The Art of Education

I volunteered for the Ellis island simulation at my youngest's elementary school yesterday. This simulation was for the 4th and 5th grade classes.

For a week they have been doing in-class simulations of a European immigrant's journey to the United States in the late 1800s - early 1900s. A small group of 5 students per class (15 total) were randomly selected to be 1st class, another 5 second class, and the rest were steerage passengers.

During the simulation the teachers were wonderfully solicitous of the 1st class passengers, helping them move their things, allowing them to talk as much as they wanted while everyone was moving in to place, etc. 2nd class passengers were allowed to whisper quietly among themselves if necessary and had to move their own things and got slightly less comfy chairs. The teachers gruffly told the steerage passengers to hurry up and sit on the floor with no talking at all. My youngest said, "all the steerage passengers hate us because of our privileges." Pretty real, but luckily the "hate" ended with the simulation.

Of course they spoke about this all beforehand so the students knew not to take it personally.

Well, after a week of dealing with fake illness and death, money and food shortages, etc., they "arrived" at "Ellis Island" yesterday to be processed. Their documents all had to be in order, then they had to pass a number of tests. If they didn't walk a straight line or jump rope they got a dot rather than a star. Or perhaps the "medical examiner" detected a rash or a cough--off to quarantine they went. They had to present letters of recommendation, be able to sign their names, have their spelling homework completed to show they would be good workers, etc.

Today they find out who got enough stars to enter America.

The kids have been learning that ships were required to take back rejected immigrants to their original ports, but not anyone else in their family. As a result, a sick child might be sent on the ship while the parent stayed in America because he or she could not afford the return fare, or vice versa. They also heard about the sometimes arbitrary nature of judgments pronounced on hopeful immigrants.

However, they didn't really feel it until yesterday.

This school, Washington Elementary in Kingsport, TN, also has run simulations of colonial settlers that involved students making a list of their 20 favorite people then finding out that those people might be "injured" or "sick" or might even "die" during the course of the simulation as they strove against time limits to "build" houses, "plant" crops, and "survive" the voyage and their first winter. My youngest lost an uncle and an adult friend.

The Underground Railroad simulation earlier this year involved groups with a leader physically trying to sneak by "bounty hunters" from safe house to safe house (some of which had been raided and were no longer safe) and, at the end, trying to run through the remaining hunters to reach "Canada." Only 7 children out of 65 made it, and they really felt the unfairness of it all.

This is education as art. These teachers literally bring history to life and help the children feel empathy for those who struggled in difficult situations.

And this is why standardized testing is not the answer to our education woes.

Standardized testing has led to our teachers being given less and less freedom to creatively engage their students. It has led to minute-by-minute structuring of the school day.

If we retain excellent teachers and retrain or let go indifferent or uninspired teachers, we bring up children who are engaged and curious and actively seek learning opportunities.

The current environment leads to spoon-fed students with little inclination or training for independent study. That loss of initiative and independence is detrimental to their future success, to their ability to innovate and advance when they are adults.

I'm just saying . . .

I'm on TV!

I joined Morgan King in the studio of Johnson City (TN) channel 11's Daytime Tri-Cities today this morning and had a great time. I met P. Buckley Moss, savored some exquisite truffles from Jan Charles the Thrillbilly Gourmet, listened to the dulcet tones of a barbershop quartet from Appalachian Express (they couldn't have chosen a better song), and gave an interview re: my artwork.



It was good fun, particularly since Morgan gave himself a chocolate handlebar mustache partway through the show (after he had touched the quilts, thankfully!). Everyone was very friendly and helpful and next time I'll remember not to turn completely sideways!   :-)   Oops, there I go being sideways again!   :-)   Dang--did it again!

Sushi with a friend for lunch afterwards, and looking forward to collaborating on a piece with P. Buckley Moss, and then doing a little more quilting on the piece I'm working on topped off this fabulous day

Work as Art

Well, I've completed two weeks of working in the gallery at the Downtown Kingsport Association as part of my exhibit and I like it. A lot! As I wrote to a friend, "You (or at least I) get a lot more done and slack a lot less if you (or I) know someone could walk in and witness either your remarkable industriousness or your deplorable sloth at any moment!"

