Making it with Art Cloth Network

I belong to several big national fiber art groups, a couple of regional/local groups and one special art cloth group, national in scope, but limited in size. ACN offers a really particular and personal experience to its members. And, while the requirements are fairly demanding, very specific and targeted for the encouragement of making complex, beautiful fabrics, the actual breadth of members work is astounding and inspiring.

Its not a group for those who want lots of benefits without putting in time and effort, but the friendships and support that this group have built for me are remarkable and enlightening, despite the occasional fracas and foment that comes with the territory (herding cats, right?)

Jeanne Sisson, membership chair, sent this out today. Look at the info, the member pages, and if it seems to be something that appeals, follow up with a request for information.

From Jeanne:
The Art Cloth Network is open for new members! If you'd like information about the group, see our website at http://artclothnetwork.com.

The members of the Art Cloth Network find that the opportunities for community, conversation, sharing of techniques, inspiration, and resources benefit our art and creativity. We have recently increased our membership limits to 30 members in good standing, including those on formal leave. When the number falls below 30, we accept new member applications. We currently have openings for up to eight new members.
The current deadline for membership applications is March 15, 2013, and you can send in your application materials at any time prior to the deadline. You will be notified by April 15, 2013 whether your application has been approved.

Send a request to jeanne@jeannesisson.com in order to receive detailed information and application instructions (form website).

INTERMISSION

Just to keep you going on this set of posts about making a study. Here's the reason. Here's the starting point. Make a study to figure this out, and you will never have a bad day at work. From Ruprecht Studios, beautiful images, beautiful message.

For the fullscreen on Face book, link here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151397745507577&set=vb.150082065062250&type=2&theater

Where Do You Start with Art? Part 2

 A trip to a museum to see and photograph (if allowed) related art could be a "big experience."

MORE WAYS TO PRIME THE MIND. See the last blog post to figure out what and why-for this is all about!

Research.

Start with a list of questions about your topic. Write as many as you can. Review your questions and, if possible, discover additional questions to ask and answer about the subject -- perhaps by sharing with a group. Use one or more of these methods to track down answers, possible answers and even just hints of answers to your questions:

Search the internet.

Look in the library.

Read related books or magazine articles.

Interview someone.

Create a survey.

Experiment.

Check out YouTube or other online sources of video or audio.

After researching, draw, write about and/or graph what you learned, what was most important.

Generate ideas.

Use your imaginations about the subject in these and other ways:

Daydream

Ask "what if" questions.

Brainstorm or mind-map

Consider the subject from as many viewpoints as possible

Think WAYYYY outside the box

Big experience.

Design for yourself, if possible, a large, concrete, “unforgettable” experience related to the subject or theme of your study. Examples:

An excursion (can be imaginary)

A live animal

A live demonstration/performance 

Participation in a big group or collaborative event

A visit to a museum or park or historical site that gives you ideas about your theme

See a movie or documentary related to your theme, if possible on the big screen!

PS: Dr. Cynthia Herbert (my friend Cindy) added two more great ideas to her list. Since she inspired this whole series, I want to include the ideas, so look below in the comment section -- and add your own ideas, too.

The next post will feature ideas for INVENTION.

Where Do You Start with Art? Part 1

 A collection of ethnic textiles might be where you start.

One of the creative skills I will be taking my Southwest School of Art class through is that of making a study as a way to develop ideas and images for a series of art quilts. As we work though these ideas (the course meets weekly on Mondays from February 4- March 25) we'll be building a stash of ideas and information focused on one theme or topic. This is often the way I work on a piece of art for a submission when the theme is one that I am considering for the first time.

These notes were written by my Missing Alphabet colleague Dr. Cynthia Herbert, and were originally developed for our teacher training program in Dallas for our afterschool program (part of Big Thought). I've adapted them for artists, with her permission, and will share them here in a series of posts his week.

DOING A STUDY

A STUDY is a sustained investigation of a single concept, thing, theme or idea. In a study, a child explores many, many different viewpoint, contexts and materials. The Sensory Alphabet is used as nine “lenses” through which to view the object of the study. After many explorations, the child expresses a personal definition or viewpoint through one or more original forms.

BRAIN RESEARCH SAYS:

Current brain research and cognitive psychology tells us that human beings can only learn very low-level tasks and ideas through drill and rote memorization. For learning to be faster, longer lasting and of a higher order, each of us must “construct” our own personally meaningful definitions. Although we will all have common notions, the depth and variety of our experiences will determine the depth and dimensionality of our understanding.

For any one of us to be able to use a concept to solve problems, make decisions, express ourselves, and enrich our quality of life, we need a well-elaborated mental representation—a concept that looks very like a complex spider web of interconnected experiences and ideas. The STUDY makes the development and elaboration of mental representations an overt process that leads to “deep understanding” and “transference,” what has been called the “so what?” of learning. This is a valuable way to start an art project or any project that needs more than superficial responses.  

FORMAT: A study is divided into three parts: Priming, Invention and Reflection. Today, I'll list the kinds of activities that are part of priming. Some of these are more appropriate than others for the kind of thinking that art-making is about, but since we do all of these with kids in our classes, I'm listing them all!

PRIMING: Priming activities are intended to prepare each mind to be ready to construct (create)  his or her own definition of the subject being studied. Here are the first two ways to PRIME the mind (more coming next post).

Connect.

Connect the subject with your former experiences, current feelings or opinions and curiosity. Write, journal or search through your collections, stash and memories to make a connection to the theme. IF you can't find a connection, this may not be a good topic for your art -- but most of us, give our lovely capacity for experience, have many connections to much of the world!

Observe and Collect.

Make direct observations and collections in regard to the subject. Focus observations using the Sensory Alphabet and physical "lookers"  to make notes or drawings. Sometimes new ideas for note taking are employed. Take photos, videos or recordings to project/replay and share and use all your senses.