Creative Life Sampler

Linen Closet- Christmas Stars Wishing you all much joy and a new year of hope, health and peace!!! This is my Christmas Star Sampler. Finished in January of 2009, it was an experiment in piecing as well as quilting. All the blocks, including the smaller 8 point stars are quilted with a different pattern; a sampler in the truest sense. I can tell you it was most gratifying to finish this! It is a king sized quilt and it was quite a task to quilt with my domestic sewing machine.

Nativity Scenes as works of Art In my wanderings this holiday season, I stumbled on a gallery which was featuring nativities from around the world. This was sponsored by a local church and featured the collections of several people who are clearly world travelers and wanted to share this with the community. It was a celebration of this special moment in the history on Christianity, the Christmas story which binds all Christians, no matter their denomination. On another level, it is significant that it was displayed in an art gallery. Here we have the classic creative challenge. You have a theme: the nativity. The challenge is for each artist to bring their artistic aesthetic, their culture, and their tastes to the interpretation of that theme in a meaningful way. The room was filled with nativities in all sizes, from miniatures... to very large pieces... representing many different cultures (shown here clockwise from top left : South Africa, Kyrgyzstan,  Indo...

Quilting Group Challenge My version of the Christmas quilting challenge A couple of Christmases ago, I gave my quilt buddies, Sara and Erin, a length of fabric and challenged our little group to use it in the new year. It was a horizontally striped cotton in a nontraditional color palette: Each piece reflects our individuality and interests.                                                             Erin finished first. Her creations feature our "inspiration fabric" in the snowman's quilt. She stretched her work on a canvas frame for each of us, so we have a piece of her folk art to hang during the season. Sara used the "inspiration fabric" to create a striped border around a log cabin square for a small wall hanging. The center square is a Christmas stocking print and the strips around it pick up the subtle colo...

Quote for Today "Inspiration descends only in flashes, to clothe circumstances;  it is not stored up in a barrel, like salt herrings, to be doled out."   Patrick White (1912-1990) Patrick White was an Australian fiction writer with 12 novels, 8 plays, 3 short story collections, and a Nobel Prize in Literature to his credit. He certainly would know a thing or two about the nature of inspiration. For me hidden in the humor of this statement is the assurance that inspiration to fuel our creativity will come. We don't have to frantically try to save it up for a rainy day; but rather be open to the "flashes" which meet the needs of the moment. That takes some of the pressure off, doesn't it?

Museums- Source of Inspiration (3 of 3) Of course, exploring the galleries was great. There were a couple of exhibits that I wanted to store in memory.  A textile display of Renaissance lace making and pattern books. One pattern book refers to this as "painting with a needle", and promised "if you work well with the needle... you will be admired wherever you go". Not an overstatement, that! The delicacy, symmetry, and skill of this work is so impressive.  A collection of the work of William Morris and his colleagues, artists of the British Arts and Crafts movement.   Lots  of pattern there. In 1880, Morris wrote: "If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." Gives one pause doesn't it? And who isn't inspired by the incomparable Georgia O'Keefe? What a gal! I was familiar with the work of the "...

Exploring the Cleveland Museum of Art (2 of 3) There is a really cool and innovative interactive area in the new wing. They have a wall of floating images of items from their collections. When you touch the image it enlarges, tells you what gallery it is in and shows other items on display there. With their app, they have made it easy to store images of a favorite items from their collections. Simply place your cell phone on a stand in front of the wall and it will download the image for you. A guard assured me that photography is permitted in the galleries, but who needs to take pictures when these images would be so much better!  It seems to me that this open attitude of sharing makes the museum more relevant to the public as a source for inspiration, research, and information. In another room you find the "Create Studio" where you can create a portrait, a collage, or work a pottery wheel in virtual reality. Encouraging the creative process righ...

Travel Log 2 - Visiting the Cleveland Museum of Art (1 of 3) While I was in Cleveland, I got the chance to take in the Cleveland Museum of Art (twice). And what an energizing, forward thinking place it is! First let me describe the building. View of the original building's front- Cleveland Museum of Art  Strolling through this picturesque park you have a clear view of the original museum. But as you get closer you see that there's more to come... This building has "evolved" through several phases to reach its current configuration which successfully integrates the old with the new. When the modern wings were added, they preserved the original facade and created a center court, covered with a great glass atrium. To me, this gives a sense of respect and reverence for the past while making it relevant and current for museum patrons; a perfect statement of a museums mission. We were there in the evening on our first visit. There was a children...

Art work on the Streets of Cleveland (3 of 3) Lots to take in as I wandered around the area...  I found this neat mural, which depicts windows in the side of a building. The shadows, and the figures which reach past the edges of the windows, give a realistic three-dimensional effect. If I hadn't been on my own, I would have had a picture taken by this sculpture. Or, maybe under it... yeah, pushing upward! 😏 Then I ran across this quote on the sidewalk... "The past we inherit, the future we create." (Theo Moll) Isn't that something? I love the idea of creating a future... another place to make our mark.  😉

Time to Explore (2 of 3) While we were in Cleveland, I had a block of time to myself. So, I bundled up for the cold and went utility box hunting, just to see how this city adorns its streets. I started seeing a common thread, ... more people were represented than I've seen in other areas. Then I realized I was walking through University Circle and these boxes were designed and executed by students from the Cleveland Institute of Art. Their chosen theme was "retro art" and the ones I ran across definitely evoked a wide range of eras in their style and subject matter. They called it the "art box project". And now I know the official term to use when I'm hunting decorated utility boxes in a new city.

Travel Log- Cleveland Ohio    (1 of 3) During travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, we had a brief side trip to Cleveland, (that's a long, irrelevant story for another time and place.) And you know me, of course I took a good look around at the airport when we arrived. The first thing I noticed was the flooring. I could definitely see some patterns and color choices that might translate into a future project. Then I noticed this 10 foot painted guitar... intriguing... Flower Power, by Jacqueline Kahane Freedman Cleveland is the home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and scattered throughout the airport (and in other places around the city) are these massive decorated guitars. They are sponsored by businesses; a public art project which benefits education programs at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum, as well as the United Way of Greater Cleveland.  Geartar, by Pat Downey There was built in entertainment for the young a...