I recently met another artist working with a very similar process but in a completely different medium -- stained glass. I've googled and scoured ETSY looking at what can be done with this medium, and because the design process is so similar, I can "see" some ideas in glass now, too. It is incredibly beautiful to see the variety of glass tones and opacity illuminated by light, and reflecting light back. Unlike the soft feel of fabric, there is a strength to a glass piece. It is collage. I cover the soft surfaces of my pieces with glass now, but in bead form, letting the contrasting surfaces glitter in the light and coexist. I can see how stained glass and fiber could be used together to further this contrast -- glass frames for small fiber works? Pieces of glass embedded in the structure of a quilted piece? Quilted vessels with glass and fiber walls? Possibilities are endless.
My brain's first reaction is to say "Stop! You need to finish what you've got going before learning a new artistic addiction!" But then I think about ways the ideas could be expressed in more original, less stylistically repetitive ways by learning a new technique. Growth is a good thing. Seriously, though, the part that worries me the most about stained glass is cutting my fingers on the edges. That might sound laughable, but for someone who sews, as well as one with an autoimmune issue, it would be a problem. I do imagine though, embedding glass into the quilted works for a whole new way to make art and this worry becomes obsolete. So cool. That is what I love most about being an artist -- full control over the direction the creative ship takes. Almost full control, as life and health provide some restrictions that must be followed, but the mental dreams and visualizations keep coming, keep growing, and survive just about every negative onslaught that is part of being human.
So, I see a class or two in my future, learning how to make simple things to better understand the design process. Then, maybe, my art will undergo some growth that will inspire me to stay up past my bedtime just to see what the current "art thing" wants to look like. The days of creating past mental and physical endurance seem to be behind me, and I miss them terribly. In art college and also right into my late thirties I would work on my art compulsively -- hours at a time, up late, just to see what the finished thing would look like. The arthritis and simple aging has made this difficult, but if I can do anything to light that spark again, it is worth a try. As an art teacher, too, it is important to keep learning in order to foster that trait in my students. Life is about learning and growth, and following the creative muse wherever she may go.
This image above is shamelessly stolen from my friend Tim Aucella, who does not yet have a website to showcase his fine work. This is a problem that will be addressed soon...stay tuned!
What will you make today?