Cloth Paper Scissors Debut

I'm honored to be writing now for Cloth Paper Scissors, the Interweave Press mixed media magazine. My first article will be in the May/June issue and its a profile of mixed media artist Robert Maloney. I hope you'll all pick up a copy and tell me what you think, when the mag hits the stands!

And, speaking of publication, I've also just received word that my Cloth Paper Scissor DVD Workshop about Rainbow Printing will be released in Apri and that it will be featured in teh CPS newsletter of April 7.

Hi Susie,
We will be promoting your DVD in the April 7th newsletter. Can you please send me some tips or a brief how-to related to your DVD for that newsletter? We would also need an image. We will need all of this no later than April 1st.
 
Thanks Susie. Please let me know if you have any questions.
 
Have a good night.
 
Warm regards,
Barbara Delaney
Assistant Editor
CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS®

I am holding my breath til I see that hour-long me-in-front-of- big-scary-camera workshop! I learned a lot in the process, and beg those of you who have the opportunity to see it sometime to tell me how I could improve. (I'll let you know where/how to purchase when I get the word that it's on the way -- or you can go to CLP's website and sign up for their newsletter.) I KNOW I was really disorganized and rushed at the beginning (breathe, Susie) but I think I improved as the tape rolled.

Sensory Alphabet Workshop in April

What is the Sensory Alphabet? And why do you wnat to know about it?

What -- see above and below for the nine elements. Why is a little trickier to answer, but for me, these 9 "viewpoints" have been the key to my creative work since I first learned my alphabet at age 12 in a children's theater program at Baylor University. They were -- and remeain -- my entry points into my own strongest kinds of imaginging. Knowing my alphabet is what helps me find my artistic and creative voice in any medium. The alphabet has served me as a writer, as a visutal artist, as a textile artist, as a designer of books, videos, and informational materials, as a journalist and as a museum designer.

Looks simple, looks artsy, but really what these ways of collecting, looking and giving form for me, and I think for others, is provide the path to find what I am best at doing, saying, making and percieving -- and that's whether I am starting a business, planting a garden, working an equation or making art. Maybe you'r e ready to dig deeper into your own strong suite, get off the "collect-another-technique" trail (as fun as that might be), and start making work that reflects your individual and unique perspective. To speak in your own voice as an artist.

Or maybe you are just ready for some play time outside your regular and expected directions, the well-trod road of expertise and self-expectations -- time to stretch into really different, though simple, materials and media.  Either way, you'll like this affordable and rejuvenating workshop I think!

The Sensory Alphabet workshop coming up in April at El Cielo is a short and intense two-days of looking at your own way of using this alphabet of perception. If you'd lilke to get started (or continue with conviction) your own path to your own best work, consider joining us at El Cielo on April 16 (optional evening potluck and sharing) 17-18. The details are in my workshop brochure (see sidebar and click on the link to download) or email me for an electronic brochure mailed to your very own computer!

ON-LINE LIVE at last

The planning wall has finally come to life!

Well, almost. At any rate I am to the point of taking registrations of my test pilot group.
Here are the details (if you expressed interest before, you should have gotten an email today).

The test pilot group will be open to the first 25 participants who respond. I don't think I can handle more participants than that and still do a good job of facilitation with the level of participation I hope we have.

Dear Colleague:

You have expressed interest in being one of my "test pilots" for a new on-line teaching format and for an online workshop that I will facilitate. After a busy winter season teaching and learning I am ready to launch the workshop, with the start date for the first week of classes set for Thursday, April 1. The online workshop will last for 7 weeks (the last week is optional since it involves more expensive materials and equipment), but I would like this free trial to have participating artists who can commit to at least the next 6 weeks to work through the exercises, or, at the least give me feedback as to the format and content.

Here are the specifics of what I am offering with this course (it is a workshop-in-progress, with tweaking no doubt along the way!)

TEXT ON THE SURFACE

Week One -- Getting Started with Text on Textiles -- Ideas, inspirations, examples and collections to get going. Finding the right words for your personal stories, research and word-weaving. Fast forms to get your hands in motion and to start the ideas flowing. Supplies to gather, materials to look out for, prep to get you going, playtime in the studio and on the journal page. Writing exercises to continue throughout the course. (For specifics see my post two back in the archive)

Week Two -- Cut and Paste, Word Collages.
Week Three -- From Text to Textile.
Week Four -- Stamping out a Message
Week Five -- Write with the Sun -
Week Six -- Putting it all together.
Week Seven -- OPTIONAL -- Waxing Poetically

The online workshop will be offered on a private, password protected website with another password protected website that will be used for comments and discussion hosted on posterous.com. There will also be pdf downloads of lessons, supplies, etc. (It may take me a few weeks to get them formated for download). The workshop will be conducted through these two online web-based platforms. If you do not have highspeed internet service I suspect the process will be too tedious for you to use. In the future, perhaps I will also offer the workshop as a CD or DVD.

You will need to know (or be willing to learn) how to post comments on a website, send email to posterous, shoot and download photos into your computer of your work to share, attach photos to an email, search the web, set up bookmarks on your web browser. You will need a computer and printer/scanner if at all possible, and I reccommend that you have an all-in-one copier/printer though this is not essential. If you are accessing the workshop on a public computer, you must have the ability to log-in to password protected sites.

I am not, for this first trial, providing any supplies or material kits other than an option for you to order thermofax screens from me. Supply services may be added in the future.

As this is the FREE pilot launch for this course, those of you who commit to participating will help me improve as I learn more about how to make this powerful format work for all of us. In that light, I ask that you commit to the following:

PLEASE respect my ownership and copyright for these materials and use them for personal use only, not for distribution. Do not share your confidential password and log-in information with others. The password will be changed every three months, so if you wish to participate in comments or review the materials, be sure to do so within that time period.

Fully participate in group discussions, including posting examples of your work (photos), ideas, things you discover about the techniques and exercises, etc. Your comments and posts will be submitted via a separate but linked website on posterous.com. This means you simply will email photos, comments, etc to a dedicated, private website, accessible only to the members of this pilot course. Each lesson has a live link to the posterous site. I would like the option of using your submitted examples on future course websites and to illustrate exercises, and will credit your work with you name, if you wish. See the first assignment.