I got addicted to my 8' high, 12' wide black felt design wall VERY quickly. Currently I have my newest finished piece (based on the Quebecor/Press area of downtown Kingsport that currently is being demolished) hanging on the wall:

Structural Artifacts: The Press I (detail below)

 

as well as a work in progress that I started about a year before we moved (that'd be 2007):

This was the first "After the Storm" quilt I started. Since then I've completed three others.

The opening went well Nov. 4, but I was too busy hanging out with folks to take pictures. There were never so many people that I couldn't chat with everyone, but there were no breaks either. Thanks so much everyone who attended. And for those of you who couldn't attend, here's what the gallery looks like:

At the end of the room you can see my workspace. The right-hand wall is the main display wall (the left-hand wall is primarily windows, but I'll have photos hanging there by the Dec. 2 reception), with "The Truth As I See It," my new "Further Up and Further In" (photo coming soon), "After the Storm II," silk art fabric entitled "Dichotomy," "Contemplating Madness," another new piece called "A Matter of Perspective" (photo below), and a grouping of small work (also below).

I will host another reception on Dec. 2 and should have made significant progress on the "After the Storm" piece by then,

The DKA has asked to extend the exhibit until the week of Jan. 3, which I am happy to do.

Jessica Fischer of the Kingsport Times-News wrote a lovely article on me and the exhibit. Thanks, Jessica! And I'll appear on Channel 11's live Daytime Tri-Cities on Dec. 7 (show begins at 10 a.m.)

Beautiful, interesting, and unfortunate

I was in DC this weekend and on Sunday went to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum. We came in the back door, so one of the first things I saw was this:

This is part of the hyperbolic reef project. You can see more about it at the Smithsonian's site, including a video of the project's founder giving a presentation for TED.

It's hard to tell since I went in tight with the photos, but this installation rises well over my head.

Absolutely gorgeous. Also visited the Human Reunion exhibit. It was a wonderful exhibit, and despite a few occasions of theory being presented as fact, I learned lots of new things I didn't know before, and got to visit a gallery of reproduction prehistoric art,

This looks like a study to me, with the artist working progressively on form and detail.

I love the abstractness of this one, but I'm going to do what all abstract novices do and say that if I let my brain relax it looks a little like the prehistoric Venus form.

  

Not my favorite, probably simply because the poor kangaroo's been shot in the bum.

The signage said this was swimming elk or deer (don't remember which),  but again, this looks more like a study to me.

And rendered myself as a Neanderthal.

I'm warning you, it's not pretty--although maybe another Neanderthal might thing otherwise.

Oh, and don't mind the glasses.

They did get the grey hairs right, though. :-)

Getting Ready

I haven't accomplished a lot of stitching or felting recently but I have done a load of desktop publishing to get ready for my exhibit at the Downtown Kingsport Association's gallery.

I'm really looking forward to interacting with visitors as well as with my inspiration and materials. So please spread the word and I hope to see you there!

Speaking of Trees . . .

Yesterday we went to the Eastman Recreation Area at the bottom of Bays Mountain in Kingsport, TN (where we live). There's a great little stream there--lots of rocks to walk across--as well as scads of gorgeous trees. There are so many varieties.

My youngest whittled herself a wand, my oldest played frisbee with her dad and grandad, the grands took a short walk, the kids and I popped balloons with the sun and a magnifying glass, I whooped them at tether ball.

Every once in a while we'd hear an enormous CRACK and realized eventually that it was walnut fruits hitting the metal roofs of picnic shelters. Grandpa also found a beautiful hulled chestnut. Life was quiet (except for the ocassional CRACK or POP) and wonderful.

And on our way to the car I saw these leaves. Aren't they cool?

I love the symetry and the asymetry of them. I am intrigued by the almost-but-not-quite right angles, and by how the veins are prominent on the outside edges of the bottom two points and almost nonexistent on the side near the center vein. And I think it's pretty cool how they fit into the rectangular field of my camera so tidily.

I see a work in here. Hmmmmm.

Duh! Can't see the forest for the trees!

I've been working on a second wool painting. Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I decided that since the first hard and shiny subject worked so well, I should do another hard and shiny subject. And I chose hard and shiny . . . and iridescent . . . and transparent carnival glass. What was I thinking?

