5 Feb 2010

We can best help you prevent war not by repeating your words and following your methods but by finding new words and creating new methods

- Virginia Woolf

Back in the day when I was performing spoken word events and teaching writers how to prepare their poetry for public performance, I found myself rushing toward activism pretty much from the beginning — as a poet, the rights of free speech were dear to me, and having cut my teeth on such controversies as the National Endowment for the Arts defunding material they found “inappropriate”, it was a short trip from there. My regular readers may remember from October 2009 when I told the story of Anne Winter & how she, via the Free Speech Coalition, gave me both the tools and the platform to build a helluva machine to fight zine censorship and promote performance poetry, hip hop spoken word, graffiti artist’s rights, and such causes as Rock the Nation (which we ROCKED at the Locus Solis gallery — and which I will never forget became known as the event where an audience full of punk rock activists and zine publishers grilled a panel of then-prospective Kansas City mayoral candidates on how their platform might benefit young people in our city… BOOYA!! It was a beautiful thing…)

So, after 2 kids, 4 dogs, 3 cities, and heaping loads of laundry and dishes, I’ve landed smack in the middle of stitch-land. And I find, no matter what my circumstance, or where I hang my hat (so to speak) I can’t help but get antsy… and active.

I began wrangling the book proposal for my (hopefully) shiny new book deal, and as I researched and dug out the material… I found, periodically, my heart would beat a little faster at discovering a tidbit… here… and there… sprinkled throughout stitch history… there are messages and useful information from our stitchin sistas that can not be ignored…

The Subversive Stitch  (link to review) chronicles some of these — such as embedding medicinal, nourishing, and deadly botanicals information in tapestries passed from mothers to daughters in medieval times. BRILLIANT!

And then I got sucked into a discussion thread over at the hand embroidery network community on ning (link) titled: spouse doesn’t like my needlework.  Now, I ask you, activist reader, how do I IGNORE such a tag line? In the wake of the previous “Your art sucks…” post, I was practically homicidal when I read the discussion thread.    You KNOW I can’t just let it go… so I spent 3 or 4 hours re-evaluating my materials and wrote a 2 page response to the querant highlighting some of my favorite incidences of women using their needlework in significant socio-political ways, in ways that made blatant cultural comments, that revolutionized formerly oppressive traditions, and that accomplished economic emancipation, financial empowerment, and significant societal consciousness.  As I counselled the querant: when confronted with such accusations as “wasting time with women’s work”, you must speak with authority, clarity, and certainty about the significant and revolutionary aspects of stitch through the ages.  Or, you’ve got to put some BALLS on your needle!! heh heh…

And, once again, my activist raised her sword and we set off…  I laugh that just today by complete accident, I found my college debate coach. She is one of those strong women who make you stand a little straighter because, in her presence, you want to be your best self, you know?

So as I considered this post, I thought how appropriate that as I began putting the “argument” together, I heard her coaching voice asking (as she always did) “what do you need to convey… how do you set it up…”  Gold, those questions.

So — where does this lead us? First, you should take note of the new links in the right side bar. I’ve added “All Needle on the Record” which is now an on-going list of those people and groups who have “put a needle on the record” in order to be heard, seen, or documented for their cause. I don’t discriminate — whether it’s one woman protesting the way her shitty husband treats her, or a whole association built to economically empower disenfranchised citizens… they get equal real estate on the list.

Second, I’ve started writing the proposal for a grant which would allow me to conduct a project in the tradition of Liz Kueneke (she’s in the links).  She engages a community in marking, with stitches, their places of residence, work, etc., on an embroidered map. Having a stellar Social Scientist husband, I am hatching a plan to create a mixed media embroidered map of the Greater Kansas City area which would serve to document not only the displaced/disenfranchised citizens, but the artists who have tagged public areas, (like my fearless daughter pictured here…)

the muralists & their work, etc. In the same way that I built an otherwise ignored body of documentary literature from the hundreds of zines I collected out of the Free Speech Coalition events,

I intend to build a visual record of those in our city who, without some simple stitches, may pass through our streets completely unaccounted for or “off the record”. That, to me, is unacceptable.  Luckily, I have some advantages of being able to make a video documentary of the entire process, and being able to write up the whole thing, so, in the words of pirates and rabble rousers of all ages: we have our heading!!