Stay the distance, at least through the next 6 weeks of lessons. I will post one lesson per week. Each lesson includes several assignments-- some design exercises as well as some technical “how-tos.” You can, of course, complete the assignments (or not) at your own pace and in your own good time, but discussions will track the course timeline and weekly lessons. I will also make all the written lessons available as pdf formated downloadable documents, so that you can keep them handy as you work and for future projects. At the end of each assignment, you’ll find a checklist that you can use to monitor your progress.

Participate in an evaluation at the end of the workshop so that I can improve and make the materials better and more useful.

VERY IMPORTANT!! Share your experience with others, so that when I offer the tuition-based version of the workshop, I have you as an ambassador to help me market the workshop online and to the groups that you participate in.

If this still sound like fun, please send me a prompt email return and I will mail you the registration information, password and links to the sites. Thanks for sharing the adventure!

El Cielo Workshops

The brochure's in the (e)mail; here's the scoop. I hope you can join me on one of these FUN adventures into your own creative process, the world of mixed media textiles and adventures in ideas (not to mention the beautiful setting here at El Cielo). Please register as soon as possible, hold your place with a $25 deposit, or pay in advance (3 weeks, please) to get a %10 discount.

Nurture your creativity as you come away from a weekend with renewed energy, new materials and techniques in surface design applicable to fiber, ceramics, jewelry, painting and mixed media work. Susie Monday leads artists’ retreats and workshops throughout the year at her studio near Pipe Creek, Texas, about an hour from downtown San Antonio. El Cielo Studio workshops are designed with the needs of the participants in mind; free time is scheduled throughout the weekend for reading, reflection and personal work in the studio. You are welcome to bring projects in process for Susie’s critique and for peer feedback in an environment of trust and respect. You’ll share meals, poetry and stories, music and advice for living an artist’s life. Enjoy the 25-mile vistas from the deck and strolls down the country roads. A spa and pool, and large screen media room are also available to participants. The fee for each workshop retreat is $165 for a 2-day event with $15 discount for early enrollment/payment. Comfortable accommodations and meals are available from $15 - $30 per workshop. Limited enrollment. Most supplies included. Call 210-643-2128 or email susiemonday@gmail.com

FINDING YOUR CREATIVE PATH

APRIL 16-18

(optional Fri. night potluck)

Discover your artist's path and creative strengths as you explore the Sensory Alphabet, the non-verbal vocabulary that each of us uses to take in the world around us, to play with ideas and to create form. In this workshop filled with multimedia experiments and investigations --  including drawing, sculpting, painting, moving, collage and photography -- you'll discover more about your strong suits as an artist and maker, and learn more about what cognitive scientists know about the ways our brains work and invent.

NATURE INSPIRED ART

MAY 7-9

(optional Fri. night potluck) How does an art quilt idea grow from nature’s inspiration? Learn two dimensional design skills as your take some of your favorite images from nature into your own art work. Explore surface design techniques that use the power of nature (sun, water, and rust) and explore several techniques that use your nature photos on the surface of fabric. Take home a journal quilt or small wood-frame quilt ready for stitching. ($10 additional supply fee if you wish to work on a wooden frame piece.)

A CREATIVE STUDY: PETROGLYPHS, POTTERY & PREHISTORY

JUNE 4-6

(optional Fri. night potluck)

Many artists have found inspiration in prehistoric and archetypal imagery from caves, cliffs and ancient ceramics. This is the first of a series of “creative study” workshops that will illuminate how you as an artist can take inspiration from the images and imagination of the past, while transforming the images into something uniquely your own. This workshop models a time-proven creative study process (based on that developed at Learning About Learning Educational Foundation and the Paul Baker Theatre) that can be adapted to many inspirational sources. We’ll go from collection through synthesis to creating, and explore textile and mixed media techniques that relate to the aesthetic and philosophical qualities and intent of the earliest art-makers. Explore some simple natural dyes; use handmade brushes as tools, make pigmented paints with ashes, earth, rust and minerals

WHAT PARTICIPANTS SAY ABOUT EL CIELO WORKSHOPS

“A workshop at Susie’s is always money well spent. I learned techniques I have read about but never tried ... I also now feel confident that I can make art quilts!” “This workshop was a fabulous, uplifting, nurturing environment to create in. The journaling was particularly helpful, I would definitely recommend it to a friend.” “This weekend was totally awesome! I am humbled by Susie’s talents, her teaching abilities and her hospitality. I will come back as often as possible.”

Susie Monday has taught creative process and art techniques to adults and children for more than 30 years. Her art is in numerous private and public collections around the world. She will be a featured artist on QUILTING ARTS TV in the new season starting June 2010. Susie is also the co-author of NEW WORLD KIDS; The Parents’ Guide to Creative Thinking.

For a free quarterly newsletter, email susiemonday@gmail.com www.susiemonday.com 210-643-2128 3532 Timbercreek Road Pipe Creek, TX 78063 Read Susie’s blog at http://susiemonday.squarespace.com

Are you interested in a custom designed workshop at El Cielo (minimum 5 participants) or on site for your guild or other group? Many of Susie’s workshops go on the road! Please write for available dates and fees.

If you wish to download a copy of this brochure, please see the sidebar for a link for downloading.

Uncle, That's me calling it.

And double that, uncle. I just wrote a long eloquent entry and the stupid website logged me out without the supposed automatic save!!

So, here we go again.

Remember "uncle," that's me calling it on the online course deadline. It will be done when it will be done. I am so close, but then my computer power management chip went fluooey, causing me to have a major crash and to have to have my entire system restored, rebooted, etc. All is well, I did have a fairly recent backup of my files, but I don't have all the software that I have downloaded -- that has to be redone. And more importantly to the pressure cooker, my MAIL program seems to be intent on downloading all 7.3 gigabytes of mail that my gmail account has in archive since September of 2007. Go figure. I am trying not to take it personally, but I am taking it to heart.

