COMMUNICATION
What is communication? I communicate when I share with others. Sharing my art gives me the opportunity to connect, bond and open to an interchange of ideas and feelings. As an individual I can interact one on one or with a group by having conversations and exchanging information. By opening up and expressing what is on my mind in a constructive way, I can make a contribution to the unification and peace of all people. Just one baby step at a time, reaching out, getting in touch, contacting responding, joining in, we can heal the world. Art is a major way of doing this.
This May, I attended the conference for
Studio Art Quilt Associates in Athens, Ohio in conjunction with the opening of Quilt National, '09. I participated with Susi Shie, Robin Schwalb, Domini Nash and Sally Sellers on a panel about "What's Next?" I won't go into the details about it because you can order the DVD from the SAQA website. I made some new friends and reconnected with many I had not seen in a few years. Having the common interest in art quilts is a way of belonging to a kind of tribe and yet, each artist is completely individual and unique. I can easily say that I loved all of the work I saw and felt more or less connected with everyone I talked with. When I returned home I was inspired to start a new large quilt and to deepen the commitment to my art. I felt encouraged to let go of whatever remnants of any old way of thinking that I was holding within me and guided to participate more fully in the conversation that we have begun about using fabric and cloth as an art medium. But most of all, I began to really get that I am never alone in what I am doing; that art, in whatever form it takes is a way of communicating.
If you would like to purchase a DVD showing some of the panels at the conference, including one that I participated in click here
If you are interested in purchasing my Inspiration Quilt, "Communication" click here
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