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. 

Ladybug Lake Update

Just a quick update to show you progress on the Ladybug Lake piece. I am so very pleased with the way this is turning out, the colors are great and the design works so well with them. Although I am getting antsy about always getting to the next "step" of completion, it is easy enough to realize how much I am enjoying the process and relax with just the doing it.

I recently saw an interview with Colin Hanks, the actor and Tom Hanks son, on "Off Camera with Sam Jones". What an amazing guy this is who truly is in love with his craft of acting. There were several things that I took away from this conversation, and one was that you just have to get out of your own way and just do it, win-lose-or draw. I like that idea as I feel I have been operating on the same principle lately with the construction of my own creative craft of stitched art. People like Colin inspire me with their can do attitude and dedicated spirit to their calling, especially when you have to reach beyond the shadow of a famous dad to do it, as many of us have to reach beyond what has been done before to explore new frontiers in our own artistic journeys.

Oh, and something else he really nailed in the interview, he hates math and the reason he gave was brilliant and really brought home my own reason for disliking it. It is very predictable because the sum never changes in any formula of it. 2+2=4 will never, ever change, and for many creatives, that monotony is the death toll for any interest in it. I love the broad learning curve of my art that allows for me to determine the outcome and establish different paths to it. Curiosity and the ability to learn something new from it is what stokes the imaginative fires of my art, and is why I am perpetually enthralled by it every day.