Make For Making's Sake

When people see my work for the first time, they often offer what they think is the ultimate compliment - you could sell that - with a total lack of understanding about what selling entails in terms of running a business or of the pressure that making to sell puts on both the artist and the art. I've done that. I refer to it as my prostitution phase.

With most people, I simply say thank you because I know their intention was positive but the odd time I get to discuss the difference between being willing to sell what I make and making something to sell. It's a small shuffle of words and a vast chasm in perspective. Having been on both sides of that discussion, I much prefer the willing to sell approach. 

With the lockdown, my daughter, who doesn't normally do handwork, decided to make a cross-stitch picture. When she mentioned it to a friend, the friend asked what are you going to do with that - a question I've answered time and again. This is when as a parent you know you've been heard because my daughter replied, why do I have to do anything with it - I just wanted to make something. 

YES YES YES YES YES!

With its pandemic imposed restrictions, this new year presents an opportunity to treasure time away from regular scheduling to make for making's sake even more than I normally do. I can follow up more ideas that tickle, and what if questions, and see where they lead. The only pressure is the pressure I put on myself and I have learned that life flows smoother when I let go.

Making for making's sake is nurturing and therapeutic. If I make something I love, it's a bonus. If not, I had fun making it and I can take the learning forward and refashion that item in a new direction. Or not. I don't need another item.  I am warm, dry, safe, fed, loved, and clothed. I need another creative adventure. 

I feel quite passionate about this subject yet I've really struggled to write this post. The words don't want to flow as they do in my head. If I had read this post years ago, I might have rolled my eyes and wondered what the heck that woman was talking about. Back then, there were rules, expectations, and predetermined outcomes. Making was mostly about making money and the item itself was simply a product. My creativity was oriented toward the buyer.

Now, making is about the process and the journey. It is oriented toward me, the maker, and is calmer, creatively challenging, and more engaging in such an amazing way that I've come to enjoy the potential of mistakes and the journey of not knowing. There is an energy in this type of creativity that vitalizes as I allow the piece to unfold in its own way without overthinking or attempting to control the outcome. I begin and let the piece develop step-by-step until it says its finished. 

The difference between how I used to work and how I work now is hard to put into words, partly because it's an essence, attitude, deep feeling. When my work was product oriented, I can remember noticing a difference between me and other artists but not knowing how to identify it or change it. The more process oriented I have become, the more that essence shows up. 

No longer required to make with our hands in order to assure our survival or to make a living, more and more of us now do so by choice. What was once a necessity has become, for many, a joy, a privilege, and a call to action. I believe that the impulse to use our hands to make things and, in the process, to make them beautiful, is our evolutionary birthright. - Melanie Falick

This coat is made from denim remnants partly left over from other projects and partly from a pair of pants I refashioned. The seams on the lower half are serged to the outside. The lighter denim is hand painted and silver zipper-by-the-yard is used as piping in the seams. The patch on the back is from where I dropped the paint on the original pants and used this solution to cover the splotch. The collar is made from serger strips macraméd together.

The shape is from out-of-print Vogue 8934, one of my favourite coat patterns. The coat took about two weeks to make, and I love it, and I never wear it, and that's okay. It was sewn in 2016 and since then, I've learned more about painting - including how not to drop it on my project - and have created other patchwork garments that are less stiff and more wearable. 

This purse was another fun to make, unlikely to get used, project. I made it as a prototype for a knitting bag that one woman in my group had and another wanted. She was going to sew her own version following the pattern and instructions I developed with a little help from me. Several things, including the pandemic, have gotten in the way of that plan and it's unlikely to happen now so I finished the bag.

The denim is a refashioned skirt. The flowers were stenciled on scraps of grey cotton and appliqued in place. There are three beads hand sewn in the middle of each flower. I spray painted the button to match the copper paint on the flowers. 

In my studio, anything that appears to be finished may only be finished for now. I have a reputation for taking things apart and re-doing them. This project is unlikely to shift much though, maybe new handles. The ones I intended to use were made of plastic with a slot at the bottom. One broke when I pushed the fabric through the slot. These wooden ones were in stash - thrifted from an old purse - so I used them but the look is a bit too scrunched up. I'll watch for wider ones although I may have to order them since I can't get out to thrift shop right now. 

Are you product or process oriented? Do you enjoy making for making's sake without a plan or purpose? Can you relate to what I wrote or are you rolling your eyes?

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - bits & pieces of potential