Painfully honest... where am I stuck?

OK, it's time to get down and finish up my goals for 2013... yeah!  But first, that requires me to do a little soul-searching and figure out what I'm doing wrong and right in my artistic life (uh oh.)

Where am I stuck? 

            One area where I’ve made some incremental progress on is in my studio clean-up and organization, however, I’m still stuck to a certain degree with this.  Most times, I find it difficult to get into my studio to work.  In the past, I frequently have had it so disorganized and messy in my studio and my dyeing room that I can't work or I just don't want to go in.  I have so many things I'd like to do that I'm overwhelmed.  I sometimes feel as though I should finish projects I've already started. I don't know whether to consider it a blessing or not, but I have enough space in my home to spread out... so my sewing gets moved out of my studio to our rec-room and the dyeing can also end up there.  Anyone else struggle with being overwhelmed with their stuff and their space?  

            I’m also somewhat stuck with not being certain how much I should be attempting to show, how much time to devote to just increasing technical competence, how much time just creating for my own artistic pleasure versus trying to fit into a show theme, or whether my work as CQA (The Contemporary QuiltArt Association's Exhibitions co-chair will actually serve my artistic career.  I'm not sure whether taking a break from showing will serve me, however.  I think having a full artist résumé looks good to those interested in your art work.    

            Another area in which I’m struggling is in my definition as an artist.  While I’m comfortable with the definition of “fiber artist”, I’m unsure whether I should still focus on making quilts or whether I should or am moving beyond them.  This is a big dilemma for me.  Do I stop doing “quilt” art?  If so, does that mean that I’ve moved beyond CQA (which has become a rather big part of my life at this point.)  I know I love doing embroidery, but does it have even less potential for artistic recognition as art quilts?  If I focus on other areas than quilt art, where would I show?

What is working?

I am feeling like I’m in the process of moving on to the next level in my art.  I’ve increased my technical competence over the last year.  Specifically, I’m much more skilled in machine freehand quilting as well as dyeing.  I’ve gained a lot of knowledge through my working on the CQA Exhibitions.  I have a good strong understanding of color.  I have a strong work ethic and desire to be successful.  This helps me fit in time although I have a lot of demands for my attention... husband, two teen boys, work, CQA exhibitions, SDA (Surface Design Association)  steering committee and small group leader in WA state, and numerous hobbies and passions beyond my fiber art.

One of the thousands of photos I've taken for design inspiration

I’m very excited to have been able to work with Gail Harker this year and to be starting the Level 2 of her diploma program in May 2013.  I've come to recognize that most classes and teachers don't have much more to offer me, unless I need to learn a particular technique, since the majority of classes just teach you to quilt in that particular teacher's style.  The difference with Gail is that she teaches techniques and design in such a way that all of her students end up developing their own style and their work looks uniquely their own.    

Processes I have used/done quite a bit and am comfortable and confident with:

• Sewing, piecing, quilting, free-hand embroidery, machine applique with my Bernina 730
• Fabric painting (using brushes, syringes, spray bottles, stamps, stencils, silkscreens) with Jacquard textile paints and Lumiere and using resists with fabric painting (freezer paper or objects)
• Printing on fabric with ink-jet printer
• Intensive and in depth study of color, including color mixing, making tints/shades/tones, color theory, and color combinations (dyads, equilateral and isosceles triads, tetrads, hexads, monochromatic, analogous, complementary, near-complementary, complementary triads, modified triads, adjacent-complementary tetrads, and analogous complementary color schemes.)
• Highly proficient with Adobe Photoshop CS5 Professional
• Immersion dyeing (Procion MX)
• Multiple dye-baths
• Using different methods to create pattern in immersion dyeing (pole wrap, clamping, bunching, folding, pleating, shibori)
• Making printing blocks from found objects
• Stamping and making my own stamps from found objects
• Stenciling
• Making thermofax screens and silk-screening with them
• Photography (digital SLR) particularly nature scenes and macro photography (See Skagit Skies and Sunshine and Sand)
• Drawing/sketching
• Monoprinting

Technical Skills I need to develop:

 I think there are a lot of skills that I should develop, but I’m not particularly worried about them.  I think as I continue to work with Gail, I will have lots of practice and increase competency over time.  I do, however, feel I need to get more intentional about my design process.  My understanding of design elements while strong, is not necessarily intuitive in my working in fiber art.  I think I often am so driven to get going on a project that I don’t put the thought into it that could make an okay design into something with much more impact.  Or I’m pushing to get something made for a deadline, so I don’t end up with as good an effort as if I were to just be making it for my personal artistic pleasure.

I'm currently working on hand embroidery techniques, which I'm enjoying and expect will work its way into my art pieces, rather than just a samples.

And another.

Although I have a long list of potential topics I could make art about, as well as thousands of images for inspiration, I’m not particularly worried about my being too overwhelmed with possibilities  I feel confident that my work with Gail will help me narrow my focus over time.

More to come:

I'm not 100% certain that I've covered everything in these categories yet, but will revisit and think about it more over the next few days, in case there is anything to add.  I'll look more at my specific successes over 2012 have been as well as my 2013 goals tomorrow.   

I'd love to hear about where you're stuck, what's working for you, and what you feel you need to develop this year in the comments section below!

You might also be interested in:

Questions to Ponder for Writing Your Goals
Goals for the Upcoming Year
The Art of Organization

Defining Myself

While I currently define myself as a "fiber and mixed media artist", I struggle with the definition. I started early on as a seamstress,then as a costume designer. I moved to being a quilter for a short while, then specialized in art quilts. I've played around with many styles, but basically feel my niche is in representational art.

When I started falling in love with making my own fabric, I became a surface designer.  But, I was still pretty wrapped up in using my fabrics in my quilts.  Now, I'm moving even more to embroidery.  Whether it's dense machine embroidery, thread painting, intricate machine quilting, or hand work, stitch seems to give me a tactile grounding that no other medium has for me.  But how do I define myself?  Where does this work fit in?

I know that most shows that are quilt-centered are very strict about their definition of a quilt... 3 layers connected with stitch, often needing to be professionally bound in some way.  If I decide to create a stitched piece and stretch it over a frame or canvas, then it won't qualify.  So the question is, how important is it to me to fit into the categories that show producers have come up with?  Or even, how important is it to me to continue to exhibit?  Is it more important to create and then find the right niche for my creations, rather than creating to fit particular guidelines?

While I don't feel like I have a strong enough discernible style or large enough body of work to go into solo shows, I do enjoy having my work out in front of the public.  The question is, will work that is not formally a "quilt" get accepted into shows?  Do I feel I need to break out of confines of being defined as a quilter?

I don't know that I have the answer for that yet.  Maybe as I work out my goals for the upcoming year, it will become more clear to me.  How do you define yourself?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Quick tip for productivity:  I recently found the iPhone app "Evernote".  This is a way to organize all your notes, including Word docs, Adobe Acrobat PDFs, and simple text inputs.  You can also use it online or download a version to your computer, as well.  They all sync together. You can organize notes into notebooks (so I have one notebook for my studio, one for family, one for my blog, etc.) and put as many items within each notebook as you want.  It's a great tool!