Tonight, I’ll be working on the grant proposal… stitching with wire and metal… and searching for more revolutionary sisters (& brothers) to invite on board…

and you? In the opening I quoted:

We can best help you prevent war not by repeating your words and following your methods but by finding new words and creating new methods – Virginia Woolf

How?

It’s time to put our needles on the record.

Be fearless!  (I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Natl Embroidery Month!)

1 Feb 2010

And to give this occasion an air of dignity… a Stitch(ed) poem!

Whether weaving web

or thread

or strand,

True stitching manifests

heart

through hand.

-victoria

Now be inspired and get yourself some stitchy!

25 January 2010

How many times does the perverse little bugger in your head tell you that? Or do you have some wretched person in your life telling you something like, “well, THAT’S not art”… or “why do you waste your time with that?”.  This post is about THOSE voices in our heads, and our lives, who speak the lie, “Art doesn’t matter”.

For far too many years I had THAT voice, and what’s worse, it lived inside me. It told me I had to do something… important.  Something… professional.  Something… profitable.  And I did. I clamped my artistic inclinations shut. But I secretly doodled these:

And I was struck by how expressive such simple lines could be…

I began to think that maybe the ART was not in what Others saw, but in what I saw.

POW.

If YOU haven’t yet had that realization, you need to sit in your quiet place, and take that thought IN.

ART is NOT in what others see, or what they say, or what they decide is art.

ART is conceived, incubated, fed, and grown IN WHAT YOU SEE.

If you’ve allowed yourself to be seduced by the little imp of the negative, I’m giving you the antidote, right here, right now.

Whether you practice music, visual art, performance art, or the professional arts of medicine or science…

WHAT you see, HOW you process it, and WHAT you make of it — THATs art. And what’s more, it has priceless value,  because YOU are the only single solitary ONE who can see, digest, and MANIFEST your impression.

In my own case, having migrated into the world of fashion for a number of years, I doodled…

But those little inklings and tingles…

man,

they simmer, like a pot of sweet potatoes with fresh green beans and baby carrots and corn right off the cob, all sauteed in thick curry powder with shredded ginger, and slowly stirred into a slowly steaming onion and vegetable broth… can you smell that?  awwww, that’s the smell of possibility…

And suddenly, there is a voice… a point of VIEW ( a point of YOU, or ME) who wants to SAY something,

with color, and texture, and out LOUD:

And a little doodle becomes a big statement…

And a little doodle becomes a REASON to get up in the morning…

And a reason to stay up late…

And gradually, I SEE a way to inspire, and to tell MY story to help YOU find the threads to yours…

And I recognize that if I can pull back the curtain, and show you MY rigging, maybe I can help you grab on to yours,  and finally begin to manifest what is simmering inside YOUR creative pot.

What’s even cooler, is that along the road of this journey, we’ve learned together that your art, in fact, does NOT suck. That YOU, being brave enough to put it on a page somewhere (even in a private doodle), YOU are kind of a rock star for giving your idea a little expression…

And if you can just be curious, and give yourself some time… and a little space to play:

And some tools that REALLY turn you on:

don’t you just want to LOOK inside…

…don’t you just want to rub around in the paints…

or poke a bit with a needle…

get a book… simple or textured…

and just start sketchin around…  let your point of view out to play.

And see who shows up to party…

When I finally let my sketches out to play…

the watercolors came in sepia and brown…

and the threads came all bold and black…

and I finally got to meet some of the figures who’d been hiding inside my head space for so many years…

And as I began to REALLY stretch my creative muscle, and to let my imagination take hold and go its’ own way…

my vision manifested new characters in the story (which if you follow me, you should know this fine fellow by now:

the Mandrake.

Who is as we speak getting the beginnings of a companion…

and though HE is about 12 inches long, SHE (not to be outdone) is going to be about four FEET tall — all decked out in fruits & flowers…

So what have we learned from this journey?

Simple.  Your perspective, your view, the unique way YOU see the world is an invaluable contribution to your sanity, and to your art.  Invite your muse to party.  Let her spice and sweeten and simmer your art-pot as much as she wants to — and don’t listen to anyone outside OR inside your head who wants to send her away.

YOU know, without question, soup is life.     Art is life.  MAKE something…  I dare you.

And that’s all we need, no?

Be inspired.  Be fearless.  I’ll be right here… doing the same.

And for the quiet observers, for those who creep around, just watching… CAN I GET A HELL YES!??  If this post made your heart beat a little faster, or made a little smiley feeling in your arty place… leave me a comment… one anonymous word :  “yes”.