Sometimes when a project, an endeavor takes on swimming-upstream direction it's a good idea to look at what's going on and try to adjust to reality. Perhaps this, my online course,  is just not meant to be done by end of February! I have a tower of deadlines, a DVD script to finish that will, indeed, be a digital course all on its own, with someone else to market it! My dreams seem to be coming true but in a manner different that what I imagined. Gee, how often does that happen? If I stop spinning my wheels and try to do what seems to be the next best step, I suspect that all will go a bit better, right?

I still plan to launch my own version of an online workshop -- but the schedule is changing as of now. I'm giving us all another month to get it together and meanwhile, I'll tell you what I have in mind.

I've still got everyone's name on a little database of addresses (fortunately that stayed intact!) of those who have expressed interest -- oh, let's see, two months, three months back --  and I'll let you know when its time to go.

Meanwhile, here's the outline of what I'm thinking about and a few steps to get you who are interested started on the process, in your own "sweet" time, I hope.

ONLINE COURSE -- WORDS ON THE SURFACE

Week One -- Getting Started with Text on Textiles -- Ideas, inspirations, examples and collections to get going. Finding the right words for your personal stories, research and word-weaving. Fast forms to get your hands in motion and to start the ideas flowing. Supplies to gather, materials to look out for, prep to get you going, playtime in the studio and on the journal page. Writing exercises to continue throughout the course.

Week Two -- Cut and Paste, Word Collages. Use a variety of collage and composition techniques with magazine and found text to make original collages. Step-by-step exercises in making collages with contrast, meaning and form. Hand-cut letters to make it personal. (Optional: Playing with scale, using your copy machine or all-in-one printer to make magic with collage).

Week Three -- From Text to Textile. Paper Cloth collage techniques combine fabric and collage with tissue paper and glue. Then put your collages to work on fabric with phototransfer techniques using an inkjet printer and thermofax (optional). Several different techniques for transfering images using common digital equipment -- your's or the copy shop's.

Week Four -- Stamping out a Message -- Learn to make original alphabet and word stamps with easy to find craft store materials, erasers and other cut-and-glue techniques. Techniques for making clean stamped images and more.

Week Five -- Write with the Sun -- Sunprinting using words and letterform images. Layering words and text. Tricks for humid or cool climates from the experts. Mixing your own paints for sunprinting.

Week Six -- Putting it all together. Ideas for using your words on the surface, your text on textiles. How I put an art quilt together. Continuations and completions. How to keep working from your own stories. Group gallery of work, samples and ideas in process.

Week Seven -- OPTIONAL -- Using soy wax batik to add words to the surface -- scrafitto, stamping, brushwork and tjanting tools. And even how to use wax writing to make an original screen print. This is an optional week since not all participants will want to make the investment in materials and tools that are required for batik and screenprinting.

What you can do to get started now:

1) Start cutting out words and letters and save them in a cigar box. (or something similar). Just cut or tear from magazines and newspapers

2) Keep your eyes out in the craft store for foam letters, magnetic letters and word and phrase stamps that you like -- especially if they are on sale

3) Keep your eyes out for a working fry pan at the thrift store if you plan to investigate soy batik.

4) Make a collection of quotes that you like on a topic or two dear to your heart. Put them in digital form.

Order from Jane's Corner

Here's a note that Jane Dunnewold, my friend and mentor, put on out on one of the online lists this week. If you plan to order Jane's new book ART CLOTH -- an update and reworking of what is certainly one of the classic resources of the surface design field, COMPLEX CLOTH -- then do her the favor of ordering from her Art Cloth website. I certainly will. And, even better, add my name to the drawing for one of Jane's wonderful pieces of art.

"I was dismayed to go to Amazon and see how deeply discounted my new book will be - even before it has been released. I know that's the way of the world, but it led me to some serious thinking about how to compete with discounting while offering value to those who are committed to sticking with and supporting artists by spending a bit more - rather than going for the discount. With that in mind, I've decided to host a "raffle" of sorts - to thank those of you who are willing to support artists first hand - without the middle person, like Amazon, involved.

Anyone who pre-orders my new book on my website - complexcloth.com - will automatically be entered in a drawing for two of my larger works of art. The pieces are yet to be determined - I need to get some work back from Interweave before I can make the decision about what to offer, but they will be GOOD pieces. The drawing will occur on June 1, 2010. Anyone who has already pre-ordered from my website is automatically "in."

Please feel free to pass this on to other lists and friends. I am not
against Amazon at all, but am interested in leveling the playing field so that I might actually be able to hold my own against big business! And may I say, while engaging in a little fun with an outcome a couple of people will really enjoy!

(Is Amazon the equivalent of an on-line big box store? Am I the local corner artist?)

Cheers,
Jane

and yes, every copy ordered on the website will be personally signed."

Deja Vu

Sometimes, it takes time for things to come around, to come to fruition, to make sense.

In a former life as an arts-in-education designer and educator, my colleagues and I fought an uphill battle to demonstrate the importance of creative thought as a lynchpin of public (and private) education. Although our non-profit, Learning about Learning Educational Foundation, was a model program, garnered prestigious awards, and for 15 years succeeded with finding funding and delivering amazing programs, training and products, we knew we were ahead of our times. Since the foundation closed in 1986, neuroscience and brain research has affirmed what we knew from experience: we humans construct our knowledge; we create meaning and knowledge from rich environments; metacognitive practice and understanding aids our development; and that each of us is an absolutely unique learner and creator.

What we also know: Children, given access to individual strenghts as creative beings; given processes to nurture, communicate and work from their creative selves could find pathways to success -- in school, in life, in careers.

Susan Marcus and I worked for several years to write and publish NEW WORLD KIDS, The Parents' Guide to Creative Thinking, for the parent audience -- mainly because we knew the frustration of trying to turn the huge bureaucratic bulk of the educational "system," and because we wanted the proven tools we had developed for nurturing creative thought to be in parents' hands. Now, with the book published, the educational -- particularly the outside-of-school educational world is paying attention (again?).