The hard and shiny and iridescent and transparent parts are not the biggest problems, though. Carnival glass is also cut glass with lots of facets. And wool roving doesn't really want to do fine detail. But that still isn't the biggest problem. That took someone else to pinpoint, someone who was not invested in the piece. An objective observer. Tony Henson

After I explained my process and griped and winged a little, he said, "So it's sort of like me trying to make a realistic drawing of you on a regular sheet of paper with an inch-wide hunk of charcoal."

Well, yes, it is very much like that. The problem is not any of the difficult things I am tackling, but rather the scale at which I'm tackling them.

Thank you, Tony!

So yesterday I pulled the carnival glass off my foam and set up a still life to work on at a large scale.

I'll be doing this on a lovely dark green and blue wool backing I dyed. And once I've been successful in this medium again perhaps I'll retackle the carnival glass. On a much larger scale. Duh!

Englandsickness

So I was going through some photos to make prints for the ArtCrawl a couple of days ago when my youngest walked in. She looked eagerly through the photos then declared glumly that she had Englandsickness--like homesickness but more complicated and expensive to cure.

I'm right there with her. We miss our friends and their little town and the grand, glorious, mysterious Dart Moor.

Anyhow, I'm getting these up on my website soon, and on my Facebook page sooner, so if you find these give you Englandsickness, you can buy your own little window onto the moor (or Cornwall, or Ireland, or industrial Kingsport).

Arts Crawl in Downtown Kingsport

 

Thursday night (9-30-10) from 5-9 p.m., KingsportARTS (full info and admission @ their website) and downtown Kingsport shops, eateries, and studios are hosting the semiannual ArtsCrawl. This event has expanded significantly in the last six months (along with business in our real city center), so come support the arts in our fair city and see what's hopping in downtown Kingsport.

If you do come, say "Hi!" when you're at the Kingsport Ballet's new digs--I'll be there with the Kingsport Art Guild.

 P.S. I'm tagging this with food and cheese because there's always good nosh!

A lighthearted reminder . . .

. . . that the unexpected can be fabulously fun.

So do something unexpected today! I know I'm inspired!

The Good, the Bad and the Lovely

Well, time passes swiftly and a lot has happened in the past two months. The highlights are these, though.

The Good: WOOT! The City of Kingsport purchased my "Labyrinth" for their permanent collection. It will adorn the new V.O. Dobbins Community Complex. I hope to attend the opening on Friday and will be recording my artist statement for the cell phone audio tour of the public art later today!

"Labyrinth" (c) Cindi Huss.

The Bad: I accidentally felted the commission I was working on. OY! Forgot about the felting properties of the wool batting I was using. How? How could I forget?! Beats me since wool has become one of my major materials. Perhaps fatigue? Perhaps trying to do too many things at once? Perhaps because it was inside rather than on the surface. Anyhow, I've recovered from my initial shock and dismay and have decided it actually is a good thing because I am working on an even more wonderful version of the piece now. (Pascale, you are not alone. Unfortunately, the product has not been transformed into a coordinating rug.)

The Lovely: I got together with a couple of friends last month and we dyed. For two days! And we're going to do it again on Wednesday. We dyed yarn (for the knitter), leotards, tights, and silk gauze (for the dancewear designer), and I dyed wool prefelt and natural woven wool fabric to be backgrounds for my felt paintings.

Also, about three weeks ago, fellow quilter Pam Morris announced that she was done dyeing and ready to quilt up all her lovely fabric, so she was giving away all her dye supplies. For Free! So I drove over to Burnsville, NC, to pick up many containers of fiber reactive dye powder, many containers of mixed dye (poor thing sprained her shoulder before she could use it all up), a small plastic table, and loads of measuring implements, dye containers, rags, and auxilliary chemicals. I really appreciate it, Pam, and will let you know what we do with it!

Also, I'm about to send a couple of quilts and some fabric off to Timna Tarr of Q Tailored Quilts. I haven't plugged her recently, but Timna is fabulously talented and highly reliable, and her services are reasonably priced. I'll post photos when I get the quilts back.

Model City Art Show

Well, the awards for the Model City Art Show at FunFest were announced at a reception last Sunday while I was on the road from Wisconsin to Iowa, but my piece "Wending Onward" won one of the two presentation awards for the most effective/professional presentation of work.

