First, a design consideration I'll share: I had first meant to mount the tapestry in the frame this way:
... but in the process of mounting, the phone rang and I dropped the tapestry on the prepared mount with it going the other way, as shown in the previous post. I decided I liked it the other way better, as it is not so predictable. (By the way, both the tapestry and the mount are perfectly square. I just can't seem to get my digital camera to not have that wide-angle effect, which skews the edges.)
Second: What motivated this piece? I already told you I had watched the movie called by the same title, and enjoyed it, though it was a bit depressing. But this is actually motivated by the fact that I am again working on an ATA exhibit. When I work on an exhibit filled with wonderful tapestries created by other artists, I can sometimes be overwhelmed by it. I think I often 'spend' my own passion when I look at the work of others. I decided to share this with you, because I know I am not unique. When I get to feeling overwhelmed by seeing too much of other artists' work, I normally just pull back and don't look at it! That's pretty easy, where I live. There are no major museums here, and I avoid websites and magazines that are filled with artwork. And I generally get over the overwhelmed feeling fairly quickly, and once again can enjoy being inspired by others. However, I also temper that inspiration. For instance, I have never taken a workshop by another tapestry weaver, and I am very careful to 'protect' myself when I go to seminars, etc. I think I could be pretty suggestive, and I don't want my work to be a poor imitation of someone else's work.
But when I am working on an exhibit, I have to look at wonderful work by other artists, and floods of it have been coming in last week and this week. So, before the floods began, I determined that I would put a tapestry on my small loom, and try to pour some of my passion into my own work, and not 'spend' it all on working on the exhibit.
By the way, the exhibit, Connections: Small Tapestries International, will be a wonderful exhibit of small tapestries from all over the world. My postman is enthralled with where some of the entries are coming from! Mark your calendars, if at all possible, to see the exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles: May 5 - July 26, 2009, or at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana: August 20 - September 20. I hope to meet some of you there!
1 comment:
Such a wonderful tapestry and commentary on the creative and inspirational process. Sometimes there is so much out there I'd like to do, it does overwhelm! Thank you, Kathy, for your candor and for sharing.
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