Keith wrote:
They all look very sad to me. I need to go sew! It makes me happy!!

Hi Margo! The one I was particularly fond of was below the bag lady - on the Jan 9 blog...

Keith wrote:
She is empty, but Leni says that's not her sketch. Thought provoking none-the-less. http://blog.leniwiener.com/?m=201101

So is the one a little farther down. A bag lady? Is that a sign of art? To provoke thought?

I agree that her work is wonderful and amazing, but not what I feel compelled to try.

Okay, so I took the other side of the argument about 'what is art?' than Leni did, and I'm probably not going to buy her books (only because they are about thread painting and creating art quilts from pictures and that's not me yet) - but her work is wonderful and amazing! I particularly like Headed Home in her gallery and there's this beautiful but hauntingly empty blue-faced woman in her Jan 9 blog. I keep wanting to go back and get drawn into those again and again.

Amen Eileen! We're all artists!

Great quotes, Tina. And interesting article - there are others too. I almost didn't post about elephants because of the more recent trained elephants painting the same images over and over again at the prompting of their trainers. Ruby's story (at the Phoenix zoo) is older and a little different. I don't have a clue what's the intention of animals that seem to do creative things. It is interesting though. Especially the stuff about animals and performance art.

I am going to look into buying one of Leni's books.

(Hi Robin! I owe you and some others an email - I'm way behind on my personal correspondence... )

I feel like the kid who broke the window with a ball and then ran away . You all have been having a great time with this thread. Tina said it best when she said she talks to her kids. When I started quilting, I took our son with me to JoAnn's to pick out the fabric. His color sense has always been spot on. Once he started band, he played some sort of instrument until he was 23 and is still very musical.. Our daughter stills draws with colored pencils and crayons and she's almost 27!! She wants to take piano lessons.

I think I tried to nurture their artistic sides because I'd been told by my 10th grade art teacher to not think about art at all anymore. :shock:

I love that we are all in agreement about one thing-we, as quiltmakers, are artists. Period.

I came across some quotes by Pablo Picasso the other day and thought of this thread...
"God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, the cat. He has no style. He just goes on trying other things."
"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
The first quote seems to say that Picasso believes "artist" to mean "someone, who doesn't particularly have a style, but who isn't afraid to try new things."
And the second quote speaks for itself (On the surface. I think there are all kinds of underlying meanings of what it means to be an artist if you look really closely). I just thought they were nice quotes. And kind of funny that I happened to find them at this time.

Oh, and Keith, I found this article about elephants painting:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1151283/Can-jumbo-elephants-really-paint--Intrigued-stories-naturalist-Desmond-Morris-set-truth.html
and it's really pretty interesting. Thought you might be interested. It actually deals more with actual 'picture' paintings, but he touches on whether elephants can be artists. The article also briefly mentions a chimp who had artistic abilities, so maybe I spoke too soon about some animals being artists. I may need more time and convincing about SOME animals, though... :
-Tina

Spitfire wrote: All of the comments on this thread have been thought-provoking, but I was particularly struck by some of Tina's comments. A few random thoughts of my own: even quilters with very recognizable styles sometimes have more than one style. If you were to not know who Ricky Tims is then see some of his Caveman-style quilts next to his Bohemian Rhapsody next to one of his picture quilts (what was that one that looked like a castle?), you wouldn't know the same person did them. Tina, I particularly like your comment about asking your kids' opinions—marvelous! If more people did as you do, the world would be a happier place because kids would grow up feeling free to create instead of being locked into boxes. I also agree with you—I'm too interested in all types of quilting to be labeled, and if I'm not rich or famous because of it, I can live with that!

I, also, have only just gone and read the original article after following this thread for a while and have one pertinant question
'If a kindergartener is not creating artwork, when they are painting, What are you going to call it?'

It seems to me that she is the type to get her 'knickers-in-a-twist' about things having to have definative black or white labels ( it is or it isn't, because I say so-so there) that have absolutely no chance of of being several things at once. Or it must be 'art' because some one with pots of money is willing (mug) enough to pay silly money for it - 'A Cow in Formaldehyde by Damion Hirst' perhaps?

That said she is entirely within her rights to pontificate about how she sees 'Art'. Just as I am within my rights to disagree with what she says and think 'strange woman' about her and her viewpoint.

If all else fails go and look the term up in your 'Webster's' and then decide for yourself what you are getting up to.

Nuff said - just got to go and untangle some underwear of my own now

Rosemary

Keith, it might be worth making that point to further the discussion on Leni's blog.

Yea! Tina and Yea! Kathy! "famous art" is what I meant by elite art - but Tina said it much better. And like Kathy, I like a zigzag path.

About elephants though: they communicate over long distances; they creatively solve problems; they mourn the passing of their family and friends... I wonder if they might know what they're painting.

Like Tina, I had been following this thread and just went back to read the blog post. I call myself an artist, although my day job is far from anything creative. I work in both traditional and art quilt directions, trying to be open to whatever is calling me and to whatever it is that I'm supposed to learn. Fame or riches is definitely not on the agenda! I agree with everyone here, who are saying that creativity comes from the heart. We all express ourselves differently, and it is so wonderful to see our creations and read what we say about them.

In Nancy Crow's book about her quilts, she says that someone told her in order to be an artist that she had to go deeper, not broader. That works for her, certainly. For me the zigzag path is more interesting and joyful. Maybe someday I will find a recognizable style (I mean, other than tending toward bright colors ). But thankfully it's not necessary for me to earn my living by quilting so I can please myself. And I celebrate the art I see every day here.

Kathy

Well said, Tina!

Ok, I've been following this thread without actually reading the original article by Leni. So I finally just read it and have a few thoughts. First of all, she seems to confuse "art" with "famous art", thinking that all art can only come from famous artists. She seems to think that you must be able to recognize an artist's art hanging in a gallery without reading the artist's name written on it. Now, I can pick a Libby Lehman or a Ricky Tims out of a line-up, so I guess that's partly true - to be a 'famous' artist, maybe people DO need to be able to recognize your particular style of 'art'. I realized long ago that I don't DO one particular style of quilting and therefore will never be famous (which is ok with me), but I still think I do 'art' and I'm still an 'artist'. Not just in quilting, in life in general.
She also says, "artistic development happens in a straight line" - well, here, I think maybe she confuses 'artistic development' with 'perfection'. Perfection has its place in art, I guess, but it's not EVERYthing. I personally think that sometimes 'art' has absolutely nothing to do with perfection - and, in my case, actually had to do with learning to let go of perfection. So if you want to perfect a technique or style - great! But don't claim that all artists everywhere have to follow your straight line to your end goal of your perfection. Just sayin'.
I do agree with her that art requires some form of 'intention' - I never understood the animal art - what's up with that? I definitely do NOT agree with her about children. I believe kids do have the intent to make art. And they are the most natural of all artists - encourage them whenever you get the chance. I ask my kids' opinions all the time in quilting, just to let them know their artistic opinions matter around here.
I also do NOT agree with her that to be an 'artist' requires some form of 'recognition'. I think most of the people on TQS are artists, whether you think so or not, whether you ever get a ribbon or not, whether you hang in a gallery or not.
So that's my two cents worth. I'm an artist and a quilter and a poet. Will probably never be a famous artist or quilter or poet, according to Leni's standards, because I'm too open to too many fun possibilities of new things to try...
-Tina