Think of it as a dash of salt, or sweet, in my pot ;0}

Copy the code…

Share the love…

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9 January 2010

ok ok, I can’t resist answering the applause with an encore…

so here it is:

for a return engagement (20 February thru 1 May 2010), registration opens Monday 11 January 2010 & I’ll post the link as soon as the promotional page goes live (so if you’re looking for something unique to give as a Valentine’s gift — consider giving the artist in your life a DOUBLE helping of fun: a tutorial that yields a great keepsake treasure AND a whopping set of fancy new skills including mixed media painting & stamping, repurposing materials, embellishment with found objects, tea dying & alternative papers, book altering (insertions & cutouts), original stitch techniques like Thread Salad, and even a taste of Metallics & Wire Work!  AND… each session comes with a set of patterns and prompts that can last for a lifetime of creative scrap/sketchbooking.  WHEW!! Now THAT’s value ;0}

To learn more: visit the Link to Schoolhouse

And speaking of  original techniques… both tutorials:

Thread Salad: Impressionistic Image Making, and

Metallics & Wire Work in Hand Embroidery will be available in February as single lessons.

Also… I can’t let the cat TOO far outta the bag yet, but I am about to put out a call for contributors to a mixed media stitch book project.  The Fearless Stitcher’s Street Guide to Mixed Media Embroidery is a project I’ve been developing for a couple of years now, and I’m ready to assemble the photos… but I need to build a gallery to accompany the text — especially for the mixed media things I don’t do like heat treatments to textiles, batik or soy wax as a ground for stitching, or extensive beading with stitch.  As I write through specific needs, I’ll post them.   I’ll be asking for each submission to be a jpeg image (one full pic, one close up), up to 3 pieces per artist.  All rights will remain with the artist and artists will be credited with name & website. For those of you working in this area, think about it…

If you haven’t visited my Mixed Media Embroidery Gallery on Flickr **LINK** GO check it out –we’re over 200 members strong and have upwards of 1600 photos in the pool.   I’ll be putting out the call there as well, so you can get an idea of the kind of work you’ll be in with.   Also, some of the projects I use in my tutorials (like Stitcher’s Garden book and Metamorphositich) will be included… so if you’re interested in exploring those things anyway… TAKE THE CLASS and then you can assemble your submission as we go along — handy AND efficient! (must be my Virgo ways showing *wink*)

Now…if you follow me, you probably already know about the Hand Embroidery Network — but just in case you don’t, you must check it out!! Andrew & Sarah have built an amazing network to serve our community of stitch (and all in the last year!!!!) and 2010 promises to be even BETTER! In addition to extensive instructional resources, they offer a community on ning.com, an online magazine -Needle – and really exceptional online galleries/exhibits (which is the prompt for this post): there is currently a call for submissions for artists and writers (HEY my Art Institute students–this means YOU) for the next issue of Needle, as well as need for bloggers, exhibitors for the galleries, contributors to the directory, and MORE!!!  Check it out and lend a hand if you find a fit — we’re growing something very special and it takes a globe full of diversity to make it happen!  **LINK**

Now… between writing to you all here, working on the tutorials texts, writing the book proposal… and keeping up with student emails, I actually caught myself typing in my SLEEP last night! yipes… better unplug & stitch something fast!  Be Fearless;0}

SO… Away we go!!

8 January 2010

Creating the online tutorials has been quite an adventure… not the least of which has been creating new patterns and technical applications for mixed media and stitch. I’ve been teaching in person for such a long time that I didn’t know how the written text would sound… but it turns out that it’s been very good fortune to be working on the Fearless Stitcher’s Street Guide (book) at the same time as writing for online because all the writing just flows into, across, and through the projects. It creates a kind of synergy which keeps the whole process rolling along — and if I get stuck in one place, I just redirect the writing to somewhere else.

For those of you who are waiting for something MORE before you start the thing you want to work on (MORE research, MORE preparation, MORE thinking or reading about it…) just. get. started.

I can’t stress enough that TIME is of the essence. The time to begin is now. You can’t do the work if you don’t have SOMEthing to work ON — that means marks on the page, strokes on the canvas, words on the page, SOMEthing to edit and revise. One of my favorite authors, David Foster Wallace, once wrote a great essay about how, as a writer, all of his IDEAS for writing were these perfect pink smiling Gerber babies in his head. He could think about a piece of writing and it was ideal, shining, perfect in its abstraction… but when he wrote it down, yikes! It globbed out onto the page like roadkill, all disjointed and mangled, never eloquent or well stated. And then, his written monstrosity would haunt him, not at all the Gerber baby of an idea, but manifested as a horribly deformed creature who dribbles and leers from the shadows…

I adored that description the moment I read it! It summarized EVERYthing I always felt about my writing… but also held a valuable truth: you can’t do the WORK of something, until you have something tangible to work ON.

