Singing Cloth

10,000 Hours

Recently, excerpts from two books have had a great deal of impact on I think about the process of creating art. 

The first excerpt is from Stitching to Dye in Quilt Art by C. June Barnes. 

Before beginning a new learning experience we are unconsciously incompetent - unaware of not knowing.  We become consciously incompetent once we start learning something new - we know that we don't know as we embark on our apprenticeship.  As we progress and complete our learning we become practitioners - consciously competent.  We know that we know.  If we persevere and explore what we have learned to its conclusion we become unconsciously competent - we no longer have to think about what we are doing.  We become a master of the process. 

Barnes goes on to explain

Not everyone perseveres until they reach the level of master.  Many are content to be practitioners, attaining this level of competence and staying there, happy to be comfortably, consciously competent.  Some never leave the apprentice state, content to add numerous areas of basic expertise to their repertoire, but never taking any particular subject to its conclusion.  Others keep building their level of competence to that of a master in new aspects of their work, exploring new skills and areas of proficiency by repeatedly working though the learning cycle.  The result is that they are always progressive, fresh and stimulated and never allow themselves to stagnate.

Barnes explanation spoke to my heart and my frustration.  I have not allowed myself to work my way up through the steps.  I have more often than not expected myself to be an expert right off the mark. 

I heard once that the year Babe Ruth broke the record for home runs he also was the top in strikes. (Oh, I just checked it out and sure enough, Babe Ruth was top in being Struck Out almost every year that he was also top in Home Runs.  Baseball-Reference.com shows it very clearly; especially if you scroll down a ways.) 

Now think about that!  He was top in Home Runs because he swung!  He was also tops in Strike Outs because he swung too.  He was willing to take the risks. 

As artists I think we are often not willing to strike out.  We are not willing to take the risk of having something go in the trash instead of on the wall.  In part I think that is because of the time that the artwork takes and the cost of the materials.  I only have time to do so much art so I want what I do to be stellar. 

Then there was the second excerpt.  This one comes from my new most favorite book: Outliers by Malcom Gladwell.

"The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand of hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert - in anything" writes the neurologist, Daniel Levitin.  "In study after study, of  composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again.  Of course, this doesn't address why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others do.  But no one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time.  It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery. "

Gladwell goes on to discuss "prodigies" such as Mozart, Bobby Fisher (chess), Bill Joy (Java, etc.), Bill Gates, and others - all 10,000 hours!  And usually the minimum time to accrue the 10,000 hours is 10 years.  Bobby Fisher is the exception.  It took him only 9 years.

These two excerpts freed me up!  Now I can think of the beading and sewing hours as working to accrue my 10,000!  I can see the wisdom in that.  I am currently beading my second piece which is a shawl that is being donated to an art auction.

The first one I beaded is this one:  Think of Me as an Ocean

 

I am fairly happy with how it turned out.  Beading it was a learning experience as I had never done anything like this. 

At first I beading a number of areas heavily using multiple types of beads.  Then somewhere along the way I scattered some beads on the fabric just to see how they would look and then suddenly I found myself beading more in waves.  The beads found their own method of expression and let me know how they wanted to travel around the piece.  I actually ended up tearing out almost all of the first bunch of beading I did. 

Now I am starting to bead the shawl I mentioned above.  The title of the Art Auction is All That Jazz.  I am making a shawl of light blue polartec.  Right now, I am stitching on the Jazz part. 

I have not come up with the final title yet though I have all the words I want to play with.  Since this is a warm shawl/scarf I want to play against the tern Cool Jazz.  Plus the material and some of the "jazz" is blue.  Therefore the words I have to play with are Warm or Soft, Jazz and Blues.  The working title at the moment is "Warm Jazz & Soft Blues" or maybe it should be "Soft Jazz and Warm Blues".  Hmmm.  To be decided!

I will try to post pictures of the shawl soon.

David Chatt: Phenomenal Bead Artist

   David Chatt is a phenomenal bead artist who had an exhibit at Pratt Fine Arts in January of 2008 - which was why I originally wrote this post.  But I love his work so much that I want to leave the post on the site!  He shows fairly frequently in the Seattle area and elsewhere around the world too. His work is truly fun and phenomenal!