Susan, Cindy Herbert (another colleague from LAL) and I just completed a teacher training session for 20 plus educators -- about half of them from the Dallas Museum of Art -- and another batch from other out-of-school-time programs. The immediate aim was to train the DMA folks to run a two-week 5-year-olds' program this summer based on the book and on the program that has been operating in Ridgefield, CN, at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.

The immediate program will be great -- and we know from Aldrich -- an eye-opening experience for parents and their kids who participate. But more importantly, we see that perhaps these ideas are coming to fruition in a new scale and scope. One of the wonderful things about the Dallas time was that we reconnected with others whose common foundation -- exposure and work with one time or another with Paul Baker -- led to an immediate ability to speak the same language.

Now, I have to figure out how this new strand (I guess, it's acually an old strand re-spun) fits into my life as a working artist. What do I want to do with these new demands to teach, train, create materials? How do I continue my own creative journey? We (Susan, Cindy and I) are wise in our own strenghts and interests, know what and how we want to live our lives (and that's not in an airport or motel room on the road).

Plus on top of all this, I'm blossoming with possibilities for my own quilting-arts teaching -- I've been asked to tape a segment for Quilting Arts TV and a one-hour workshop for the Quilting Arts video series. Wowser. Plus I AM going to do my own on-line teaching and launch a test by the end of the month.

Visioning for Online Teaching

I'm on the SAQA Visioning Project (I think you can still join up if you are a SAQA member) and my goal for the year is to get-- finally -- my online courses into reality. I looked up some previous posts and I have been dithering about this since 2007, so its time to do it or stop thinking about it. At least see how and if I can make one work!

I'll post more on this and the Visioning Project, but in case you've showed up from my Tweet or Facebook or other announcement, here's how to put your name in the hat to be a beta tester (or test pilot as I prefer to call you!). Just send me an email either directly or though the form on the sidebar of this blog.

The test course will be launched in January, so you don't have to worry about holiday commitments. I will also send you a survey between now and then and ask you to share your technical experience, your web use and your gut feeling about how my courses can be adapted for online students and participation. There are so many options, that I think that's why I've stalled out on this one!

Open Studio On-Line

Just the photos for now. I just lost my entire post. Check back later if you want to actually know more about my studio. I am at a conference and hoping to learn more about photoshop today.

 

What do I love about my studio?

Space, space, space.

Space to teach (see the flyer to download on the sidebar).

My old art cabinet (the drawers) that I have hauled around for 40 years.

Collections and space to explore.

The view outside the studio!

Cleaned up and ready for a workshop, above.

Open Studios Online

Ran across this online invitation today, and I thought it would be fun to participate.You might want to, too.

Be Part of Our Online Open Studios Event

The theme of the Fall 2009 issue of Studios is Open Studios, so we're kicking it off with a virtual tour, and you're invited to participate. Here’s how:

Step 1.  Take pictures and/or video of your studio. Maybe your studio is a large, dedicated space or maybe it’s just a corner of the dining room. It doesn’t matter—we want to see it! And don’t worry that it isn’t perfect. Art is not about perfection. You can clean it up, leave it in its natural state—it’s up to you.

Step 2. Announce the tour on your blog/website and include the cover image of the Fall 09 Studios, linked to our website.

Once you’ve posted image and link, leave a link to your blog/website in the comments section of the In the Studio with Cate editor’s blog anytime before October 2.

Step 3. On October 3, post the images/video of your studio on your blog or website with a little commentary describing your creative spac and what makes it special to you. Leave the post up through October 4, or as long as you like.

The first 25 people to join the tour (i.e. leave a link to their tour announcement on Cate’s blog) will win a door prize from the Studios storage closet (books, fabric, craft bags, art supplies, and more). Everyone who participates will have the opportunity to share their unique workspace and get ideas and feedback from others.

So, join the fun! Any questions? Contact Studios Editor Cate Prato at cprato@interweave.com.

And it will get me to clean up my studio, at least a little, before I take off on the first of three event journeys to Houston.

Here's what's on the agenda:

Federation of Texas Fiber Artists Meeting -- Houston's HAFA hosts this year's events, held every two years among the four member "chapters" of the organization -- Austin, Dallas/FW, San Antonio and Houston. Here's what I'll be doing:

 Studio tour, Workshops on Photoshop and various facets of art business and professionalism and gallery visits -- Gallery stops at the ArtCloth Network's exhibit at Archway Gallery and the Federation's show at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (nope, my entries were not accepted for either show, better luck next time, right?)

Next:

International Quilt Festival, the big one at George Brown Convention Center, all four floors!

I'm teaching, demoing, lecturing way more than I expected. I sent in some proposals last spring, thinking that the way they worked would be to pick three, maybe four of my options. I was asked to present seven different programs. Good thing I am traveling up and back to the Houston Federation event, so that I can take some of the supplies then and leave them at a friend's house. I am excited, but a bit apprehensive about all the activities -- suspect I won't be doing much for fun except teaching. But, I am signed up for Ann Johnston's dyeing course, one I've wanted to take for a long time. This will be the lecture, demo version, but I am certain I will learn a tremendous amount. Ann is the dye guru in my book!

Here's my teaching ,etc. schedule, in case you get a chance to join in. Last time I checked I had openings still in all of my offerings. Workshop registration includes one admission ticket to the exhibits, trade shows, etc. For more information go to www.quilts.com.