I used a serious amount of stitching at the edges to create a quilted frame. This allows the design to continue all the way to the edge while still creating a visual "stop."

Congratulations to all the other winners:

Margaret Helvey (best in show)
Nancy D. Bilbro (second)
Tony Henson (third)
John Hilton, Rebecca Dunham, Diane Nelson, and JoAnn Wilkerson Lyle (awards of excellence)
Lily Horton and John Denner (student awards)
Thelma Wyatt (the other presentation award)
JoAnn Wilkerson Lyle again (Celebrate Kingsport award)

Roving II also is in this show, and here is its premier online showing as seen in the gallery:

Details aren't up on my website yet, but the background is a piece of fabric I dyed stretched on a frame over cotton duck, and the trees are a separate piece applied to the background. The main tree is needle felted and the other trees are created dimensionally with the quilting.


This is similar to the piece that appeared in the April 2010 Quilting Arts mag, but I wanted to try this presentation with something small so I could decide whether it works before committing to a larger piece.

The show, run by the Kingsport Art Guild, will hang through July 28, 2010, in the Main Art Gallery at the Renaissance Center, 1200 E. Center St. in Kingsport.

3132 Green Mixing Bowl

Well, I managed to make it to one meeting of the Kingsport Art Guild's June paint out, but it was one productive session. Found a great green mixing bowl (stock or booth number 3132) in the front window in great lighting with a table and chair just the right size to set up my felting. And here's the result:


This is the first time I tried "painting" with felt from life. Didn't know if the process would be fast enough or if it would be nerve-wracking, but it was very meditative and satisfying in the end. The only thing I'd have done differently was lifting the piece from the foam more often--the foam nearly became part of the final work!

It's hanging right now at a small exhibit of work from the paint out entitled Textures and Treasures at the Main Art Center in the Downtown Kingsport Association Building at the corner of Main and Shelby Streets.

Wazzup?

Well, it's summer and there is no such thing as routine for the next two months (and the one month behind us). That means there is no such thing as regularly getting work done, so I'm fitting in what I can when I can and joyfully enjoying my children, too.

When I'm waiting during dance or instrument lessons I'm usually sketching or stitching samplers for Sharon's commission. It took me a while, but I finally figured out that if I do my "draft" on muslin I don't have to rip it out if I don't like the color--I can just change the color and then stitch on the actual piece. So, for instance, here's a little piece I did last week.


I like the shape, but refined how to make the intersections less awkward as I went and tried out some other color combos along the edge.


Now I'm adding this motif to the final product--and I'll have a little mini "study" quilt to sell at some point as well. Muuuuuch better than ripping out stitches!

Had the blocks done for this.


My oldest, who likes things just so and symetrical, finds its asymetry annoying, but my youngest thinks it's swell.

It was to be a king-sized quilt for my bed, but hubby wants another "Almost Amish" quilt, so figured I'd had enough fun with these blocks and put them together.

I am very pleased with the result, particularly as I managed a horizontal rather than a vertical orientation for the first time in, I think, ever. I kept meaning to do a horizontal piece yet it would morph partway through and come out as an exaggeratedly tall and slender piece.

I am using the last two chapters of C.S. Lewis's The Last Battle to inspire the quilting and provide the title: "Further Up and Further In."

I have a couple of other thing in the queue, but Sharon's commission is my top priority this summer, so everything else is more of a back-burner project. She gets to be the first to see that piece, though, so no sneak previews here except the sort that you see above.

Chaos in the Studio

My natural state seems to be somewhat organized chaos. The degree varies, but I think chaos is a necessary part of my creative process.

Yeah! That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

And then I'm cleaning up so I can find what I want to be creating.

Edward Tufte, aka ET

I heard a story on NPR this morning that both resonated with me and made me aspire to do and be more than I am. That doesn't happen all that often when I listen to the news, particularly both in the same story, so I thought I'd share.

The article you can read online is abridged from the audio version, which is certainly worth taking 9 min, 8 sec to listen to. NPR has images of some of his work, but you can see it all at his site. Enjoy!
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Edward Tufte is a professor emeritus of poli. sci. and statistics at Yale who is well-known for his work in presenting data clearly and graphically. He was recently recruited to the Obama administration's Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, to advise and devise ways to track and present in an easily digestible but meaningful form how the $787 billion stimulus package is being spent.