Write it down, sketch it out, get started… and then let the work begin!

I always tell my students at the Art Institute that even when you are doodling, or just making random notes in your journals, THOSE scribblings are creating a body of work… and the ONLY requirement for taking the title of artist (or poet) is that you honor your creativity enough to regularly attend to your muse, to record your inspirations, and to spawn a body of work.   Some of them see that right away and commit to DOing something every day, but others miss it… they are still, perpetually, WAITing.  Waiting for the right words, the right studio, the right supplies, the right opportunity… but never making the work.  Over the last few years I’ve been so unbelievably fortunate to have had the opportunity to not have to work outside the home (Husband is a Professor & has given me the Ultimate gift of a studio & time to develop MY body of work…).  I am grateful every day that I’ve had such good fortune, and the support of those who deeply believe in my vision (sometimes even more than I do!).  And even MORE profound is that I actually SAW the value of the days I felt inspired, or curious, or creative… and no matter HOW strong the impulse to think-wait-prepare was, I DID the work. I showed up at the desk & got something down on paper (or fabric, as it were).

If the tv is on, I have something to stitch in my lap.  If I have a block of quiet, I let the dishes sit, leave the carpets dusty, allow myself to say “We’re having pizza tonight… no grousing!” And I get to the studio and MAKE something happen. Even if it’s just doodling…

and lo and behold…  out of that very process evolved Metamorphostitch!  And out of allowing myself to ask “what if”, I have a whole stitch book full of She’s, and a ton of treatments yet to be explored. And I’ve got such great tools to share, like Thread Salad, and how to use Wire work and Metallics to enliven a composition…

And all because I didn’t just THINK about the work, I captured it.

Now what are YOU waiting for? The time is now… Be inspired. Be fearless.

If you are so inclined, I’ve added a STITCH badge in the right sidebar that can be posted wherever you need a little fearlessness! Just copy & paste the code — and we’ll all be fearless together!!

Additionally, I’ve got the Stitch Bomb Kit in the stew pot (everything YOU need to deploy public embroidery), the Thread Salad Buffet tutorial (an impressionist tool for visualizing stitch OR a means to realizing a dimensional composition)… and the Metallics & Wire Work Tutorial — all about stitching with and on metal.

So much fun we’re going to have this year! Be inspired… Be fearless!

5 January 2010

As the year rolls on into its swing, I am typing as fast as I can to add to my catalog of tutorials for YOU!

I’ve almost finished the Metamorphostitch tute – part 1

which is an “exquisite corpse, shaken & stirred with mixed media stitch” type project. As I explored WHAT you guys wanted, I found that modular, artfully realized figures rated pretty darn high… so here we go! We’ll use animal-mechanical-botanical hybrids to create all sorts of creatures for your art work, sketchbooks, and general FUN! Available in the next week…

The 6 Stitched She’s is a set that began as tote bag classes, but evolved into an easy way to teach stitch-possibilities alongside under-painting, paper and fabric piecing, text as embellishment, metallics and wire work, and feathers & sheers as a base.

6 Stitched She’s is a great way to get your mixmed stitch feet wet and create a few memorable images — and with valentines day approaching, this tutorial would make a terrific gift that will keep giving for 12 weeks of learning and a lifetime of skills! WHAT a value! Sign ups open in the next week…

Also in development is the Thread Salad Buffet: an original technique in the tradition of impressionism that allows the stitcher to visualize a stitched composition OR to create a piece finished in and of itself using something dimensional and big-bang-for-yer-buck.  A MOST excellent stitch tool… and available as a tute very soon!

I’ll be listing registration info in the next week…

And STILL… more to come, more to come… check out the new virtual tours growing in the schoolhouse *link*, and return soon for more upcoming online stitch… like this:

what has 4arms, 4eyes, and 2needles?

just wait and see…  it’s fearless AND fun…

1January 2010

As the new year creeps in, I find myself knee deep in wee folk and winged things for the Stitcher’s Garden Book class — this Little Elf is an example of what can be done with threads, paints, and an old used tea bag!  Otherwise, it’s been SO cool to write the tutorials and watch my students test drive the techniques for mixed media stitch… and it makes me even MORE excited about the Metamorphostitch tutorials coming up…  but THAT’s a secret ;0}

Very soon, we’ll have an announcement and some FUN new material, so stay tuned… be fearless… SEE your supplies with curious eyes!