The International Quilt Festival in Houston will be
held October 14- 18 (earlier than normal this year only).
Catalogs are now available for classes and workshops
from Quilt, Inc. Several Texas artists are included as
instructors and lecturers. Susie Monday will be lecturing
and teaching (# from the catalog): For more information,
visit www.quilts.com
#368, Wed, 4-5pm, $8
Lecture: Nurturing Creative Kids (and Grandkids)
#411, Thurs, all day, $83
Workshop: Rainbow Prints with Water-Soluble Crayons
#540 Friday Sampler, 10-noon, $30
Demo: Zapped (almost) Instant Silk Scarves
#605 Friday 6-9
Workshop: The Sensory Alphabet, $43
#749 Sat. 10-noon, Mixed Media Miscellany, $30
Demo: Rainbow Prints w/Water Soluble Crayons
#756 Sat 2-5, $50
Workshop: Shapes and Silhouettes
#804, Sun 8-11, $45
Workshop:Inspiration is in the Cards
#Sun, 11:30-1:30
Demo: Stories on Your Shoulder

And third:

ArtCloth Network Meeting

This is a group of (up to) 25 artists who have a special place in the repertoire for art cloth. Right now there are only 20 members, so if you are interested, check out the website for the group and send me an email. We will be opening up for applications sometime later this fall. The meeting is largely a Show-and-Tell with some fun gallery visits, business meeting and lots of fun with friends who I've met through this closeknit group.

Another Artist Profile

I have had my third artist profile published in Quilting Arts Magazine this month -- it's about Cathy Kleeman and deals primarily with her right-brain/left brain balancing act as an artist. I've enjoyed talking to the artists whom I've interviewed for the  past three issues -- and the good news is that I'll have an article about my "rainbow" prints with water color crayons and polymer in an upcoming article, the first writing I've done for QA that will be about my own work!

But, since this one was also the cover story, that's a pretty nice accomplishment, too!

Art Retreat Special, Buy this one, get one half off!

I was late scheduling my September workshop, From Scribble to Symbol, Personal Mark-Making, and now I need at least a couple of more people here for it to be fun (and profitable) for me and everyone participating. So for those who sign up for this workshop (including those who have already registered), pay for the September workshop before Sept. 20, and I'll give you a certificate worth one-half off the next workshop/retreat you sign up for here at El Cielo -- that's an $80 value. This offer is limited to the next four people who take me up on the offer, email me and then send the check! I also take PayPal.

A reminder of what we'll be doing:

In this workshop, start with simple sketches and doodles and end the weekend with an arsenal of new surface design tricks and tools.  Explore doodles and scribbles as sources of unique and personal imagery that will give your art quilts, wearable art, or mixed media work personal depth and layers of meaning. Any artist will benefit from these exercises, whether you make your mark on paper, clay, quilts, art cloth, metal or any other media that has an element of decorative motif or imagetic narrative.

Take a favorite symbol -- for example a heart, star, spiral, circle, leaf, apple -- and by taking it (and yourself) through a series of creative generative exercises, you’ll make something new and different to incorporate into your design, composition and surface design. Then develop something even more personal from the kinds of doodles and marks that show up on your notepads and napkins! Tools and techniques explored include paper lamination on fabric, large scale “mark-making” rollers and monoprinting -- also some hands-on work with some computer programs that you can download for free and use in your image generation process. (bring a laptop if you have one.)

Some examples of some of the kinds of mark-making that I'm interested in are shown below in these photos (the one at the top of the post was developed with a program called SCRIBBLER).

xs and os

Bird of Loss, from hand shape

Pomegranite image - a personal/ universal symbol I use often in my work

30 spokes wheel, symbol developed from a Tao saying

Hear, deconstructed screen print and stitch

Back on Travel: Line Photos

Carved type from the V&A, London

Now that business is posted (if you missed the latest on the workshop front, either download or go back a day for details) I want to continue my posts of photos from the summer's wonderful journey through Scandinavia. I'm posting these by Sensory Alphabet category --just for fun, and because this blog serves me as a kind of collection jar for memorie, studio actions, future ideas and playdates with ideas.

So today's idea is LINE. Here are some of the photos I took that jumped out of iphoto:

Potsdamplatz, Berlin

Stockholm horizonVasa rigging, StockholmRepainting the line

Bridge between Sweden and Denmark

Tallinn street scene

The line the wall made, Berlin

Berlin

El Cielo Artist Retreats and Workshops

 

Finally, the Fall-Winter planning is done -- it's taken me a long time to get my thoughts straight and then to plan an all-new series of workshops. I've been running repeats of some favorites during the past season, so it seemed time to develop a new group of inventive weekends.

The problem with that is, that for all the new toys and tricks and materials that we artists (especially we quilt art/fiber art/mixed media artists) are bombarded with, there are really only so many with substance and style and staying power. So, I have decided to concentrate on what I do best, focusing on creative process and on helping others to find their "sweet spots," their strong suites. Yes, there will still be fun and new and different techniques to explore during these weekends, but the majority of them will have more to do with digging deeper, loosening up, starting from scratch and pulling rabbits out of our (proverbial) hats --if any of this makes sense, then you are a better mind than I!

Nevertheless, here's the fall-winter rundown, with a link here to the brochure up in la-la land -- you can download it (in theory) by just hitting the button, or by pasting the address into your browser bar. If you don't get it and want a pdf copy to print, notify me by email --use the form on the sidebar if you don't have my email address handy. I'll email you an attachment that is sure to work!

Nurture your creativity as you come away from a weekend with renewed energy, new  materials and techniques in surface design applicable to fiber, ceramics, jewelry, painting and mixed media work. Susie Monday leads artists’ retreats and workshops throughout the year at her studio near Pipe Creek, Texas, about an hour from downtown San Antonio. El Cielo Studio workshops are designed with the needs of the participants in mind;  free time is scheduled throughout the weekend for reading, reflection and personal work in the studio. You are welcome to bring projects in process for Susie’s critique and for peer feedback in an environment of trust and respect. You’ll share meals, poetry and stories, music and advice for living an artist’s life. Enjoy the 25-mile vistas from the deck and strolls down the country roads. A spa and pool, and large screen media room are also available to participants. The fee for each workshop retreat is $160 for a 2-day event with discounts for early enrollment. Comfortable accommodations are available from $15 -  $30 per workshop. Most workshops offer a Friday night potluck option. Limited enrollment. Most supplies included. Call 210-643-2128 or email susiemonday@gmail.com
Susie has taught creative process and art techniques to adults and children for more than 30 years. Her art is in numerous private and public collections around the world.