Yawn. That's all well and good and I applaud him, but neither resonates with me nor inspires me to aspire to more.

But ET is also an artist. A large-scale sculptor to be more specific, who does, IMO, some very fine work. He has just opened a gallery, ET Modern, in NYC. But he doesn't necessarily want to sell his work.

So here's the resonating part. In the article he says:

"I have a very big problem selling pieces, because I don't want them to leave," he says. "For a long time, I believed that any successful piece was a tremendous luck-out, and that I'd never be able to do it again ... My fellow artist friends, who are serious with me, told me to grow up."

I tell myself to grow up all the time. He went on to say that it's not necessarily the entire piece that he clings to, but rather elements that he's not sure will come again. I so get that, and suspect many artists feel the same, even if they don't say it out loud.

He also talks about giving back, which I love. He's smart, positive, creative, particularly in fields (poli. sci. and statistics) that are not generally known for creativity in a positive way, and not stuck on how wonderful he is. That combination is appealing and certainly worth aspiring to.

Model City Art Show

Early registrations for the Kingsport Art Guild's Model City Art Show must be postmarked today (May 28). If you send a CD with images of the work you submit, your work may be used in publicity for the show. Final postmark deadline is June 11, 2010, the show runs July 6-July 28, 2010.

$1200 in cash prizes, so enter early and often--well, at least early!

Infinity Art Quilts Exhibit

I'm pleased that I have work juried into the Infinity Gallery's 2010 Art Quilt Exhibit. I've enjoyed visiting other exhibits of theirs--the artists are talented and the work high-quality. I'm proud to be counted among them (the artists, that is, not the work :-) ).

If you visit the website today or tomorrow (Thurs.-Fri. May 13-14) you can see all the pieces that were entered. The finalists will be presented online on Saturday May 15. Keep your fingers crossed for me! I submitted "Wending Onward" and "Contemplating Madness."

According to their website, "Infinity Art Gallery's mission is to increase the visibility of artists by providing ongoing opportunities to showcase their artwork through our online juried exhibits; to provide direct access to artists so they can sell their work; and to actively promote artists to collectors, galleries, museums and journalists. Infinity Art Gallery is a commission free gallery where collectors buy art directly from the artist."

Better food in our schools

As you might know, I have a couple of kids in public school. If you have kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, friends, etc., in school--or if you attended public school, you know that the quality and healthfulness of school food leaves a lot to be desired.

Every once in a while I am shocked anew at a school lunch menu that includes fried chicken shapes, corn, rice, and a roll. If you're up on your nutrition at all, you know that this is carb upon carb upon carb. Pair that with the offerings of flavored milk and dessert and all I can do is shrug and throw up my hands in bewilderment.

The schools say they focus on teaching nutrition, yet seem to fall flat on their faces when it comes to practicing what they preach, due in part to strange and arcane guidelines they must follow from the government, which also is not practicing what it preaches (see the USDA's www.mypyramid.gov) when it comes to school nutrition.

I recently signed a petition to update food standards in our schools and invite you to do the same if any of the children you love attend public schools.

I also recommend the recent series Food Revolution--you can watch all the episodes online if you missed them the first time. Several years ago chef Jamie Oliver led the charge to overhaul the school lunch system in the U.K., to such an extent that a friend who lives there says she'd eat at her kids' school as if it were a restaurant, the food is so good. Can you imagine? The food is prepared from scratch, so rather than opening a can of sauce or fruit in heavy syrup, school cooks prepare sauce from scratch and students enjoy fresh fruit. And the food is sourced locally as much as possible.

Food Revolution recounts his recent initiative in Huntington, WV.

Other great resources include The Lunch Box (which includes recipes and menus for schools and action plans for parents, principals, etc.) and the Healthy Schools Campaign.

You know I rarely put political stuff on here (other than it's every citizen's responsibility to vote or shut up), so you know this is near and dear to my heart. Luckily my kids have recognized the lack of quality in the school lunches and frequently pack their own. However, regardless of whether they eat the school lunch, all the kids are getting the wrong message on nutrition from our schools.

You know you're in East TN when . . .

. . . you're sitting in a Japanese restaurant and suddenly realize you're listening to country music.

Observation by my DH at dinner tonight.

