I spent the past couple of days at a quilting workshop with members of The Rhododendron Needlers Quilt Guild in Massachusetts. Our task: making a small appliquéd flower composition.
The teacher was Barbara Olson (www.barbaraolsonquiltart.com), an incredible quilt artist whose “In the Beginning” quilt—a huge spiral on a black-and-white-box background with an Escher-like feeling of depth and dimension to it—was included as one of the 100 American Best Quilts of the Century in 2000. Talk about exciting! She’s also the author of an inspiring book that I’ve owned for a few years (I’ve actually DONE some of the exercises in this book) called Journey of an Art Quilter.
I had a major “a-ha moment” during the workshop: Barb says she’s what’s called “a naïve artist.” She didn’t have any formal art training. The lesson: Talent helps, but it’s really practice and perseverance that make the artist! Barb grew up sewing, but is a self-taught quilter who designs by trial and error. She said that she wasn’t a natural machine quilter, yet her quilts are intricately adorned with thread embellishments. She made herself do it, she says, because it was expected of a quilter. But she didn’t get really good at it until she relaxed into the process, remembered to breathe and loosen up, and started to enjoy herself. She says the trick is to set your hands on the quilt like it’s a musical instrument and get into a rhythm (the key to crafting to heal!).
I also loved Barb’s teaching method: Her appliqué techniques are simple, yet difficult to master, and they can be frustrating. She had a lovely, gentle way about her that gave us a safe environment for creating. She also had a knack for revealing the perfect snippet of information at the right time to clarify a particular quilting dilemma!
It was also wonderful to be with other quilters, talking and working all at the same time. It was the very essence of crafting to heal—sharing, growing our skills, spending time with like-minded people! Plus, I sold three books quite by accident when I mentioned the Craft to Heal concept (thank you, ladies—you made my day!).
The teacher was Barbara Olson (www.barbaraolsonquiltart.com), an incredible quilt artist whose “In the Beginning” quilt—a huge spiral on a black-and-white-box background with an Escher-like feeling of depth and dimension to it—was included as one of the 100 American Best Quilts of the Century in 2000. Talk about exciting! She’s also the author of an inspiring book that I’ve owned for a few years (I’ve actually DONE some of the exercises in this book) called Journey of an Art Quilter.
I had a major “a-ha moment” during the workshop: Barb says she’s what’s called “a naïve artist.” She didn’t have any formal art training. The lesson: Talent helps, but it’s really practice and perseverance that make the artist! Barb grew up sewing, but is a self-taught quilter who designs by trial and error. She said that she wasn’t a natural machine quilter, yet her quilts are intricately adorned with thread embellishments. She made herself do it, she says, because it was expected of a quilter. But she didn’t get really good at it until she relaxed into the process, remembered to breathe and loosen up, and started to enjoy herself. She says the trick is to set your hands on the quilt like it’s a musical instrument and get into a rhythm (the key to crafting to heal!).
I also loved Barb’s teaching method: Her appliqué techniques are simple, yet difficult to master, and they can be frustrating. She had a lovely, gentle way about her that gave us a safe environment for creating. She also had a knack for revealing the perfect snippet of information at the right time to clarify a particular quilting dilemma!
It was also wonderful to be with other quilters, talking and working all at the same time. It was the very essence of crafting to heal—sharing, growing our skills, spending time with like-minded people! Plus, I sold three books quite by accident when I mentioned the Craft to Heal concept (thank you, ladies—you made my day!).
2 comments:
What a nice story. Sounds like a fun weekend. Barb made a great quilt, but where's yours?
Hi Michele,
Thanks for posting...and, aaahhhhh, my quilt's not finished yet! I'll show you all a photo when I get it done (about the year 2010, I suspect...this is a painstaking method of construction).
Best,
Nancy
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