Artist at Work

A number of years ago I was invited to a workshop in Eugene, Oregon and as part of the workshop one of China's premiere artists (he was considered a national treasure) was present. One evening several of us were together in a smaller group watching this artist work with ink and brush. He would draw a brush stroke followed by another brush stroke, and then a squiggle, a short linking stroke which suddenly looked like a mountain, then he did a fish, then he did a flower. It all seemed so easy! What I realized was that he could see (or vision) what he wanted to paint. In other words he could see visually what he was going to paint even before he began and the resulting painting allowed us to see what he saw. It was a creativity.

Watching JoAnn make quilts is a lot like watching this artist work through the visioning process of creating a masterpiece. From my perspective, all of her quilts are masterpieces, but I am biased. I've since watched other artists, especially with paints and pastels and realize that they are constantly tinkering finding just the right colors, moving lines, creating within the creation. I see JoAnn doing the same thing when she is planning and making a quilt. She calls it refining the vision. Recently I watched her spend hours going through her magazines looking for just the right pattern. She already knew who was going to receive the quilt, but finding the right pattern for that person/family was the difference between making a quilt and creating a masterpiece. She won't accept just any pattern - it has to be the right pattern. And she will take almost as much time finding the right pattern and materials and colors as making the quilt.

She often talks with me about colors and matching fabric she is looking for or at. On one recent project we debated all Saturday morning about the right material and colors for a moderately simple pattern. It really doesn't matter if the pattern is simple or complex, matching the fabric to the quilt pattern is the difference between a great and just a good looking quilt. After a morning's discussion I finally suggested we go to the fabric store and look for what she wanted. On our way to the store we kept talking about the colors and fabric and realized exactly what material was the right fit for the pattern and that she had it at home.

One of my roles is to provide feedback, critique, and most of all support. As I write this she is in the other room working on a quilt where we talked colors, found the colors together (read that as she found the colors and I concurred) and now as I see the quilt coming together I can see in her sewing what she saw in her mind. We've worked out a pretty good process. She quilts and I'm her champion. I love that role.

Once the colors are determined my next role is to take photos. I usually don't take photos throughout the process, but at the end. However, in the case of one quilt I took photos throughout the process. It just seemed that it needed to be a photo project. The photos below show the progression of a quilt she made for our nephew's wedding this past summer. It was a lot of fun to watch the quilt come together. It's not very often she uses the whole floor to lay out a quilt, but in this case it allowed me to watch her organize, experiment, and finally decide on what the quilt would look like. Work your way down through the photos and see a creative mind at work.

By the way. She has nurtured 5 daughters with the same wonderful skills. What a creative family!