NEW AT EL CIELO
FROM SCRIBBLE TO SYMBOL; PERSONAL MARK-MAKING
SEPTEMBER 25-27
(optional Friday night potluck & critique session)
In this workshop, start with simple sketches and doodles and end the weekend with an arsenal of new surface design tricks and tools.   Explore doodles and scribbles as sources of  uniques and personal imagery that will give your art quilts, wearable art, or mixed media work personal depth and layers of meaning. take a favorite symbol -- for example a heart, star, spiral, circle -- and by taking it (and yourself) through a series of creative generative exercises, you’ll make something new and different to incorporate into your design, composition and surface design. Tools and techniques explored include paper lamination on fabric, large scale “mark-making” rollers and monoprinting.

OCTOBER
Find Susie at the Houston International Quilt Festival, See www.quilts.com
NEW: A CREATIVE STUDY:  PETROGLYPHS, POTTERY & PREHISTORY
NOVEMBER 6-8 (optional Friday night potluck and critique session)
Many artists have found inspiration in prehistoric and archetypal imagery from caves, cliffs and ancient ceramics. This is the first of a series of “creative study” workshops that will illuminate how you as an artist can take inspiration from the images and imagination of the past, while transforming the images into something uniquely your own. This workshop models a time-proven creative study process (based on that developed at Learning About Learning Educational Foundation and the Paul Baker Theatre)  that can be adapted to many inspirational sources. We’ll go from collection through synthesis to creating, and explore textile and mixed media techniques that relate to the aesthetic and philosophical qualities and intent of the earliest art-makers. Explore some simple natural dyes; use handmade brushes as tools, make pigmented paints with ashes, earth, rust and minerals.

NEW: MEMOIR, MEMORY and MEMORIAL
DECEMBER 4-6
(optional Friday night potluck and critique session) Continue the season of Dias de los Muertos by creating a memorial altar to a person, to a personally potent memory (or past life of your own), even to a summer vacation! Learn to transfer photos onto a number of interesting surfaces including plastic, metal and fiber; add words, names and text with resist crayons; microwave dye custom fabrics, and embellish your textile and mixed media altar with all manner of beads, trinkets and meaning-full treasures. (Additional $10 fee for wooden altar frame.)

ARTIST JOURNEY/ARTIST JOURNAL
JANUARY 8-10
(optional Fri. night potluck & critique session)
This annual workshop has become a tradition at El Cielo Studio. Spend the weekend in creative activities (All new this year!) that help you set the stage for a 2010 filled with productivity, imagination, focus and artistic goals. Using some new exercises gleaned from sources around the globe, we’ll banish procrastination, make an annual love letter, and find ways to remind us of what really matters in our artistic lives. Meanwhile, you’ll work with mixed media and surface design techniques to start your artist’s journal for the year.

WHAT PARTICIPANTS SAY ABOUT SUSIE’S CLASSES & WORKSHOPS:
“It was just what I needed right now. I have been in a creative slump, questioning what I do and how I do it. The exercises we did this weekend were freeing on the one hand, but will also help me focus.”

“This workshop was a fabulous, uplifting, nurturing environment to create in. The journaling was particularly helpful, I would definitely recommend it to a friend.”

“This weekend was totally awesome! I am humbled by Susie’s talents, her teaching abilities and her hospitality. I will come back as often as possible.”

susiemonday@gmail.com
www.susiemonday.com

210-643-2128
3532 Timbercreek Road
Pipe Creek, TX 78063
Read Susie’s blog at http://susiemonday.squarespace.com
You’ll find a downloadable pdf version of this flyer on a front page link on Susie ‘s blog.

Intermission #2: Iraqi Bundles of Love

IBOL on site in Iraq

I'm in. Are you?

Iraqi Bundles of Love is a short-duration project, set to last about six weeks, originally intended to surge fabric and sewing (and knitting!) materials into the area around which I live in Iraq.  It is timed to coincide with both Ramadan, and the departure of my units from Iraq. If you’re reading this, well — it’s kind of grown. It’s going to help a little bit more of northern Iraq than just the area around where I live.

It is intended to be a simple project, requiring little effort and little expenditures from those wishing to participate.  It is based upon my assessment that sewing fanatics and quilters and knitters tend to have stashes that far exceed their actual needs, and that sewing fanatics and quilters and knitters are passionate both about sewing / quilting / knitting, and about sharing with others.

I originally though success for this project was going to be measured in tens. Somewhere along the way, after folks like Sew Momma Sew got involved (see this and this), I began to think about hundreds. Now, thanks to folks like you, I am planning for thousands.

The general premise is this.  I am in Iraq, and I can get mail through the US Postal System.  Willing contributors can send to me a flat-rate box of sewing / quilting supplies, all bundled up.  I’d open the box, pull out the fully-contained bundle, and hand it off (with others) to our counterparts in the Iraqi Security Forces (Army and others) or the local police, for them to distribute.  Some of the bundles will also be delivered by US Soldiers. The stated intent of this operation is to put sewing and quilting and knitting supplies into the hands of two types of recipients:  locals who desperately need such things, and local sewing co-ops and other small businesses who have received grants or loans (typically to purchase sewing machines, rent space, etc).

That is it, in a nutshell.  I owe you more on how this came to be, on ideas, on things to do and things not to do.

See the details on Major Art La Flamme's site (he's married to quilter extradinaire Kristen La Flamme) -- those are his words above.

The general info is here on the what to send page.

How to make a bundle is on this page.

You'll need to leave a comment on Art's site to get the address -- that's to control the timing, since he leaves Iraq in a few weeks, and Ramadan begins as well.

World Shapes: Art-making Inspired

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin

Next up: the  shape collection from the summer travels. (Previous installments in the two previous posts include Movement and Color, see the sidebar for links.)
Some things I might try from these inspirations:

1. Think of the grid as a pattern of shapes and use it as did the artist who designed the Berlin Holocaust Memorial.

2. Try making a columnar shaped art quilt, like the Estonian tower.

3. Use the paving stone and manhole cover collection (I took lots of these photos) to make thermofax screens for an art cloth series.

