Go Ahead and Play!

Thank you Terri for agreeing to guest blog at Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles. I think you offer not only beautiful fabric art and visual art, but also a much needed message that we all need to take to heart.

Please welcome fabric artist Terri Stegmiller, in her own words. -- Dawn

I’ve been asked many times over the past couple of years if I have any formal art education or training.

My answer is “no”.

The only education/training I have is what I have learned by myself and from taking an online class here or there.

When I answer that question, many times the person who asked it has a response that they just can’t believe I have no art degree or some formal schooling. Sometimes they respond with “oh, you must be a natural then.”

Let me enlighten you. There is no such thing as being a natural. Everyone has abilities and some are able to master those more quickly than others. But they didn’t just pick up a pencil or a paintbrush, or even a needle on day one and by day two they were producing work that was gallery ready.

Artistic talent takes time.

It takes practice. It takes imagination and it takes dedication. I often see many people get discouraged when they aren’t able to create what they see in their mind or what they see others creating. When they tell me about their frustrations my response to them is “have you taken the time to play?”

What I mean by that is this: Oftentimes people are reluctant to use their craft supplies and materials to play and practice with. Many think they can only use the supplies to make something that is a finished work of art or they think that it is a waste of money to use the supplies for play and practice.

If you never play and practice with your supplies, you will never gain the skills needed to create a work of art and you will never feel confident that your end results are worthy. You don’t need to have anyone’s permission to use the supplies you have purchased. The only person you need permission from is you.

Tell yourself that it’s okay to play and use your art supplies.

Tell yourself that it just doesn’t matter if what you end up with is a pile of junk. Tell yourself that you are in training to become an artist and keep an encouraging dialog going on in your head. Do not let any discouraging or negative thoughts enter the dialog.

Keep up the play and practice for a period of time and you will make discoveries about yourself. You will soon begin to think about the possibilities. You will become much more comfortable working with the art supplies and materials and you won’t feel like you are wasting them anymore. You may even find that you’ve subconsciously set new goals for yourself. You may be thinking about making that original piece that keeps floating around in your head and entering it in a show or contest or you may discover some unique ideas that make the work your own “signature” style.

One thing that I discovered about myself is that I had a desire to draw and paint women’s faces. I don’t know where it came from but I knew that when I’d look at the women’s faces that other artists created that I yearned to be able to do that too. I found it discouraging at the time because there were no resources for learning what I wanted to do. Of course there were books on drawing, but they turned me off as they were trying to teach me to draw real looking faces and that wasn’t the look I was after.

So one day I had a talk with myself and made a decision.

“You are just going to do it,” was the mindset I adopted.

So that’s what I did. I started drawing. I would look at the faces of artists I admired and study them and I would ask myself “What is it about this face that really appeals to me?” I kept drawing and practicing. Believe me when I say that the early drawings were not good. But I didn’t let that stop me and I kept at it.

When I felt that my drawings were starting to look better, I decided I’d try my hand at painting them. Well, needless to say those first trials were not good either. There again I was looking hard at artwork I liked, trying to figure out how they got that look. I was basically teaching myself to create what I saw other artists making.

My trials were not always successful, but I didn’t let my use of my supplies and my failures bother me.

I told myself it was my investment in myself.

Over time, my drawing skills have vastly improved and when I draw faces today, they are much different than the early faces I once did. Even now if there is a new or different subject I want to draw, it doesn’t come to me without practice. My skills need to be developed and refined when I explore a new subject matter and my eye-hand-brain coordination needs that practice time to smooth out the rough spots.

I still take the occasional online class because I feel there is always something to learn and another artist may have a tip or trick that would be just the thing for adding to my list of skills.

You must believe in yourself. You can make whatever you want, but remember that it takes time. Don’t give up and don’t get discouraged. Remember that your work won’t look exactly like the artist’s work you love. But you don’t want it to. You want your work to be unique to you. It should be a reflection of your inner soul and shout out to everyone that YOU made it. Go ahead, play!

