Making Your Studio Work for You

Space and making art go hand and hand. I have seen the lengths that artists will go to to make their work. Often the circumstances are less than ideal, and perhaps you, like me, have dreamed of a large, open, light filled studio space in which to create all day long.
The reality is that many of us need to work where we live. Especially in urban environments rent prices are high and space is at a premium. As you are building your audience and artistic practice it is often not cost effective to rent out a separate space for working in.
This is certainly the case for myself at this stage in my career. I love to look at artist work spaces and dream of "someday" but what am I doing in the meantime?

The third bedroom of our townhouse is my studio space.  It is not a large room, it measures around 10 by 15 feet.  The other function of this space is that it has to be a guest room.  The first thing my husband and I considered when we were setting the space up was how to make it comfortable for guests who would be using the space 20% of the year, and how to optimise the space as a studio/office the majority of the year. We decided that a Murphy Bed installed in the closet space was our best option.

While the guest room is set up my studio is placed into rubber bins and moved into the master bedroom against the far wall.

I have streamlined the process to get the moving part down to about 30 minutes and everything fits under or over top of height adjustable desks. It has taken me several years to get my studio this efficient.

And when everything is set up again as a studio I make the most of the space I do have. I am grateful to have a designated space no matter how small. 

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JJ

My First Artist Residency

My current days are filled with the preparations for a very special project that has been in development now for about 10 months.

Last winter and spring I wrote a grant application for an Artist in the Classroom Grant from ArtStarts in Schools whose mission is to provide innovative arts programs for young people.  My project was funded which means that I will be working at my neighbourhood Elementary school for most of this 2017-2018 school year.

My sons attend Forest Grove Elementary and being able to work alongside the wonderful teachers and staff at the school made creating this project that much more meaningful. The project is called Art + Craft: Young Hands Quilting Community. It will explore the capacity of a quilt to be both an art and functional object. For more information about the project and to follow along please subscribe to the dedicated blog: Quilting Community or on Instagram Young Hands Quilting.

Getting here has been a lot of work. Getting to the finish line of this project, May 31st 2018 will mean a lot more work. I have doubted myself and getting even this far many times. The learning curve on such an opportunity is huge. I think the key to getting through it all so far has been a driving passion to share my love of the quilted form and to connect that passion to the young people that are part of my community.

This feels like a great step towards an engaged and deepening art practice. And I will share more about this journey as it unfolds.

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JJ

Universal Declaration for Human Rights Quilt Update

As we find ourselves getting back into our fall routines Tal Fitzpatrick is collecting the last quilt blocks as they arrive in Australia for 4 quilts that will be made for this exciting craftivist project. You can find my first two posts detailing the beginnings of the project here and here.

I sent off my block in the mail in early August and after some nervous days of waiting I was relieved to see that it arrived just fine.

I mentioned the inspiration behind each element to my block in the post linked above. Overall, I hope this piece demonstrates four different textile cultures that coexist today despite the attempt by two to overthrow the other two. There are so many wonderful textile based arts in First Nations culture and they stand proudly beside European based textile works to tell rich and varied stories of people and their handiwork over the centuries.

What a monumental task Tal and her volunteers are going to have to piece and quilt all these blocks together.  Many important issues relating to Human Rights today and in the past are featured. You can visit Tal's Instagram feed to view many of the blocks. I will update you all about the project as it progresses.

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JJ

On Looking at Past Work

I was not very precious about my art school work. There are many reasons little of it survives today. Moving between three provinces in the last 17 years, too many different houses and apartments in each of them, lack of storage options, but mostly I had a lack of connection with many of the pieces. I have heard many artists say that they feel as if their artwork is a child to them.  I don't have that sentiment. I have pride about my work, I remember feelings and situations I had while making it, but I do not feel any where near the attachment to it as I do my children.

I don't think that it is because the work is not good, though in some cases that is the reason. Overall, it is just a desire to see it out in the world and functioning as it was intended.  To be viewed and enjoyed by other people. I have made a few pieces that are personal mementos and so those I feel attached to.

As I look back on my student work, I have discarded more and more over the years. Recently I had one piece that I did keep framed and it now hangs in the bedroom I share with my husband. This piece along with two small self portraits called out to me earlier this year. They said that they were an important part of my evolution as an artist. I did think for a moment that there may have been other pieces that would have spoken to me this way had I kept them. There is nothing I can do about that now, and honestly I think my work has evolved so much since I finished art school that leaving those "lost" pieces behind is best anyway.

