Kicking And Screaming

Working in series is the term used by artists to indicate using the same subject matter over and over. That might be a topic such as chairs or fences or it might be an item such as the pairs of hands from the quilt that I'm using to make these handbags. Some series are unlimited. Textile artist Lisa Call has made hundreds of pieces in her Structures series. Other series are limited by choice or by circumstances. There were nine pairs of hands on the original quilt. There will be nine hand bags.

Series work is not just for professional, recognized, or traditional artists. The study of fashion garments is just as likely. Topics like seam allowances or zippers or skirts or fitted blouses or _________ - fill in the blank with whatever you would like to study and it could be studied from a technical how to point or from a design point. I've long been intrigued with the idea of studying t-shirts in series work. It's on my "want to do" list.

What I like about series work is how it stretches you particularly when there are limits and challenges built in. With my current project the challenge is to use the original pair of hands in a bag and the limit is to use only supplies found within the studio. As supplies dwindle, I'm forced to get even more creative with my solutions.

Limits and challenges both push creativity by focusing the flow of thought and by necessitating thinking outside the box - like with purse feet made of buttons and rings made of beads. Our minds are capable of great things. When we stop pampering them with easy answers and work a little harder, it's amazing what emerges AND THEN... a worked for answer on one project becomes an easier step on another and we take the learning forward and we grow in ability.

Series work will always hit bumps in the road. Typically the work will flow and then it will not. Often that's when we want to quit thinking we've reached the end of any possible solutions. As awkward as it is, it's not the time to quit. It's the time to push through. Some pieces - like Ruth V's handbag - arrive kicking and screaming into the world. They are un-cooperative and argumentative and fight you each step of the way and still have a need to be born.

Often when series work gets difficult, it's when we've made assumptions - like these bags are going just great - or when we're trying to force the work in a particular direction that it doesn't want to go. I wanted Ruth V's bag to have a very wide top that angled down to a curved bottom with a beach bag kind of look. The bag wanted to be a rectangle. I wanted it to be anything but a rectangle. We fought over that for a while and then the bag won. It's a rectangle.

The first few times I heard about listening to your inner artist or letting the work talk to you, I thought it was all hocus pocus. Really, whose in charge here anyway? The work. In a step-by-step responding process, the artist is simply the means by which the work chooses to be emerge. I know. Hocus pocus. I think you have to try it to believe it.

I was amazed at what learning to create step-by-step taught me about listening to my intuition, about speaking positively to myself, about trusting myself, about making life decisions, about relying on God. Becoming an artist has grown me up in so many other areas of life. Others may grow in those same areas in different ways. I needed to become an artist to do it. If I think about it too much - as you know I'm capable - I would guess it comes down to control issues but that's just a guess. I don't really care because it works for me in amazingly positive ways.

When we allow whatever negative voice that is reverberating in our heads to have power, it drowns out the voice of our artist, the voice of our positivity, the voice of God within us. We all have an inner critic. Most of us recognize that voice. We can give it a face and a name and it's very real. As you give less and less attention to that voice, it begins to recede - not gracefully nor kindly but eventually - and gradually stronger voices fill that space. It takes a lot of work. It's worth it. At first the voice is tentative. It wonders will you listen and as you begin to listen, it speaks more often and louder and eventually, you're having discussions with your inner artist and you wonder if you've really gone crazy. No. You're just talking with yourself and with the gift of and the flow of creativity within you which I call God.

Ruth's bag did not want to be an unusual shape. It did not want to be a slouchy shoulder bag or a wide mouthed beach bag or any of the other of the ideas I attempted to impose on it. It's a 13 7/8" by 14 5/8" rectangle... as in almost a square. The pictures above are...

1. patting black paint along a strip of pre-quilted purple fern fabric to create loops to hold the bamboo handles.

2. designing the cutest purse feet ever that the bag has since refused to accept although I've tried three different ways to attach them and have a fourth idea in mind.

3. a lot of bulk starts happening when the handles and zipper portions are added. By stitching these in place from the front, I was able to control the bulk easier.

4. the zipper portion folds toward the center of the bag opening. If you click on the picture you can see where I turned under the edge and slip stitched to hide the handle holds and maintain neatness.

5. the bag in two parts. Those metal buttons in the corners of the hand square are thirty years old. They came from stash. Originally, they were on a dress shirt that I sewed my then new husband... which he refused to wear... because it had a weird print and a funny feel. He wasn't used to silky dress shirts.

6. I even left an opening in the bottom edge this time to allow access for sewing on the purse feet. They still refused to co-operate.

7. A tuck sewn on the side is like a dart that forces the side inward pushing the back and front and bottom edges outward. It gives the bag shape.

8. There was just enough of this gorgeous batik to add detail to the front, construct the edges, and line the inside. It's the fabric that brought the project together, saved it from being staid and boring, and took FOREVER to locate in the stash. Batiks are thin and they hide well.

There were two viewings of the house over the weekend. I have cleaned house seven times in three weeks. It's clean. Enough now. I will be so grateful when the need to clean has ended and we are either moving or staying for now. A few more weeks and we'll know. Today, I'm playing in the studio. Tomorrow, the finished bag.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - learning to listen