4. Use the shapes of the plaster casts from the Victoria & Albert Museum to inspire some altar-shaped pieces.

5. Make a phototransfer of that lovely urn from Kensington Garden.

 Manhole Cover - Berlin

Newton, Sculpture at the British Library

Tower in Tallinn, Estonia, UNESCO World Heritage Site

Medieval stone carving, plaster cast at the V&A, LondonUrn, Kensington Gardens, London

Color: trip photos + how to use them

 Tallinn, Estonia, Old Town

More photos from the Scandinavian trip this summer: these screamed "color" when I went though the digital stacks. I love digital photography, but you have to admit that it makes editing an essential part of the process. Back in the film days, I could never have brought home 2000 plus photos! If you've just tuned in, I'm taking the next seven days (plus yesterday and today) to post pictures from our big summer trip/cruise sorted by categories of the Sensory Alphabet.

Here are some ways that colors in photogrphs (my own and other's) inspire my work:

1. If theiy're mine, I use the photos directly, printed on fabric or other strange materials, then use them as a collage element in my art quilts, or even as stand-alone small fiber pieces with stitching and over-printing.

2. I notice what works compositionally with color in a favorite photo, then let that proportion or relationship inform a piece of work.

3. I like to play a color matching game, mixing colors of paint or dye to match a color that I find striking in a photo or painting.

4. Especially with photos of the natural world, I find new and unusually color schemes that I wouldn't ordinarily think about. Coor is such an important element in my work, I am always working from both intuitive.

While specific images from this trip have not yet found their way into my work, I have gotten some interesting ideas for some new workshops, coming soon to this blog. Meanwhile, here's the color selection to inspire your work!

Grocer's shelf near Highgate Village, LondonHydranga blooms at the V&A, London

Very old stained glass panel in the V&A collection

 St. Petersburg, Russia

Summer Palace outside St. Petersburg

Back, already?

It's a blur. Big Trip screams by in a whirl of 3 weeks. St. Petersburg buildings, too.What? You didn't notice I'd been gone. Well, that's OK. I'm sure you've been busy, too. And it's not like I haven't been back  (at least in the real world) for a while.

Admittedly, I've been working some since returning home from the "big trip*" some teaching, some studio redo, another profile article for Quilting Arts magazine, sorting and clearing out, making sure the energy flows in and around El Cielo. But there's also been a good deal of lovely late summer just plain lazing around (while musing on next steps).

When I go on vacation, I REALLY go. I stopped blogging (oh, yeah, maybe you did notice); I didn't tweet but twice; I ignored FB friends; I didn't even go to "meetings." I felt as though all the batons that I'd been juggling --flinging around in the air with at least some degree of grace and style -- fell suddenly to my feet . Dropped, unloved, undone. Thank goodness for roaming  and overseas data charges or I might have been tempted to keep all those lovely little flinging objects up there. But no, I spent my money on pepper grinders, handwoven linen, museum admissions and sundry souvenirs, instead.

But here I am, almost the eve of September '09, back in the virtual studio, having thought about it and decided, yes, I like this little part of my working life, this time on the page that records my studio life and the time away from the studio that informs and inspires it. Writing this blog is part of my practise as a working artist. Writing this blog is part of keeping track of what it is I'm doing and why I'm doing it. It's also a way to market my wares, be it art work, classes, workshops or ideas. Thanks for reading. Thanks for commenting. I'll try to make it worth your while.

And to get back into the swing of things, and to catch up with my own recording nature, I'll be posting a few images from travel over the next week, interspersed with a preview of the workshops we'll be hosting here at El Cielo this fall and winter. Expect a flurry of activity on this site over the next few weeks -- then, no doubt, once I have the momentum going with the juggling act, we may find time for something pithier. (how long have I been promising to do an on-line course?)

The travel photos will be arranged not by place or narratively (you'll have to come over and see the slide show in person for that), but alphabetically  -- that is -- Sensory Alphabetically. Starting now, with MOVEMENT. Can you jusst imagine taking inspriation from some images to create a great zoom, a sudden start, a dance, a circling, a splash, a slippery slide, a flit or flurry of a feeling in your next work of art?

Plaster cast of Medieval carving in the V&A, LondonOn the way from London to Dover.

Matisse at the Hermitage

Gate near Church on Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg

How we moved.

Rodin at the Glyptotek in Copenhagen

From teh top of a doubledecker in London

Ditto.And wouldn't this make an interesting composition?

In Print, New Porch, New Pooch

Gap in posting is to be expected. When Linda goes on break from teaching, I tend to forget my (self)employed status for a while  (well, until I look at my bank account) and revel in summer in the Hill Country. And a lovely one it is so far: cool in the mornings and evenings, spectacular thunder and lightning storms, clear skies and billowy clouds and sun during the day. The tierra has finally gotten enough rain to green up and the tomatoes in the garden are ripening!

There's a new pooch, a new porch and I'm back in print in the magazine world after a long sabatical from that strand of the tapestry -- My first piece in the quilt world is in Quilting Arts in the June/July issue: a profile of Alaskan artist Ree Nancarrow. I love writing and profiles of artists are a perfect genre for me -- I get to talk to artists whom I admire and then shape a story to communicate what I find special about their work. Thanks to Pokey Bolten (and Leslie Riley who introduced us at last year's International Quilt Festival). So run out and buy a copy, send a letter to Pokey about how much you like my writing (I'm sure), and lets keep that path open!

As to the Pooch. Linda picked up a dumped black-and-tan coon hound (we didn't know at first and thought she was a bloodhound) on the highway and its been a roller coaster ride ever since. You know those free dogs -- she had a bad abcess from a fight with something; she was going into heat; she had to be spayed and her very long nails groomed; the long beautiful ears where filled with bacteria and she and Rodeo, the resident alpha animal gentle spirited border collie, have spent many a testy moment posturing about status in the pack. Not to mention that Bandera (she's named for the highway, county and county seat up the road) seems to think resident cat is a coon. Not so good, since resident cat is fearless and loves to provoke said coon hound. And that a coon hound is mostly nose. So she can't be trusted to stay home guarding the resident sheep (us) as can border collie Rodeo. But, as things will have it, we love her. Find her fascinating and goofy, and are now walking 3 miles a day to give her the run time she needs. We are all looking much trimmer.