This piece titled How Many Landscapes? from 2000 is embroidery on paper collage.  The text is a poem I wrote. It was the first use of embroidery in my work. It's a big leap in the evolution of who I was in that moment as a young art student. This work is about the conquering spirit of humanity; questioning our desire to own every land mass, every piece of solid ground.  Looking at this each day reaffirms my current path.  It is like a promise to myself about what I am doing, and why I am here. I'm glad I kept this one.

JJ

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Summer Schedule

As an artist with two school age children I have come to rely on the hours that my boys are in school. This potentially uninterrupted time is easier to schedule and I am able to get into a rhythm each day. Granted this took several months to establish after my youngest went to Kindergarten last fall, and after starting part-time work in March I had very little time to luxuriate in my new found quiet studio time. Regardless, of where I may have been this summer, I had personal deadlines in the back of my mind. That meant stitching happened in several places that are unconventional.

While waiting one and a half hours on a bridge ramp after a serious car crash shut down the roadway.

Or at the public swimming pool during two weeks of daily half hour swim lessons. There has been campfire side stitching, park bench or blanket stitching and while it may not have the solitude or focus of studio work, it allows me to feel a sense of accomplishment in the busy days of summer with young kids. I am grateful to have this time with them and for myself.

JJ

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Behind the Art - Inheritance

Today I want to share the journey of a small series of works, one of which is soon to be installed in an exhibit called Great and North at the Palazzo Loredan in Venice Italy from August 29 to October 29, 2017. The beginnings of this work are more humble than where it has ended up but that is the magic of putting yourself out there and taking chances.  You never know where those risks can get you.

This is the original photo of my maternal great grandmother on her wedding day.  I love this photo for its nostalgia but also because of Alice Rogers' story.  She came to Canada from England after training as a baby nurse. Her desire to come here was based on the chance to rise above the class system of English culture that would keep her "in her place." She was coming to join two of her sisters who had already made the trip. It was a leap into the great unknown. It was a difficult sea crossing, it was the early 1900's. Her sole contact with her family back home was letters.  No Facetime like I have the luxury of now. I believe that she, and all my ancestors that braved moving to a new land, had adventurous hearts. Something compels you to move.  To explore, to go. That is not an easy impulse to follow. It is often frightening and lonely but you go because if you stayed it would not be true to who you are or who you could become. Alice met a lovely English bloke named Stephen Adams and they married and birthed two lovely girls.  One of whom is my grandmother Margaret now in her 90's. I did not have the privilege to meet Alice but I feel that she passed something down to me through her DNA. 

I made a series of works featuring fabric that I designed based on this photo of Alice and two of my other grandparents. 

This is Alice I, that was displayed at the Richmond Art Gallery and swapped in a Mail Art exhibition.

This is Alice II, a smaller version with lace and bead embellishments.

And this is Inheritance: Adventurous Heart, that is now part of the Imago Mundi collection and featured in the art book Oh West Canada!

Using the same imagery several times was an exploration of ways to bring out her character and story and relate it to my own. I feel a connection to her despite never having met her in person. It is a great honour to carry her story and those of other family members forward in this time. I am grateful for the legacy that they have passed on to me. And I think most of us can feel the impact of our ancestors if we listen closely enough.

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JJ

UDHR Quilt Block Focus

Two weeks ago I wrote about joining in on the Universal Declaration for Human Right's Quilt Project.  You can read about it here. Today I will explain the focus of my block and part of the meaning behind it.
Every artist in the project either asked for a certain article of the Declaration or was assigned one.  I asked for Article 27 which reads as follows:
 1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which they are the author.

This article covers a lot of ground in terms of the rights of artists and scientists and their freedom to operate within their culture or outside of their home culture, while also keeping their rights to the benefits of their work. Tal and Stephanie wanted to encourage the artists and crafters involved in this project to bring issues that matter to them to the forefront of their 8 x 11 inch block. We were also encouraged to use languages other then English if we were multilingual.  So the first part of my article is in English and the second section I've embroidered in French.

My mind jumped around quite a lot at the beginning because there are so many directions that a statement like article 27 can take someone. But as I narrowed my focus down, it became clear to me that my focus would be a Canadian issue and relate specifically to the relationship between First Nations and Canadian Settler cultures.

I have done enough research in the last few weeks to write a long essay on this topic. So in order to keep this to a comfortable blog post length I'll keep the explanation brief.