David Chatt is one of a number of contemporary artists who are pushing beadwork beyond previously imagined limits. He was recently honored with a one-person show at the Bellevue Arts Museum, which was commemorated in an accompanying catalog. Chatt travels internationally as an educator and lecturer. He lives and works in Seattle, Washington.

  from Pratt Fine Arts Center Fall/Winter 2007-8 Catalog

Miscellaneous Tips

Today I have been cleaning up this site and going through some of my unpublished posts.  What follows is a selected bunch of tips that I have found in my travels around the web.  Most of the tips are taken from BlockCentral.com  I have to admit that BlockCentral is not a site I would ordinarily visit since I do no true block pieces.  But the tip section is phenomenal.  Here are some ones that sound especially useful.

1. From my florist, I use the netting that comes on the flowers over my spools of thread to hold it all together for storage. No loose ends, everything neat as a pin. - Deborah in Missouri


2. To keep bobbin and spool thread together:  Place the bobbin on top of the spool and run a twist tie through the two of them and twist.  

Then using both the above tips you can keep thread and bobbins neat.  I also have started using those wide white twist ties that you get in the bulk section in grocery stores.  They have enough space that you can even write the type of thread which is useful if the paper label has come off.


3. Heard this one from aunt who has quilted for over 50 years. She uses those vinyl place mats for templates. A good time to get them is buy the holiday ones on sale for great prices after the holiday is over. - Alice in Montana<


4. Use a small piece of the self-adhesive sand paper that is sold for skate boards to keep your rulers from slipping on the fabric. - Kay in Michigan


5. I use Velcro to keep my machine needles organized. Take the fuzzy and non- fuzzy side and stick together, put the size on the sandwich, in goes the needle and "Ta Da"….Organized! - Connie in Washington


6. I keep my needles in those lead containers you get when you buy refills for your mechanical pencil. That way you can carry the needles around without hurting anyone!" - Mary in Texas


7. Want to try the new 'tiltables' but think that they are too expensive? Go to any hardware store and buy two door stops (wedges) in rubber. Push these under your machine to tilt it to any convenient angle. - Shirley in the U.K.


8.  I go to our local pizzeria and buy pizza boxes to keep my blocks in for a project in progress (unused or course, $0.50 each). Then I write on a label (in pencil) the project name and put it on the edge of the box..... since the lid closes, this keeps them clean and dust free.....when they are stacked.  The medium sized boxes are good for blocks up to 12" finished and the large boxes are good for even larger blocks.


9. I have taped a tape measure on the front edge of my sewing cupboard so now I can measure fabric, quilt blocks, etc. without getting out a ruler. - Marlene


10. To remember all the quilts that I have made, I take a photo and cut 2 inch square of all the fabric used then these are ironed to freezer paper. Then these are put in plastic page protectors. Its a great way to really see the true color of fabric 5- 10 years down the road. Of course each page also contains the date, size and who I gave or sold it to, etc. - Kathy


11. I have one of those multi-color wooly pincushions attached to my machine with velcro which is sticky one side. I place two strips on the machine and two strips on the pincushion. I find this very handy and the pins are at my fingertips. - Sylvia in Connecticut


12. Rather than digging into a pin box or trying to pull one out of a cushion, I took a flat refrigerator magnet and turned it upside down beside my machine. I keep about 20 pins on each one. They come in very handy and move from room to room when you just want a few. - Bettye

This is a good one since advertisements on those flat magnets seem to come attached to every phone book!  However, you would also want to keep the magnet away from the machine itself.


