s.”

The State Library of Queensland publishes a selection of images of artists’ books from the collection which you can browse by theme or type. An artist statement describing the key concept that drove making the book is accompanied by extensive photographs of each book. It is an online exhibit that is worth making a cuppa and settling down to browse each section.

Also online is another exhibition Bookscapes: exploring contemporary Australian artists’ books. There are a small selection of artists books from the National Library’s Collection in the exhibit Beyond the Picket Fence which features Australian Women’s Art

Robin Wallace-Crabbe discusses the pleasure of making books in A Shy Genre: the Artist’s book. This brief article teases out a few ideas and touches on the history of book studio at the Canberra School of Art (the school is where I work). On that note readers may enjoy the blog that is written by those at the studio under the title of the same name. Also Sasha Grishin has written an article on Collecting Australian Artists’ books for the Australian Art Review.

The Calligraphy and Artist books Galleries is a site run by Australian Cecilla which features a numner of Australian book artist.

Make a cuppa and enjoy!

 

1000 Journals the film

Many readers will be aware of the 1000 journal project which is a bit like sending out a message in a bottle. I have written about this project before but for those who are unaware of it, the project involved 1000 journals real, physical book kind of blank journals were released into the world in the summer of 2000, by graphic designer Brian Singer who goes by the name “Someguy”.

The idea is that people who find a journal add something to them. It can be a story, a drawing, a photograph, or anything really. Then they pass the journal along. The website describes the project as “…an ongoing collaborative experiment attempting to follow 1000 journals throughout their travels.”

In many ways the project has become a little like a social experiment as although the journals are being tracked on the website many have not returned. Andrea Kreuzhage discovered the stories and set about finding out what had become of them and made a film out of it. A Synopsis of the film on the 1000 journals film web site reads

1000 Journals is a film about people whose lives are touched by 1000 traveling journals. These blank journals were released into the world in the summer of 2000, by Someguy, a San Francisco based artist. Some people found a journal, or got it from a friend or stranger. Some signed up on the web and received it in the mail. Some wrote in them, others doodled, pasted in photographs, or added artworks. Some kept them. Some passed them on. There are no rules, and no one really monitors these journals and their movements. And yet, they are connecting tens of thousands of people worldwide, provoking and inspiring them.
In September 2003, one of the 1000, number 526, returned to Someguy, filled. What happened to the other 999? This film tells their stories.

On You tube I came across an interview with project organiser “Someguy” at AFI (American Film Institute) Fest 2007

And an interview with Andrea Kreuzhage director writer and producer of the documentary film about 1000 journals project.

If you want more information about this film the 1000 journals film site has the story or visit the 1000 Journals Project and the project continues at 1001 Journals Project in which you can participate by adding a journal, by contributing to one, and check out the 1000 journals blog

 

Art Demonstrations and Tutorials online

I know many readers here are interested in developing their visual journal skills. For anyone who wants to develop their drawing skills visit ArtDemonstrations.com

The blog collates together links to tutorials, instructional material and art demonstrations on the web. It is well worth spending an hour or so browsing and then hauling out that visual journal and exploring some of the techniques.

 

Browsing … and discovering

The extraordinary pencil is a blog that features some extraordinary drawing skills from the hand of Marsha Robinett don’t miss checking it out as this blog is a gem!

Meggiecat is back blogging and has posted this vintage felt bunny pattern and highlighted hoop love a flickr group that shares vintage embroidery patterns

Marg of Maggies Textiles dropped me an email to point me to the resources found on Embroidery and Embroider There is quite a bit on this site and its worth checking out.

Elizabeth of Quieter Moments is exploring Sorbello stitch

Susan Lenz of Art In Stitches is curating an interesting textiles exhibit next year and she has invited me to participate in the Cyber Fyber Exhibition Susan is using a blog to track the development and process of curating the exhibit.

This is a gem …

 

Morning chatter

Here I am again with my morning chatter affliction. On my post about the charm quilt I started, yesterday Pam asked in a comment “how many stitchers work in a variety of mediums? Most of the cross stitchers I know just do cross stitch. But many of the CQer’s like to do a variety of things.”

I know I switch about and have never really been able to decide if this is good or bad. Some people would say if you explore too many things you never get good at anything but I disagree as the skills you learn in one area you can often apply in another area in an innovative way. I like to develop a level of skill and enjoy it, but I also like trying new things and exploring other areas of textiles. It does mean I can get sidetracked but then I am constantly learning. How do can you devalue that? Businesses spend time and money on research and development why not textile practitioners? I think it would be very dull indeed to just do the same type of stitching all the time but I do admire those that can perfect a skill to masters level which usually means they have stuck at the one thing for a long period of time. What do you think?

From other comments left on this post as many are interesting topics to ponder while cutting out hundreds of diamonds. I will post it later in the week.
Eventually I am sure this chattery phase of mine will pass and I will get back to my usual link of the day but in the meantime… here are some links to side track the curious

Racaire of Racaire’s Embroidery and Needlework has written another handout on an historical embroidery technique. This time it is  is on Klosterstich and you can find other handouts in her sidebar.

Leslie has published a tutorial on how to make loop flowers in silk ribbon on the Hand Embroidery Group Projects  which is a collaborative blog run by the Hand embroidery yahoo group

Dawn of On the banks of Bay Creek dropped me an email to point me to Andrea Jaques who is a doll dresser who makes very good use of her visual journal. If you are interested in visual journals this is an excellent example of using a visual journal to develop design ideas check it out!

Noreen writes lots of tutorials on her blog Hankering for Yarn. This tutorial on making a bead doll made me think many readers here would like it or adapt it for a tree decoration. or you could adorn gifts with it.