Experiments in Minimalism

I just finished up a class in Minimalism/Reductive art. It is quite fascinating and much more difficult than it looks. You can find minimalism in all forms of art expression from traditional painting to contemporary film, video and music.

5 Red Squares by Liz Kettle

Minimalism began as a reaction to abstract expressionism. Basically a bunch of artists got together and wrote out the manifesto or rule book for Minimalism. These artists, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Sol LeWitt among others decided that they wanted to create an art movement that embraced an absence of expression and create art that was objective, non-referential, and kept the hand of the artist to an absolute minimum. 


The characteristics of Minimalism include:
1. Simplicity of form

2. use of monochromatic palette or primary colors
3. an emphasis on pure shape
4. removal of any appearance of composition
5. keeping true to the materials and often employing industrial materials or mass produced supplies rather than 'art' materials.

We had lots of great discussion in class if true Minimalist art is even possible to achieve. We all worked hard to question where the fine line was between abstract and minimalism. At what point was there that one thing too much. Everyone in the class produced great work from a variety of mediums including a couple videos. We all felt that the most difficult part was to create something minimalist while avoiding boring! 

If you would like to learn more there is a great abstract on Minimalism here.

I have a lot more ideas for exploring minimalism in stitch. Do you like it? Hate it? Want to try it? Let me know.

"A shape, a volume, a color, a surface is something itself. It shouldn't be concealed as part of a fairly different whole."
Donald Judd

Small Wonders

Our Exhibit is ready to be seen! Please join us for the opening reception on Sunday, September 7th from 1 to 4PM at the Etui Fiber Art Gallery in Larchmont, NY.

Here's the official invitation:

Diminutive bugs and birds, petite scale, delicate details of line and stitch – all in tiny treasures on view at Etui Gallery during the month of September, 2014. Eight artists brought together by a love of fabric and stitch show off their varied approaches to mixed media textiles in this exhibit of small works. Layers of machine and hand stitching intimately render buildings and homes both in Natalya Aikens’ works, which incorporate recycled ephemera, and in Kristin La Flamme’s fabric collages. Benedicte Caneill’s work incorporates impeccably sewn pieces of her monoprinted fabrics to create dancing compositions of color and line. Jane Davila and Gloria Hansen turn their focus on small-scale flora and fauna with an eye to graphic simplicity and macro photography respectively. Carol Sloan, Liz Kettle, and Beryl Taylor round out the collection with tantalizing layers of intriguing fabrics, delicate paper, painted textures, wee stitches, and tiny details that draw the viewer in for a closer look.

Here are a few photos to entice you to come see them in person!

Front facing wall with art by Jane, Benedicte and Gloria

Small wonders by Kristin

Corner view with work by Gloria, Benedicte, Liz and Natalya

Gloria's butterflies

Benedicte and Liz's work

Main wall with work by Liz, Natalya, Carol, Beryl and Kristin

A restful spot with work by Kristin, Natalya and Carol

 

The Art of Fine Craft

Liz here today. Anyone else wondering where the summer went? I wanted to sit in the sun this morning with my coffee and a good read so I picked up the June/July 2014 issue of American Craft. In it discovered a great article titled Hot Glue & Staples by Bruce Metcalf. He questions whether craftsmanship even matters to the contemporary art world. Mr Metcalf and I both agree that it should!

Mr. Metcalf gives us 4 standards to which we can look at art (our own or others) to help us determine which is art and which is not.

Al B thinking about the next step

The first is that good art demands careful thinking. Metcalf holds that clear, interesting ideas and a compelling concept are key to good art. Bad ideas abound and they result in bad art. "Good concepts require careful work. In other words, there is a craft to thinking, a way of thinking carefully, as opposed to being sloppy and stupid".

Second, 'The artist must know his field'. I see so many examples of failure in this arena in the mixed media world. Someone who knows her field is so often copied by those who don't know the materials, techniques and tools. They create something that on the surface is similar but doesn't have the soul of the first artist. Then they run out to teach it. This makes me crazy! The unwitting student doesn't get the real meat of the field and is left not knowing much more than how to copy. I won't get on my soapbox even though it is tempting...