Sensitivity and respect are paramount to me when relaying any experience of a culture that is not in my ancestry, so how to represent cultures without appropriating imagery was a concern. I continued to narrow the focus and decided that for a textile based project I should focus on textiles. In that focus I wanted to depict how First Nations art was colonised by the two dominant settler cultures in Canada, namely the British and French empires. Since I have lived in Quebec and British Columbia I chose two First Nation groups from each region to feature. Coast Salish (specifically Squamish) blanket weaving, and Iroquois (specifically Mohawk) beading. From France I decided to use Toile style fabric and from England embroidery of an English rose.   

As the piece develops further I will share more images and will write more about the meaning of the piece.

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JJ

Universal Declaration for Human Rights Quilts

Through the magic that is the internet artists from all over the world can connect and make art collaboratively. Instagram lead me to learn about a new craftivist project created and coordinated by Tal Fitzpatrick (@talfitzpatrick) and Stephanie Dunlap (@illuminatembroidery).  Originally the artist call was for 30 artists and it expanded due to demand to include enough artists to make 4 quilts of 30 8 and a half by 11 inch panels each.
Each panel is an interpretation of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights (UDHR). This document was drafted by representatives from different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world at the United Nations Assembly in Paris in 1948. This was the first document of it's kind setting out fundamental human rights for all.  It has been translated into over 500 languages. You can read the document here.
Part of the initiative of this project is to promote the understanding of these rights and also to raise awareness about the UDHR as well as raise funds for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). This Agency was created after WWII to help displaced Europeans find homes.  Despite only having a four year mandate they are still active today and are more needed than ever. 21.3 million refugees, over half under the age of 18, are given aid through the UNHCR. Refugees are often the first people whose human rights are compromised. Any profits from this project will be donated to the United Nations Refugee Agency, and their is much potential for the reach of this project to go farther than each individual artist could take it. It is an honour to be a part of it.
As the project moves forward I will post about it here and through my social media channels.
Next week I will give details about the UDHR article that I am interpreting and share in-progress photos.

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For more information about this project please visit the official project page at: http://talfitzpatrick.com/udhr-craftivism-project

JJ

On Authenticity in the Social Media Age

I know for certain that I am not alone in this struggle.  Maybe I should refer to social media as more of a dance than a struggle but there are many people around me for which struggle is the appropriate word.
Leaving Facebook, coming back, learning a new platform but being limited by its capabilities, not wanting to over-post but noticing others are missing information that you are sharing.  The problems are real, and they leave many in a state of limbo with little to show for what can sometimes mean hours of work.
Last weekend 31 artists gathered in West Kelowna for the first ever Studio Art Quilts Associates Western Canada Retreat.  I was fortunate to be part of this group and we had lectures, workshops and social time to share ideas and simply be in the company of other like-minded lovers of art and cloth. The theme was Out of the Studio: Into the Wider World, one of the presentations was Social Media Your Presence = Your Choice by artist and teacher Susan Purney Mark.  She outlined strategies for success in using different platforms and presented recipes for discerning your own level of involvement in the social media jungle.
I appreciated hearing the points of view of others in the group as well, some who gave their own tips, shared their concerns, or questioned the validity of certain choices one could make.
I was left with a lot to ponder, and with a determination to solidify my own platform without apologies.
With my own goals in mind authenticity is a huge word for me.  If I sense a lack of authenticity in anyone I follow on social media I either un-follow them or tend to ignore their posts altogether. My reluctance to post just because I have to comes from this sense of being true to myself and also wanting to avoid over-sharing.  I have no desire to bombard anyone with me, me, me.
The reality however, as it has been explained to me, and as I am noticing more and more, is that unless you post once an hour for 24 hours straight the algorithms in Facebook or Instagram make that impossible. People are more likely to miss your post than see it.
And so if my goal is to gain recognition in my chosen career my social media strategy is paramount.  It must be a bond between authenticity and exposure.  As Susan stressed in her presentation, systems help you manage where your content goes and when.  I am going to work on getting my system running smoothly so that I can spend less time agonising over small choices and feel confident that what I am putting forward is true to who I am in this digital age.

The photos in the post were taken on Lake Okanagon at The Green Bay Bible Camp where the retreat was held.

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Festival Ha'Rikud: Celebrating Friendship - 2017

I have a piece in this upcoming exhibition at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery opening May 4th, 2017.  I will not be able to attend the opening but would be happy to meet anyone there to check out the show before May 22 if you can make it.  For those who can not make it here is my piece and artist statement.

