Art quilts? What are they, what makes them "art"?
That question can get you into some really intense discussions, so I'll take the easy way out and for now, simply say that art quilts are quilts made by quilt artists.
Which, of course, leads to more questions...
What is as an "quilt artist"? How do you get to be one? Why in the world would you want to be one? I have three personal definitions in answer to questions like this. They say essentially the same thing in three different ways. So take your pick--or ignore the whole thing-- but each definition has its own part of my story.
Definition One:
I grew up in a home where curiosity, creativity, making stuff, figuring things out, experimenting, exploring were all simply taken for granted. That is how we did things. The one thing we didn't get was any sense that this was special. We were different--and different was often a very uncomfortable thing to be.
So I was past thirty before it ever entered my head that I could be an artist--or that I could even try. Being an artist, like music, dance, acting, writing--those were things that special people--special people with talent-- could do, not ordinary people like me.
So there is the first definition: An art quilter is an ordinary quilter who has discovered an extra-ordinary secret--that it is OK to play in the No-rules Zone! (and my profound thanks to whoever first used that last phrase.)
A few years after I discovered this, I went back to college for my art training because I knew that was what I wanted to be teaching. Sitting in the hole-in-the-wall where commuting students waitied for their next class, we were talking one day about what we would do when we graduated. I said that I had a job teaching art in my local school system. One young thing cocked her head, looked me up and down and said, "You don't look like an art teacher!" Of course not--I'm pretty ordinary. I am also an artist (and a musician, dancer, actor and writer...)
Definition Two:
When I began teaching art I learned three things very quickly.
1. I knew nothing whatever about teaching creativity. We had never even discussed the matter in my art classes.
2. Teaching creativity was the last thing my school wanted of me. They had enough trouble with kids' creative impulses without my encouraging them. Now if they had thought it would have helped them win another football game...
3. They had no intention of letting me teach creatively. My principal (a former coach) even told me that we should be doing things like lacing leather billfolds.
This started me on what has been an almost forty year study of creativity. The definition of creativity that I formulated for myself back then is still valid and my second definition: An art quilter makes art by adding something of herself.
A few years ago my husband was in a nursing home and I was spending a good part of each day helping with his care. I took a few days off to go the the AQS show in Paducah. It was a zoo and by Sunday morning I had had people up to here. Halfway home, I decided that I couldn't stand the rest of the long drive home so I turned off, found a National Forest campground and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in blessed quiet and solitude.
Since the only camping gear I had with me was a sleeping pad and it looked like it could rain, I decided to sleep in the rear of my little Subaru station wagon. Its doable if I sleep catty-wumpus, but it is definitely an adventure. Early the next morning I drove the rest of the way home.
That afternoon we had a caregivers' support group meeting. The first activity was to recount how we had spent the previous 24 hours. I explained where I had been and where I had spent the night. The woman in charge looked me, shook her head and said, "Only you, Lily, only you!"
That "Only you" factor is the hallmark of the art quilter.
Definition Three:
In my August blog, I wrote about the way this third definition works. The photo above is that "I Lead Three Lives" quilt. Whether you choose to follow directions, ignore them completely or work around them, find loopholes, stretch and redefine the rules, the art quilter is a possibility thinker. So definition three is this:
The art quilter looks at what everyone else is looking at and sees possibilities no one else is seeing.
Possibility thinking is always a journey of experimenting and discovery. It is always an adventure. If you have found this kind of excitement (and it has nothing whatever to do with your skill level) in making your quilt, then in my book you are entitled to call that quilt an art quilt and yourself an art quilter.
ArtQuilts
The problem with giving a quilt a label like Art, Not-Art, Good Art, Bad Art or any other label is that we are really talking about three different things--and they can be quite different.
In the middle is the Thing--the assemblage of fabric and stuff. It just is. You can give it any label you choose and that doesn't change it. It's a "rose by any other name..." kind of thing.
On one side is the artist and the experience of creating it. Only the artist can give her quilt a label from that direction. On the other side, is the viewer's experience of that quilt and the viewer is equally entitled to give the quilt a label based on the experience of viewing that quilt.
My personal definition, as a viewer, of an art quilt is this:
If your quilt grabs me, if it intrigues me, makes me want to touch it or ask questions about it, if it involves me, then I am happy to call it an art quilt and salute you as the artist. If you tell me the story of your adventure, I will do the same.
Oh yes, there was another question: Why am I an art quilter? I'm an art quilter because those skills are part of my heritage as a human being--and because I have chosen to use them.