The third standard is that 'the artist must be able to translate the idea into a visual experience'. Art is and always has been about communication. This is where the artist must continually circle back to the concept from the first standard and work through their knowledge of the second standard to determine how to express the essence of their idea. Does the form they envision communicate the idea clearly, uniquely, and in a compelling way?  I think this is often done intuitively as the artist goes through this dance back and forth through concept/idea and material constraints instinctively.

Fourth, 'the last component is exercising control over composition'. How do you arrange the elements of the idea, remove or add distractions to make something interesting without losing the concept or idea of the art? While the basic principals of design and composition may seem so old school, you can't make great art without understanding them.

 I agree with these 4 standards. I have never written down my process but it follows these 4 standards pretty closely. Generally I spend more time in the thinking stages because they guide the production stages. Of course the many years I spent learning my field and time spent studying in other fields to add in what is useful to me, help make the execution stage fairly straight forward and often relatively easy. Not that I don't struggle with parts and nothing ever gets birthed without going through an extended ugly stage!

What do you think of Mr Metcalf's 4 standards? Does it resonate or leave a sour taste in your mouth? Leave me a comment below.
You can read more about Bruce Metcalf and see his beautiful jewelry on his blog and website.

Pushing Boundaries

Pushing Boundaries

I have just passed the one year anniversary of my move to a professional studio space so of course I am thinking about what has happened over the past year.

First of all, I absolutely love having my studio in a busy arts center. I do get interruptions occasionally but I also get amazing inspiration, support and encouragement. I have learned so much about art and the creative process by hanging out with a wide variety of artists including oil and acrylic painters, photographers, jewelers, potters and even a few knitters.

One of the biggest growth opportunities this last year is because Cottonwood Center for the Arts hosts themed exhibits 6-8 times a year. Each exhibit challenges me to learn more about art history and theory. I try to enter as many as possible and even though I don’t always get in the show I learn so much that it really doesn’t matter. I was more than thrilled to be accepted into the abstract and postmodern exhibits this spring.

This piece, Does it Matter? was accepted into the Postmodern show. I and many of the other artists at Cottonwood spent considerable time discussing exactly what is Postmodern art. It is still confusing but I was thrilled to have one of my pieces get in. Competition for these exhibits is pretty intense.  During the show I had quite a few great conversations with viewers about my piece and the question it asks. Great fun. I didn't have good photo lighting for this piece. The background is flat black like a chalkboard.


As you can see my work is changing! I still love collage but am moving away from it to a more abstract expression. I have been working very small; 4" square and 8" square but I just ordered a canvas that is 2' x 8' for a whole cloth piece I have been working on. Being part of a thriving art center has encouraged me to push at the boundaries of my textile art. I can't wait to see where I go next!

Texture Inspiration Everywhere

Liz Kettle here today:
I have been on the road teaching and enjoying my newest grandson so I have been away from my studio a lot the last two months. When I am traveling I love to gather inspiration photos. And the photos I take most often are of textures.

Photos can be snapped while I am at the park playing with the grand-kids or walking in a new town. I am used to getting that look from strangers when I am taking close up photos of bricks or mulch.

I file these in a special texture photo file so when I am looking for lines, shapes or texture for stitch inspiration I can find it easily.

Today I am sharing an assortment of inspiration photos from my last two trips.

The first batch is from the playground:

 Inspiring lines from shadows

 I love the interplay of lines on the railings

 I can see this done in free form stitching in shades of cream and brown or in wild colors!

The photos below are from the Elms hotel in Excelsior Springs MO where I taught for Art and Soul. Lines, swirls and textures...they all make me want to run to the machine. 

 

Who could resist all the beautiful lines on this antique cash register?

What do you do to keep the inspiration flowing when you can't get into the studio?

To Title or Not to Title

Liz Kettle on the blog today.
As some of my new work becomes more abstract I am re-thinking the need and use of titles. While most of my work is still narrative and based in story some of my newer pieces aren't. I am at a loss as to how to title them.
 

As usual, when I start wondering about something I started doing some research on titles and found some fun stuff like this Abstract Art Titlegenerator. Now, one could have a lot of fun and waste days here!



I also learned that naming art is a rather recent development. Renaissance painters did not title their work. Pieces were referred to under general categories such as the artist, the patron, or the subject. While mid 17th century artist may have started naming their paintings, it seems that art dealers and galleries may be the real instigators of the trend toward titles. They need to keep track of art and sell it after all. Names certainly help with that.