Look In, Reach Out, 20 x 20 Inches, Mixed Media Quilt

Friendship is a cornerstone. As human beings, we are constantly learning to connect, to talk to each other, to listen, to empathise and relate.  When engaging in friendship we also have a chance to have ourselves reflected in the mirror of our friend’s being.

The labyrinth is a tool for self reflection and a good friendship also fills this roll.  Through our engagement with the other we learn truths about ourselves.  If we are open, we can learn and form a deep bond that grows like a tree and blossoms into a lasting connection of spirit.  These bonds can help us weather the storms of life and support us on the journey of moving around the sun as a collective.

This piece is available for sale.  Please click here for inquiries.  If you would like to receive my newsletter please sign up here.

JJ

Deconstructing a Quilt

One of the things that I love about my medium is its ability to be reborn.  Cloth can change forms; a sheet can become a shirt, a curtain can become a pillow or in this case a quilt can transform into another quilt.

The story of this quilt is the longest quilt story I have.  It was the first one I made.  It held all the magic that a gateway quilt could offer up.  My gateway into loving quilts was the wonderful richness of crazy quilts.  Elaborate, heavily embellished and in most cases not very practical, crazy quilts entice many textile enthusiasts. My aunt had two crazy quilted pillows which I loved.  I proceeded to make a crazy pillow for myself and others.  And then I decided to make my bed cover for when I moved away to attend Post-secondary education.  I spent many an hour the summer before my first semester sewing away in the kitchen of my family home.

Did I know what  I was doing?  No.  Did I have experts around me that could have helped? Yes.  Did I ask advice? No.  I sewed that baby together and used fabric that my mom had in her fabric trunk. The only new piece of fabric was the large blue sheet covered in white starts we found for the backing.

Did I love this quilt?  Yes.  Was it technically a quilt?  Just barely.  It had three layers,  but minimal actual quilting.  I'm rather glad about that slip up because deconstructing it was much easier with less stitching.

So here is the pre-deconstructed quilt and as you can see, the design was very willy-nilly.  Making this was part of my transition from living with my family to moving outwards into the world on my own.  Essentially I wrapped myself in the comforts of home each night.  Looking back on that time it seems that this object was a talisman that gave me strength and reminded me of where I came from. Little did I know as I headed to art school that it in fact represented where I would end up artistically years later.  The spiral of life is a powerful force.

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JJ 

 

Cherry Blossoms - A Textile Translation 2017

While spring may seem a bit late in arriving this year on the west coast, you'll have a chance to see some cherry blossoms in textile form from March 21 - April 9 at the Silk Purse Gallery in West Vancouver.  My piece "Spring in the World Tree" will be hanging in what promises to be a colourful show that runs in conjunction with the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival.

I wrote about the series of four that this piece is part of here.
I will be at the opening Tuesday March 21st, from 6-8pm.  Hope you can make it.

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JJ

Around Town - February 2017

I had the pleasure of attending two art events last Saturday.  The first was Shedding Layers, Feb 18- March 11 2017, a three person show at the Deer Lake Gallery in Burnaby.  My friend Nicole Smith's pottery crows were featured along with paintings by Jenn Ashton and David Righton.  This show was a bright and cheery way to spend a winter afternoon.  Both painters use strong colours and nature inspired imagery.  Ashton's work is fluid and whimsical, while Righton's paintings use an impasto technique that delineates his figures dramatically.
Smith's crows use various clay techniques including the raku glaze featured on the birds in the photo below.

After the Shedding Layers opening, my friend Dorothy and I attended Lori Goldberg's artist talk at the South Main Gallery in Vancouver.

Goldberg's show title was derived from Pierre Burton's idea that a Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe without tipping it over.  Using various painting techniques her imagery ranged from portages in the forest, to lone paddlers on lakes, and solitary canoes as objects in their own right.

My favourite pieces were O Canada, Spring Melt, and Homage.  South Main Gallery is a bright space that feels intimate yet was spacious enough for the paintings to breathe.  Goldberg talked about the paint techniques that she used to create the work, along with why canoes and their history compelled her to explore further.  The show is up until this Sunday February 25.
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JJ

Atelier

This word has stuck with me the last two weeks.  I love it.  This french word for studio or workroom, atelier, it is superior- if a word can be that.  It is a romantic word.  A word of action and substance.

