How We Work 2

In the last post, we presented the work process of three California Fibers' artists. The goal was to do it in 10 words or less...you'll notice these three are wordy women.

Julie Kornblum, who works largely with recycled materials, says, “Gather materials; they inspire me. Respond to the world & life. Experiment, sample, start over; finish when satisfied.”

Pacific Rim 

We also asked the question of whether you need silence or noise to create, and if noise, what kind? Music? TV? Audiobooks? 

Kathy Nida, a quilter, says, "My process is all in my head. The entire drawing is composed up there over time. Then it all comes out; the rest is execution. So my process is: think/design, then draw, then choose fabrics and colors. The TV is on or I listen to music during the whole process. No silence."

Detail of Awakening the Crone

Charlotte Bird, also a quilter, says, "I do my best work when I stop thinking, letting my hands do the thinking. I am doing more with the intersection of art and science, thinking about subjects like climate change. I get my images from Google rather than drawing.  I look everywhere and take photos, especially of pattern and texture."

Lichen: Living Fossils

She continues, trying to get down to 10 words: "I absorb, write, doodle, research, cut-sew-try-fail-redo-carry on. My work is moving from 2D to 3D. I seem to have a two-year cycle. I work in one series at a time. I listen to books on tape while I work, especially murder mysteries."

Stay tuned for the last in our How We Work installments...

How We Work

At a recent California Fibers' meeting, members discussed how we work, what process we use to get the work done. We tried to get it down to 10 words or less, but some of us are just wordy. From that discussion and followup emails, we'll be presenting some of our artists' processes over the next few posts...and think about it. How would you describe YOUR process in 10 words or less?

Cameron Taylor-Brown says, “I work in series. My creative process is a conversation between me, my thematic inspiration, and the materials.  It goes like this:

(Observe, collect, play, sample) repeat...
Scale up
(Observe, make) repeat...”

The Weaver's Hands

Peggy Wiedemann says, "Think, idea, gather materials, plan, start, change, evolve, finish."

Exploring Too

Lynne Hodgman says, "Read, photograph, think, write, transfer, compose, cut, layer, stitch, wrap!"

Oceanic Grammar

Keep your eyes open for the next installment in how we work...