Obviously some work can simply be titled factually as with landscapes/urban-scapes, people, pets, and still life work. However in abstract work titles just don't usually leap out.


On one hand titles make it easier to identify a specific piece of work and to refer to it when writing. Titles can be practical when exhibiting your work, getting the right information with the right piece, ensuring catalog descriptions are accurate and may cause a second look from a viewer after they read the title as they try to understand the meaning of the piece. This is especially true if you use mysterious or sentimental and symbolic titles.

On the other hand, titles can imply specific meaning or suggest what the artist was thinking and attempting to communicate in their work. But, is that not simply telling the viewer what to see, feel and think? Does that leave enough room for the viewer to find their own meaning in the art?

One can identify a series and use numbers like  Thread #298 I suppose. Is that better than simply untitled? Or I suppose I could name it Untitled Thread #298. Each piece has a meaning for me but that meaning may not be something anyone else would ever care about.

What are your thoughts on titles?
Do you want to understand what the artist was thinking or exploring?
Would you prefer to just enter each piece of art with no title to influence your thinking?

Liz

Fallen Prey to Comparison

Liz here today sharing how yet again I have fallen victim to that nasty disease 'comparing'.

My  friend Jill Berry invited me to create a map of 2014 for a fun project she called Mapping 2014 Artfully. I thought it would be a fun way to plan out my year but once I started seeing the maps other artists were posting I decided that I couldn't possibly post mine! Mine was hardly artful. It is a vision board map...a bunch of words and pictures cut and pasted to a big board. Though I took great care to paste well so it wasn't too lumpy and wrinkled! It certainly couldn't hold it's head up high compared to all those other beautiful artful maps everyone else was producing. My work isn't as good or as pretty as theirs! Those other artists are more talented than me, nicer than me and probably prettier than me too. I bet their studios are always clean and they even have a clean house too!

I decided I would quietly slink off into the night and say I was just too busy to finish the project. OR maybe I could paint over parts of my map and make it prettier. Yeah, I tried that but, I just couldn't change my map. It is meaningful and just right for me so I would go back to plan A...slink quietly off into the night.

Then I realized a couple of days ago that this map is a collage and aren't I a collage artist?

Duh!Of course I chose collage to express my goals and dreams.

I also realized that this map fits my way of being in the world. There are no straight line progressions from here to there, no detailed schedules, charts or plans. That is not my experience in the world....although I am trying to plan more and work from a base of intention this year.

My map is different from everyone else's map. My art is different from everyone else's art and my life is different from everyone else's life. My map for 2014 fits me and that is what matters. I love looking at my map to remind myself of where I am going.

Maybe my style of map will fit you too and give you permission to create your own unique map of 2014.

Lesson learned (yet again) about comparing myself to others.

You can see everyone's maps on Pinterest or follow the links from Jill Berry's blog.

Join me on Textile Evolution to read about my Stitch Journeys and play in our free book studies!

Keepin it Fresh

Happy Holidays from Liz!

One of the challenges of being a full time artist is keeping our work fresh. Fresh for both myself and the viewer. It is so easy to get stuck in a routine and not notice anything new. I was thinking about this because a friend asked about a restaurant nearby. I had no clue it was there. I drive by it all the time but I can't eat there because of my food allergies so its presence doesn't even register in my brain. As a matter of fact, if you ask me what restaurants are near my home or studio I can't answer because I simply don't know.

Many artists I know find that visiting museums helps them generate fresh ideas. For others it is being outside. I find those helpful too but my favorite way to keep fresh is by taking classes well outside my main media. Classes outside of my comfort zone. For years I have attended Art and Soul which is a national mixed media art retreat with classes from every genre you can think of! Painting, journaling, assemblage, stitch, book binding, jewelery, encaustic, metal and more. I love this retreat and now even teach there.

When taking a new class, as a student I am pushed to learn techniques that are completely foreign to me. As a teacher I get a chance to remember just how a student feels when they are trying something for the first time. It is usually really uncomfortable for me. It is a win on both fronts because it helps me to be a better teacher. Many times I never use the exact technique I learned in a class but there is always a nugget that I bring back into my textile art. It might be something as simple as a new color combination I have never used before or it might be a bigger slap upside the head a-ha that brings about dramatic changes in my approach or thinking.