22 Dec 2009…

As I close out the 2009 calendar year, I look back over how far I’ve come with Freedom of Stitch & Fearless Stitcher Jams, and I am SO full of optimism for 2010 — for those of you who have left comments, bought patterns or wearables, or joined me for demonstrations and  workshops: THANK YOU!!

We are building something wonderful, and unique, and inspiring…  If you haven’t visited the Fearless Stitcher page lately –  check out the new project Metamorphostitch™  *link* Fearless Stitcher says: It’s time to see your supplies with new eyes! & Enjoy the zesty Jack Conte in sidebar as he tinkles in the holiday… Be fearless!

16 Dec 09

So…

I was open for workshopping and business on Saturday…

And one of the lovelies who came out to see me asked: “how do you have the patience to do embroidery? You must be really calm…”

And THAT set me thinking… HELL NO!! I am not calm. Most days, my internal state looks like a spiraling sea, raging and rushing, anxious to get SOMEwhere real fast — ideas and inspirations tripping over themselves to be heard. Now that’s not to say that I can’t s.l.o.w. down, sketch the flowers, and enjoy the BEing-ness of stitchery, but if I’m really stitching hot, I’m usually perched on the edge of a barstool with my frame in front of me and something chaotic and inspiring in the cd player. And THAT’s when it hit me:

there’s a REASON why we’re revolutionizing crafts with Cool motifs, interesting techniques, and all simply explained without appealing to boring repetitive exercises — which make most of us want to stick a needle in our EYE rather than endure the drudgery.  We want arty/crafty on OUR terms! Free style and loose — with plenty of room for improv and fun — and MESSING UP (and fixing up, which is it’s OWN rush).

That’s why Freedom of Stitch seeks to further the liberation from drudgery and boredom — it’s why I advocate being fearless and stitching up the place!

SO…As the new year approaches: ask yourself: Is YOUR stitch free? Does your art excite you and inspire?

What do YOU want to stitch on?

Metal? Cool! Hit the thrift store or the local junk shop (you know, where they have old architectural elements and fixtures and weird doo-dads) and find a screen. That’s right, a window or door screen. If you’ve been living right, it will even be stretched in a frame for you, and *BONUS* mojo if the screen isn’t seperated. If it is, just whip stitch it tight again. Then… voila: stitch it up! Some screens are copper, or you can lightly spray paint it gold before stitching (or after and the threads get all variegated and sparkly…).

Or…  How about wood? Go for a little discovery walk and pick up some bark about the size of your open hand (6X6″)You want it thin enough to stitch through, but thick enough to hold up to some tugging (OR you can always spot glue it to some muslin as a stabilizer – easy peasy).

Now, what does that metal or wood want to be? Buggy? Spider webby? Ooohh – how about a sparkly snowman? (Using a gazillion french knots, all loose and loopy, he could be very dimensional!) Or, how about a little tree?

Perhaps it’s because in my online class this week, we’re doing critters and crawlies, but I’ve got bugs on the brain.

Here’s a freebie – he’s drawn on tea stained muslin with sharpie

and colored with acrylic craft paints -

the midsection is french knot

& rear wings are straight stitch.

See what YOU can do with a little paint, & a little bug.

Think about what YOU want to stitch in the new year…

Me? I’ll be setting up the video camera, laying out the new XXL project, & bringing you some BIG stitch… we’re gonna have a blast!

For now, be buggy… be stitchy… be fearless!

9 Dec 09

Finishing up for the big sale:

As promised… Fearless Stitcher Wearables goodness: Brooches, Collars, and Cuffs for the Fashionista!!

Featuring dimensional stitch, metallics, and wire work, all on vintage fabrics, this collection ROCKS!  (MANY thanks to my dear Edward who selflessly helped me source awesome tapestries and vintage throws to deconstruct for the ground fabrics — as well as handmade beads, old jewelry findings, and TONS of cool copper wiring — c’est magniFIQUE!).

Hope to see y’all at the Brass Armadillo for the big blowout!

(for info & directions, *GO HERE – LINK* )