13. I use a set of gloves where the whole back of the hand portion is magnetized.  You can get them at any auto parts store.  You can put a lot of pins on it and it'll even hold small scissors for snipping off stray threads, anything that'll stick! It's recommended for holding nuts, bolts, screws, etc but its great for use when pinning on lots of little pieces on a design wall. - Phyllis in California


14. If you have a sewing room or just an area that you use for sewing, place a small astro turf rug so you have to walk on it before you leave the area or room this will catch all those annoying threads that seem to get away when you cut them. - Donna in Oregon


15. Whenever I am machine quilting using nylon thread, I put my spool of thread in a baby food jar on the table beside my sewing machine and thread it up through a binder clip that I have clipped on the lift up lid of my Pfaff machine and through the rest of the machine as usual. This provides the proper tension and I never have problems. - Sue in Ontario


16. Scrap Fabric organization hamper -- available in discount stores often for under $5. Since you can see through the mesh, you can quickly get an idea of what to "grab" when you need a particular color/print. You can store an amazing amount of scraps by just pressing down on the pile, and the contents don't spill out when you reach in and "grab". When you need a large selection of scraps for a project, you can just pick up the hamper by the handle and carry it to your sewing area or to class. The "frame" gives it sturdiness, but the mesh gives a bit of flexibility for easy storage. They come in several sizes, but my 14x14x24 fits perfectly in several "nooks" in my sewing room.


17. Use the new Glad Press and Seal: Draw on the Press and Seal, stick to quilt and embroider. Tear away when done. Does not leave any residue and you have no marks on your quilt to remove. - Violet in Ontario, Canada


18. When your rotary cutter starts skipping, take it apart and turn the blade, add a drop of sewing machine oil and you get double the life on your blades.


19. To resharpen your rotary cutters, fold up a piece of silver foil so that you have several layers and then just cut through it several times and your cutter will be resharpened. - Beverly in Australia 

Has anyone reading this really tried using the aluminum foil to sharpen blades?  Does it work? I usually just use my dull blades to cut paper which dulls them even further! I guess I will try this aluminum foil thing on my very dull blades and then report the results here.

Creativity Frozen by Analytical Overdrive!

Abstract: 

The BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious) for me was realizing that if my strong analytical side gets hooked into thinking about a subject my artistic creativity freezes up.  A parallel BFO was also realizing that this response may be part of the reason I do not have a political activism streak in me.  For activists I think learning about political and environmental issues may actually fire up their creativity and spur them to action.

The Story:
I accepted an invitation to participate in the "The Bee Show" at the Silverwood Gallery on Vashon Island.  The show opens on Friday, February 1, 2008 with our work being due by the 3rd week in January.  The invitation says 

"Our goal this year in choosing the theme was to put a spotlight on the disconcerting problem of worldwide dwindling bee populations and their connection to the larger issue of our environment."

I chose to participate because the biennual group show hosted by Silverwood is a wonderful event which I would like to be part of and I also deeply care about bees.   (I used to keep bees and plan to again someday.  I have kept my equipment.) 

So I set to work the way I usually do for my artwork - researching the topic.   I had known about the mite epidemic but the Colony Collapse Disorder was new information to me and is very concerning.  What was fascinating from the artistic side is that the more I learned the less I was able to "think" creatively!  I became more and more frozen.   I could simply not come up with even one idea of what to do for a piece.

In desperation I gave up!  I emailed the gallery owner Eric Hefflefinger and said

"I think I am going to have to pass on partaking in the bee show.  It has been fascinating research but I have just not been able to come up with anything that is lighting my fire to work on in a fabric art piece.  Sorry.  Usually I love theme challenges but this one has just not clicked for me. " 

Eric replied

"I am sorry to hear that. Unfortunately all advertising and invitations have been done so your name will appear on all printed matter pertaining to the show. You still have over a month until the work is due at the gallery, so perhaps you can come up with something that you are proud of." 

Upon receiving Eric's email, I reread the initial invitation letter.  I realized that I was getting way too serious and therefore making the whole thing far more complicated than it needed to be.  The letter goes on to state

"This show, which will celebrate the bee as a symbol in art and craft, promises to be a great opportunity for participating artists to explore and test their creativity."

Taking that to heart I have gotten beezzy and started experimenting and creating.  I ended up creating "Bee Bowl" which came out okay.  I do not have any photos of it to post here.  (I am in bad need of a digital camera!)