These photos are from a recent book making class. We begin by spreading paint with wild abandon. I find it so freeing to create these colorful pages. It is only paint and paper so there is less stress and that sense of freedom and joy painting helps me with my fabric surface design work.

It is natural that because I take so many classes that I also teach a wide variety of classes. I teach quite a few textile based classes of course but I also teach visual journaling, book binding and jewelery too. I admit to being a bit of a technique junkie and I love them all! Well, except soldering. I am not a fan of soldering. I find that by mixing these various classes in with my textile based classes that I don't get bored teaching the same thing over and over. It helps me to keep my teaching fresh. It also exposes me to the influence of a wide variety of students. I always learn from my students.

What do you do to keep your work fresh? I would love to hear your opinion.

Bricolage Explorations

I recently just finished a class in abstraction with a focus on bricolage. I didn’t really know what the class was about when I signed up but I knew I wanted to learn from Karen Khoury.  I love Karen’s art which is difficult to describe. Karen works with paint but not in any traditional format. She creates art that is both sculptural and 2D at the same time from paint sheets that are rolled and folded much like fabric. 

I learned that bricolage is a characteristic of much postmodern art...also learned a lot about what exactly postmodern art is. Bricolage simply means working with materials readily at hand. Altering them to meet your needs or using them as they are. The DIY and indy-craft movement are also examples of bricolage. It was a great class that gave me permission to follow my instincts and stretch my creative boundaries.

As an artist who works a great deal in collage, I realized that as my art has improved I have been working up to the more honest and authentic style of bricolage. When I started creating stories in fabric and paper I would spend quite a bit of time shopping for the right elements, fabrics and images to tell the story. Over the years I have learned to simply create with what I have on hand.  There is still the temptation to just go shop for something rather than make it myself or use what I have but I have learned that having less control often results in a better piece of art. 

 This piece about my grandmother is a great example even though I didn’t realize at the time I was working in Bricolage as well as collage. The rather loud and not quite matching background fabric is from one of her evening skirts. My grandmother owned her own advertising and printing business and every evening when she got home from work she would change into her evening wear. She had quite the collection of long skirts and was quite fond of both Hawaiian prints and velvet.  I used this orange and yellow skirt with the curving velvet trim because it spoke of her essence and quite honestly, it was available. 

Quite a few times I considered a shopping trip to find a better fabric but that would have taken a lot of time that I didn’t have…and quite frankly I really have enough fabric!  I stitched the orange flower embellishments with silk roving and thread I had on hand, pulled shell bits from my collection and mixed up beads I already had. I even used a bit of orange kitchen lace (aka plastic mesh from fruit and veggie bags) because I had it and it was the right color.

 

A wonderful example of bricolage is the work of El Anatsui a sculptor from Ghana and Nigeria. I have spent a lot of time examining his huge piece that hangs at the Denver Art Museum. Using the metal wrappers that are found on the necks of bottles tied together with copper wire he has created a fabric based on the Kente cloth from his homeland of Ghana. His huge sculptures are breathtaking. You can see more of his amazing work here.

The piece I started in the class isn't quite finished but I promise to show it as soon as it is. It is quite the departure for me and I am very excited about it. 

Perspective

Liz Kettle here today. This morning when I joined my friend Cat for our daily walk we did something radical. We walked our loop in the opposite direction. We humans tend to be creatures of habit and Cat and I have been walking the same route in the same direction 4-5 times a week for about 8 years now.

It was amazing how different everything looked. The hard uphill parts turned into downhills and the easy downhills turned into never ending ups! We noticed so many ‘new’ things. Of course none of them were new. They were there all along we just didn’t see them from our walking direction.

It always amazes me how life and art echo and mimic each other. What applies to art always applies to life and vice versa. Sometimes we need a new perspective in both.

 I have had many opportunities recently to find a new way of looking at things. I have been letting myself get stressed out and frustrated because I can’t get done ‘right now’ all things I want to create (both in art and life). I have not been taking time to stop to appreciate and congratulate myself for all the things I have accomplished. Fortunately, I have a business mastermind group of amazing women artists and entrepreneurs who don’t hesitate to tell me when I need a re-frame.

In my artwork, when I get stuck on the progress of a piece I realize that if I stop and let it rest for a bit, let my mind open to the a re frame of  its purpose and intent, I magically get un-stuck.

What areas in your life might need a re frame?