The new porch is a big hit with family  and friend visitors, as well as the residents, two and four legged, and I can't wait to use it for opening morning sessions (if it stays cool enough) for the next workshop (completely sold out, thanks to a final registrant who found me and the workshops due to the published profile!). What a sentence.

Our neighbor Bill (That's his house, which he and his wife also built, in the background) built the extension to an existing deck, making a sleeping/dining porch about 25 by 15 with an open porch 8 feet out and poised over the cliff side overlooking the cedars and water oaks. The roof is clear near the house, letting light into the kitchen and DR and metal on the part further out from the house. Three screen doors complete the picture.

So, what are you doing this summer, so far? It's a great time to dye, to sunprint and to rust, so we're dusting off the rust bucket and the dyepots and getting (back) to work!

 P.S. Here's Rodeo, so he won't be too jealous about Bandera's star role in this post.

What is an art quilt?

Everytime I think that surely the whole world is into art quilts I meet someone who looks puzzled and asks me "huh?" Quilts hung on the wall is sort of part of it, but many people also hang their "traditional" quilts on the wall. And, frankly, I'm not so sure that the borderline between traditional and art quilts is all that clear in the minds of many who even like to tinker in the trappings.

I certainly don't want to replay the whole art vs. craft discussion here, nor do I believe that we gain a lot by debating what exactly is art -- it's a lovely question that's been asked and answered for ages. (I personally like what Rudyard Kipling wrote in 1890 in Conundrum of the Workshop:

“When the flush of a new-born sun fell on Eden’s green and gold,
Our father Adam sat under the tree and scratched with a stick in the mould;
And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart,
Til the Devil whispered behind the leaves, “It’s pretty. But is it Art?”

But I do think its worth stating and restating a few times on this blog, one the purportedly is about the studio life, practise and output of an artist who makes art quilts (aka contemporary textile paintings) and during this season of entry forms (esn't every season now?) it's nice to revisit what some of the "big kids on the block" have to say about it.

Here's Lisa Call's take on the topic, from her Squidoo lens (and she quotes and attributes several others):

What is a Contemporary Art Quilt
From Lisa Call’s http://www.squidoo.com/artquilts/

There is a lot of discussion in the art quilt world about what exactly an "art quilt" is and what we should call them. The simple term "quilt" is deemed unacceptable by a large portion of the general art quilting population because of the connotations of traditional quilt that it carries with it. So most people prefer to add some type of disclaimer to qualify the type of quilt they make.
One of the more common terms is "art quilt". I prefer "contemporary quilt". Some people say "fiber art" or "studio quilt" or "textile art" or "soft painting". But the question remains - exactly WHAT is a contemporary art quilt? Generally it refers to a quilt that was intended to be art and hang on the wall vs. placed on a bed. Although some art quilts might also be bed quilts.

What is Art?
As contemporary art quilts are "art" it's good to think about what art is when trying to define them. Of course defining art is difficult but the definition I prefer I read on Alyson Stanfield's Art Biz Blog

"What is art? . . . art is the deliberate creation of aesthetic sensations. Art is a work of a human being, not of nature. It is not accidental. It produces something that is perceived through the senses and results in a personal emotional experience. . . .

". . . it is the conscious, deliberate production of an event or object of beauty (or emotional import) by a human being, employing not only the skill of the craftsman, but in addition, an element of creativity--original, inventive, instinctive, genius. An art object is an aesthetic artifact, deliberately created.
Art actually lies in the act of creation, not in its result."

--G. Ellis Burcaw, Introduction to Museum Work, page 66

Definition of an Art Quilt
From the "Authorities"
This is Quilt National's definition:
The work must possess the basic structural characteristics of a quilt. It must be predominantly fabric or fabric-like material and must be composed of at least two full and distinct layers - a face layer and a backing layer. The face layer may be described by any or a combination of the following terms: pieced, appliqued, whole cloth, stitched/fused to a foundation. The face and backing layers must be held together by hand- or machine-made functional quilting stitches or other elements that pierce all layers and are distributed throughout the surface of the work. At least some of these stitches or elements should be visible on the back of the work. As an alternative, the work may be a modular construction (an assemblage of smaller quilts). Each individual module, however, must meet the above structural criteria.

This is Studio Art Quilt Associates's definition:
SAQA defines an art quilt as a contemporary artwork exploring and expressing aesthetic concerns common to the whole range of visual arts: painting, printmaking, photography, graphic design, assemblage and sculpture, which retains, through materials or technique, a clear relationship to the folk art quilt from which it descends.

The art part of the definition is the most debateable, and as Kipling wrote, a longtime call and response.

The majority of Westerners today, if a survey of more than 500 people conducted by Carolyn Boyd’s anthropology class at Texas A&M has any validity, think that

“art is created for the sole purpose of being aesthetically pleasing to people within society and with minimum purpose beyond that of intrinsic enjoyment.”

Boyd is studying the rock art paintings of the Pecos River and, she views those great works in a somewhat different light, one that does not make them ART at all, but something more utilitarian than what that survey indicates most Americans think about art.

Human beings are makers – we evolved these opposable thumbs and then just couldn’t help but start making tools, making clothing, making shelter, making food fancier, making stuff.

As we developed more skills and fancier tools --and perhaps the time to spare, we started pleasing our senses with the things we made --adding aesthetic considerations to their functionality with decoration, embellishment – and also just with making things that had inherent sensory-pleasing qualities of texture, color, shape and form. This concern, these considerations have changed, but endured even into the industrial and post industrial, electronic world. Craft and technical skills become valuable.

We make stuff – and try to make it pleasing --but we humans also make stories. As story makers, we are as concerned with the why and how come and what happened then and what happens next as we are with making our lives run more smoothly. A story, in this broad artspeak meaning, can be a narrative, a question, a confusion, a conversation between formal elements like line and color, a public outrage, a private history -- and it can be done well or poorly.

And to me that’s where the art comes in to the quilt.