As we walked the ancient narrow streets of Montpellier France this summer we came across this lovely scene. Others may have noticed the dresses first, or the freshly watered plant, or the lovely hand painted sign saying "Le Fil et son Aiguille" (the thread and its needle).

But I looked inside and saw a solitary artist making her work.

"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction..." -Virginia Woolf

Not only to write fiction, but to paint, to sew, to make, to think, to be.

An atelier of one's own.  A space that is quiet, and yours.

Just a simple thought for today in a time that is not simple.

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JJ

On Being a Maker

One of the wonderful things about being an artist working in quilts as a medium is that I get to make art and functional objects. The Quilt Industry is vast and includes hobbyists, professionals, artists, crafters; in short, lots of people who make things for many reasons. Where one falls on this varied spectrum is a matter of self definition in most cases.  Since I went to art school calling myself an artist has become my natural default for categorisation.  For some, having to pick a strict definition is daunting and they refuse to do it.  I understand that sentiment but I have not problem ticking several boxes off and moving from one to the next.

So while my serious career ambition is to make art, and that is art that hangs on walls, is seen in galleries and fits with most traditional capital A art categories, I am also very much a Maker.

The things I make are usually functional and usually fabric. I make them for myself and my family and also friends. These are objects made with love for specific people. The energy that goes into them is different from my art making. In some ways I still consider them to be art or artistic but they are a product of spreading joy to my loved ones rather than an expression of a conceptual idea.

Making these objects balances me out creatively. In the same way that painting one day and writing a poem the next day would. You are working different creative muscles and channelling your inspiration with another intent. Luckily for me making a bed quilt still works my technical skills in a way that can enhance my art quilts.

Creativity is a fluid thing. It needs to move like water and should not be controlled rigidly. Marking special occasions with making carries on a rich tradition of giving that has always been a part of quilt making.  This can be applied to many types of making too. Cooking & baking, scrapbooks, cards, candles, there is no end to a human's capacity to make with artistry and care.  And that is a beautiful thing.

*The quilt pictured above was a joint effort between myself and my friend for a gift to a very special little boy with much love.  And we used this pattern.

JJ

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Long Shadows : 2016 In Review

                          

This morning I walked over hard packed snow to clear my head and get the blood pumping in my veins.  2016 was a year of great highs and many lessons.  Some of them easier to accept than others.

The sun rarely shines here at this time of year, today I tried to absorb that sun, notice it as much as I could and let it's ancient wisdom burn away some confusion that is clinging to me.

Its warmth is not as all encompassing as it was in the South of France this July.  That heat was so intense that it blocked out reflective thoughts.  The sweet relief of floating in the sea after 20 minutes of trekking to our favourite beach in Bandol was a highlight of the year.  That place is deep in my bones now.  Even if I never return, the memory of stitching while listening to the sound of the cicadas and the shift of the trees outside our apartment as the mistral blew will stay with me forever.

Today what struck me about the sun was its long shadows.  The sun sits so low in the sky that the shadows stretch meekly over the land.  That meekness resonates with me.  I felt that often when trying my hand at things this year.  Somehow when I stepped out of the shadows and into the light, letting boldness take over things crashed around me.  The universe knocked me down a notch or two and I'd step back into a meek shadow once again.

The lessons I have learned from this year do not feel concrete.  But I will write them here in case someone else may resonate with them in some way.

1) Laying the foundation of your career means putting yourself out there and waiting.  Results are not instant.  The publication of Imago Mundi Oh West Canada! took over a year to manifest.  And there are several submissions made in 2016 that I am still waiting to hear about.

2) Expect more no's than yes's.  I learned this in Jackie Battenfield's fantastic book The Artist's Guide: How to Make a Living Doing what you Love.  Her point was that you should be getting tons of rejections because that means you are trying.  And the only way to succeed is to keep making the effort.

3) My top lesson of 2016, one that I am still working on and will be for years to come is: Put yourself out there, meet people and make connections.  This is my biggest weakness in terms of my career.  And I need to challenge it, push and mould this part of myself.  I will always be an introvert but the career I desire as an artist will not manifest if I let that part of me call the shots.  So as uncomfortable as I feel in those moments where I am asking for what I want I force myself through that discomfort.  Maybe some day the discomfort will lessen.

2017 is looking good from here.  I have a milestone birthday and I am planning some new and exciting projects.  All will be revealed as the months progress.

Happy New Year...JJ

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