Things keep moving forward--even when I don't post!

Sorry for the long absence--we had some lovely company from far away, and I've been working away both on quilts and the prospectus/planning for the art show I'm chairing this summer. As soon as I make one I'll post a PDF of the prospectus for anyone who lives around here.

One piece of good news--my article "Paint with Wool, Sculpt with Stitch" appeared in the April/May issue of Interweave's Quilting Arts magazine.

It's a beautiful issue (as you can see from the front cover alone) and I'm thrilled to have been invited to contribute.

Went to a quilting retreat last weekend--three full days of productivity without cooking, phone calls, appointments, or any other responsibilities. Made good progress on a number of projects and decided I need a couple of weekends like that a month!
Although it's a traditional-ish pattern (I'm calling it a half pineapple), my fabric choices are not. I have used a lovely line of calicoes, but also an oriental and a Marimekko wannabe. I'm also working on creating a bolder and more asymmetrical secondary design than is generally typical. Was going to make it for our bed (still haven't made a quilt for it--the cobbler's children and all that) but DH really doesn't like the green (although I love it), so this'll go up for sale whenever I finish it. The good news? It needn't be king-sized if it's not going on our bed, so I don't have to make as many blocks. WOOT!! WOOT!!

Finally putting together a quilt with my original "Lean-to" block. I will have a pattern (with or without paper foundations) available for this by the end of the year--let me know if you're interested. This small version is predominated by color (obviously). I'm working on a larger version in which the black and white fabrics predominate.

I also continue to work away on Sharon's commission (all handwork), but no peeks until it's done. :-)

Acrylics on Fiber

Artists Deb Lacativa posted a letter she received from a Golden representative re: acrylic on fabric--UV resistance, sealing, various applications, and heat setting, among others. This is a treasure trove of information all in on place. I'm adding it here (my journal) so I remember it--hope you find it helpful, too.

BTW, Deb does exuberant work--check out her website.

Freebie

OK. It's not shiny or precious or fancy, but it is practical, useful, and best of all, FREE!

Advice!

For years I've heard even accomplished quilters fret and stress over the quilting phase of their work. And this anxiety seems to strike traditional and art quilters alike. Intellectually I can understand it--they've just spent something between hours and years on finishing a beautiful top and don't want to ruin it.

But emotionally, I am always eager for the quilting to begin. It's one of my favorite parts of the creation process and I've explored the limits of what works and doesn't over the years, so here are a few tips to make your next quilting project a success. Although the samples are traditional, these are the same principles I use in my art quilts as well.

1. Don't leave your motif floating in a sea of unquilted top

2. Make sure your motif is the right size for the space it fills.

3. Don't forget to fill in the blanks. A fill flattens the background and allows your main motif or the focal point of your art quilt to pop. For example, this:

becomes this:

Neither is terribly complex, but one is much more appealing.

4. Create visual layers by varying the direction and density of your quilting, and allow some motifs to cross the boundaries of your blocks.

5. If you want to emphasize something, quilt it less. If you want to de-emphasize it, quilt it more heavily. You can see how this works in the example above.

Just for fun, take a basic coloring book page . . . and color it as if you were five years old again. Now, if this were your quilt, every place that you colored should be quilted lightly and every place you didn't color should be quilted more heavily.

If you have specific questions, feel free to contact me.

I offer classes that addresses these sorts of issues, including "Designing Great Quilting Schemes" and "Sculpting with the Quilting Stitch." If your guild or group is interested in a class and/or lecture on either topic, I'd love to hear from you.

Cheers, Cindi

Oh, Happy Day!

Well, I've been working on my post about quilting strategies, the free goody I promised a month ago, but have to post this first.


This quilt, "Labyrinth II" has been traveling with an educational trunk show for the past year. It was selected along with 54 other pieces from the show to become part of the International Quilt Study Center's permanent collection. I'm so honored that my piece was selected to help represent the state of contemporary art quilts.

Good Fun with Art/art

I read two wonderful posts on the history of Art/art by Sandra Wyman on her blog, The Dyer's Hand, yesterday:

Saturday, 30 January 2010

"There really is no such thing as Art"

and

Wednesday, 9 January 2008

A Brief History of Western Art

"In the beginning there were things that needed to be made and makers who made them. . . ."
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Enjoy!