Living Inside a Snowglobe

The change of the seasons always marks a chance for review and for renewal. Here above the 45th parallel it seems like winter often begins in October. This year autumn lingered through November. We didn’t see snow until this month. When I look out the studio window I feel like I’m living in a snow globe As much as I love spring, summer and fall I have to admit that winter has its advantages. No garden to tend, no kayak beckoning, no mushrooms to hunt. While I still get outdoors for a bit of snowshoeing I find I have a lot more time to spend in the studio. Right now I spending more of it making coil baskets, and wine bags for Christmas presents than I am making art but this kind of non-demanding sewing gives me time to contemplate the next works in my series. I will be the featured artist this summer at our local art center so I have a lot of new work that I need to finish before July. I’m keeping my journal and sketchbook handy to jot down my ideas. The list is growing and I’m excited about the direction the series is taking. Still, the presents need to be finished

Creative work consists of 5 stages:, Saturation, Incubation, Illumination, Verification. Incubation can be the frustrating stage and I find I can’t force the process., Having a lovely view, good music and presents to finish provides seems to be right where I need to be this week.

Featured Artist!

Hi everyone,
Please take a moment if you have the time, to go to http://www.saqa.com/galleries/AOM.aspx
Pat Gould of New Mexico, and I are the Featured Artists on the SAQA Web site for the month of December.
I know an honor like this is not to be taken lightly, so I promise to get back to anyone who contacts me about it, as soon as possible. You know, between my gig on Good Morning America, ticker tape parade, interview with NPR, and of course my White House invitation (no, I'm not crashing-I really have an invite...see...)
Have a great day!
Cheryl Dineen Ferrin

A Change 'Gonna' Come

The end of 2009 is near, its November and I am reflecting over the months that have passed and I am quite thankful for my many blessings. Although I did not achieve all of my goals for this year, I am very pleased with what I have achieved. I am also thankful because I was honored by my peers with a Visionary award in May of this year as well as being inducted into the Hall of Fame in October, at Southern IL. University at Edwardsville for my art, which is so near and dear to me.

I have been examining and re-examining the direction of my fabric art, I want to move into a different realm of it, but a little unsure of exactly what it is that I want to do. I wonder if other artist struggle with this same dilemma, I am very sure that they do. As the years have passed I have changed in my appearance, my attitude, my health, etc. Even some of my motivations are not the same, so why shouldn't the direction of my art change. What am I afraid of, I have to please only myself, not focus on whether or not others will like what I do, I can tell my stories in a new and interesting way, change should not be scary, but embraced.

I Am What I Am....

I am what I am…
I am a creative being who enjoy the entire process of creativity. I enjoy the whole thought process that takes place whereby I get a hint or clue that could become a potential project, sometimes I doodle, other times I just hold on to a thought. Then there’s the incubation period where it is all coming together in my thoughts. During that thought process I wind and rewind the idea over and over in my head and then there is illumination, and this is where the light bulb comes on and it has all been worked out in my head. But to get it from my head to my hands is not always the easiest. Sometimes I stumble onto a different creative path once I physically begin creating. But that is okay, creating is like life, we start our day with specific plans in mind, but something or someone pulls us off task or in a different direction. I learned early in my creative world to go with the flow, just let things unfold, and to trust my instincts.
I learned to listen to my own inner voice and when I am busy creating it is like time stands still, and my soul soars. I am truly a ‘soul’ that has been royally blessed, I have never wanted to be anything more than what I am and that is an artist. I love revamping, recycling, and reusing things that I have or I find or I am given, I love trying to find ways of using much of what I have on hand. I especially love working with individuals who want to explore their own creativity and to help them find a direction that is suitable for them.

Life gives us many challenges and we have to find our way through those challenges. Presently my husband is ill and has been for a while. I try to create around his medical needs, and thank I God daily for my gift of being an artist.

Above is an image called 'Village Gate', it started as a doodle of a tear drop and as I worked with it I thought of the stories my husband shared with me about his time in Africa, (he is a former Peace Corps Director of 4 Countries--this was before me, LOL.) I also was able to draw from my own experiences of visiting Dakar, Senegal, West Africa in the early 90's. and the village scene was born. I am able to draw from my emotions and experiences, good, bad or indifferent. I am what I am and I thank GOD for it.

13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

This Friday, a new FAC exhibit debuts in Belleville, Illinois. Here are the details of the opening reception and the month long exhibit:



For inspiration, we used Wallace Stevens' poem, 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. Each artist interpreted the poem on her own, the results are as varied as the artists themselves.

This exhibit will be travelling to other venues, if you miss it in Belleville, maybe you can catch it elsewhere. We'll let you know.

FINE ART OF FIBER and SOFA

The first weekend of November brings 2 exciting art shows to the Chicago area. The first is the Fine Art of Fiber at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The exhibit includes the work of members of the Northwest Suburban NeedleArts Guild, which encompasses all needle arts, and the Illinois Quilters Inc. The boutique offers hand-crafted items for sale. I will be selling artwork and hand-dyed, hand-screened fabric in the boutique. Two pieces of fabric are shown above. There will also be a lecture on Japanese Textiles Saturday at 1pm and fashion shows Friday and Saturday at 11am.

Fine Art of Fiber at the Chicago Botanic Garden

1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, IL 60023

Opening night: Thursday, November 5, 6:30-9pm

and

November 6-8, 10am - 5pm

SOFA (Sculptural Objects and Functional Art) returns to Navy Pier, Festival Hall, November 6-8. This show includes art from galleries and art dealers around the world as well as a lecture series featuring artists, collectors, art advisors, critics and museum curators.

If you're at SOFA, please be sure to visit the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) booth.

Envisioning a Series

Red Creation 35x32.5" 2004


A Garden of Sorts 25x37" 2002


Bouquet 30x27" 2002

Ripples 16.5x38" 2002


At some point in every budding artist's career she is advised to create a series. This happened to me in 2001. I was told that juries like to see "a body of work." Sadly, I did not have one. So I sat down (actually I lie on my bed and look at the ceiling -- for no known reason this stimulates my creativity) and thought about what I might like to do and say in a series. I had recently taken a class with Nancy Crow and learned how to sew curves, so that would be a part of the project. I had also taken a class about fusing with Sue Benner, so that might come into the picture. I had been thinking about my antipathy to brown and deciding I simply had to learn how to use it. And finally, I had bought some interesting fabrics: Indonesian and African batiks, fine Japanese cottons, and some wild Australian prints.

So my job was cut out for me. Use brown, use some of the unusual fabrics together, cut and sew curves or use fusing. Since I work spontaneously, this was plenty to get started with. I started with 4 pieces I called Brown Studies. They were very small (between 14 - 20 inches on a side). Some were sewn, some fused so I could experiment with what could be done with each method; each of them included a piece of American fabric as well as at least one of each from other areas of the world; and of course each had as much brown in it as I could add.

The pieces became more complicated as I continued to work on the series as you can tell from the images above (in reverse chronological order). As I worked through this series over the course of some years, I thought more and more deeply about color, about pattern, and about how my ideas could be expressed in cloth and stitch. I thought the series was finished in 2004 with a piece called Drumbeats, but I surprised myself by going back to the series in 2005 and making 3 more quite intricate pieces. Now I know better to say that a series is definitively complete. And of course the happy joke is that Brown Studies are mainly red!