Photo information:

1. Acrylic painting on stretched canvas.

2. Five ATCs Terri made for a Cloth Paper Scissors magazine challenge. The faces are hand drawn with black ink and then painted with watercolors onto cotton duck

3. This face is thread sketched onto a quilted background. Shading and highlights are painted with acrylics.

4. This quilted wall hanging features a thread sketched face with transparent paints added for see-through color.

5. This quilted wall hanging features an appliquéd and painted face. I teach an online class on this technique called Faces on Fabric.

6. A small mixed-media paper quilt with an acrylic painted face on a paper fabric background.

7. The face, drawn on muslin with black ink, was then painted with watercolors.

Bio:
Terri Stegmiller is a mixed-media textile artist living in Mandan, North Dakota. Terri is the author of Creative Paper Quilts and coauthor of Creative Ways with Fibre & Stitch. She teaches online at Two Creative Studios. You can see more of Terri at her web site http://www.terristegmiller.com/ and her blog http://www.stegart.blogspot.com/.

WHAT IF?!

By Sue Bleiweiss

“What if:” Two words. Six letters. Gives wing to a whole lot of possibilities.

Those two little words when spoken together are probably among the most powerful tools you have in your studio. They have the power to take your artwork in a new direction. They invite you to step off the paved sidewalk and venture into new and unexplored territories.

Those two words can help during those times when you’re feeling blocked or unmotivated. The next time this happens ask yourself,

• “What if” I tried working with a material I’ve not used before such as metal sheets, fine wire, knitted mesh, or paper?
• What if I tried using paper towels, coffee filters or dryer sheets in place of fabric?
• What if I painted them and then sewed them to something and treated them just like I would a piece of fabric?

(In the photo: Painted paper towel vase painted with Jacquard Dye-na-flow paint and fused with Mistyfuse to Timtex )

Or, what if I sewed them to a base fabric and then added paint, foiling from Laura Murray

Designs, hand stitching and beading? What if I took a soft metal and sewed it to a piece of paper

or fabric and then used ink to color it?

Or maybe you’ve been working on a piece and it just doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Ask yourself, what if I cut it up and sewed it back together again? What if I sewed the pieces back together again randomly, or used wire to sew them together instead of thread? What if I added eyelets or buttonholes?

Like a lot of fiber artists I like to paint and dye my own fabrics, and just like many of you I sometimes get less than stellar results. Recently I painted a large piece of fabric with colors that I don’t usually work with and the resulting fabric seemed flat and boring.

And then I thought, what if I added some scribbled text and squiggly lines using a craft syringe. Which then led to, what if I cut the fabric into smaller pieces and made postcards from it?

And then I thought, what if I used this same technique on a boring denim jacket?

Some of my most unexpected and wonderful discoveries have come from asking myself “what if”.

Next time you’re tossing something in the recycle bin ask yourself, what if I used this in my studio? What if I painted this paper bag with acrylic paint and treated it like fabric?

What if I saved tea bag wrappers and used them like little pieces of fabric by fusing them along with some painted cheesecloth to Timtex using Mistyfuse?

What if I fused that old pattern tissue to a base fabric and then used it to create a box?

“What if” has the power to turn boring into interesting.

For instance, recently I held one of my books in my hand:

It’s a beautiful book but, what if I added a different stitch pattern along the spine?

Much more interesting don’t you think?

Of all the tools I have at my disposal in my studio, it’s the question "what if" that motivates me the most. It's the exploration of finding and discovering new ways to manipulate and embellish paper and fabric that drive me into the studio and inspire me every day and it’s the power of the words “what if” that push me to look beyond the expected results.

My goal is not to create a perfect and flawless item. It is to create a piece that excites the viewers eyes when they look at it, makes them wonder when they hold it in their hands and inspires their own imagination when they consider how it was created.

What better way to achieve that goal than to ask myself “what if”?

Sue Bleiweiss is a mixed media fiber artist with a passion for surface design and book making. She lives in Massachusetts, USA, where she teaches classes at the Danforth Museum of Art. She also teaches online through her www.twocreativestudios.com website. You can see more of her work on her blog at www.suebleiweiss.com .