Artist Statement?

The modus operandi for artists has the requirement of an artist statement. Now I have read a lot of artist statements and some are interesting and others I have a hard time understanding. Not that there is anything wrong with the sophisticated explanations, but they are confusing to me as to the pertinence of their art. So after all this research I have tried on a lot of different explanations for my art and tried to be brief, all encompassing, in-depth, insightful, funny, etc., etc., etc.. None of these really gave me an honest story about what I do and why so I experimented more with other variations on this theme and here is what I have come up with that states the who, what, why and how of my artistic endeavors.

My Artist Statement:

I am a self-taught mixed media needlework artist, with a long experience in various types of embroidery, crewel, and cross stitch embroidery, skills passed down from my grandmothers and mother, while others I acquired on my own. Needlework captured my imagination at an early age with its variety of stitches and fibers giving it an almost inexhaustible array of applications and beautiful design possibilities. With the discovery of beads, fibers other than ordinary cotton embroidery floss, and mixed media items that I could use, I soon started coming up with works of my own that employed a variety of these elements. My primary inspiration is the magnificent designs of the famous Faberge eggs. I realized that their quality is what gave them the substance for their longevity and I wanted that same formula for my own work. What makes this work so special to me is that it involves meticulous planning of not only the stitching involved but the placement of all the other elements that make it a beautiful and cohesive whole. That detailed planning and then time exhaustive completion of each project makes the end result more than just rewarding, it is downright magical for me. My future plans are to keep doing the work I enjoy tremendously and make it more interesting and diverse as time goes on, but always, and without fail, to keep it authentically mine.

I understand that there is the general, overall artist statement, but that there are others that will be needed specifically for the actual projects. I believe those will be easier to describe as they are more focused on a particular work or works. So after what seems like hundreds of revisions of the original, I hope this is what is needed for people to understand what I do and why. I believe what is most important for me to stress now is that what I do is truly a labor of love, cultivated over many years, that is still my preoccupation and heartfelt obsession. 

Inspiration Happens!

So what is my inspiration? Is it a flash out of the blue? An object? A certain media? A picture? A glimpse of nature? Actually all of it applies. For Ladybug Lake it was actually some glass ladybug beads that I had in my stash. I made some stick pins with some of the beads and was struck with an idea for a design. It was slow going with a rough sketch, then graphing it a couple of times to get the final design. Then it was time to get the colors and then materials selected. The actual story behind this is a motorcycle trip my husband and I made with some friends to the top of a mountain one spring. It overlooks this beautiful big lake and the day was gorgeous with the sunshine dancing across its surface and making it look like it was dotted with diamonds. We were so fortunate to have been there the day when thousands of ladybugs happened to be there too on the scrubby vegetation scattered about the landscape. We stumbled across a slice of heaven that day making it one that I will never forget. When I started the design I knew that water would be an integral part of the design and wanted to give the same impression of the light dancing across it by adding blue and silver blending filaments. Even though it meant a lot more work, I knew it had to be added.

In this case the beads sparked the inspiration, but it was a grouping of that along with the experience and the fibers that made the design happen. In another design I am working on it is the beads AND the fibers that inspired the design. On another I am working on, it is a piece of vintage jewelry that drove the idea. In another I have in mind, it is what I saw of nature on a university campus. So my inspiration comes from everything and anything and I love that unpredictability for my art. I love doing the work and seeing it all come together fills my heart with pride and the joy it brings to myself and others is the icing on the cake!