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The bubbles that didn't burst
Mindful Scribbling #2
I have fantastic news, but first let me ask you this: How do you react to good news--not about others, but about yourself? Good news about others is easy; I'm all whooping and congratulating. I seem often to meet good news about myself with shock and disbelief. It's like my brain just turns off for a few seconds, sort of the way the cable box reboots after a momentary power outage.
That's what happened this morning when I got the email notification that my artwork was selected by the jury to be included in Quilt National 2023. First it was shock, then disbelief, then re-reading the email THREE times to make certain it said "Congratulations" and not "Regrets", and finally walking upstairs to find Dan to say in a small voice, "I got in." I had a similar reaction last month when I got the notice that another piece in the same series (Mindful Scribbling) was accepted into Quilts=Art=Quilts 2022. These two art quilt shows are easily among the most sought after in North America, and I’d venture to say, given the international draw of applicants, the world. It’s a thrill and and honor to be included in either, not to mention both.
As I write about this I'm realizing that part of my shock comes from the magnitude of the thing, but another part comes from the hope that I’ve carried in my heart in the months since I submitted my applications. It’s always the same; I mark the expected announcement date on the calendar (the way a group facilitator uses a flip chart “parking lot”) to get the idea out my head so I can move on to the next thing while the jurors or curator do their work.
That hope seems like a soap bubble—so fragile that a sideways glance or a breeze will pop it. This time my bubble (bubbleS!) didn’t burst. But, they certainly have in the past, and they will again in the future. It’s the nature of subjective work. I alway give myself some version of the same pep talk when I don’t make the cut. “The jury was looking for something else.” “It’s not a condemnation; it’s one show.” But there’s alway the other voice—and it’s a loud one—”Why NOT me?” and “What did I do wrong?”. It’s the dark side of seeking public exhibition of your artwork. Sometimes the answer is “No”.
And so, to all who have received shockingly good news about a personal achievement, I hope that you can close you eyes for a moment and feel all of the good feelings. For those dealing with a disappointment, I know from personal experience—which I will have again—that disappointment comes from an unfulfilled hope, and that deserves a bit of grieving. This feels like a dark moment, but you are not alone.
May the road ahead be filled with a healthy balance of success and disappointment, each giving us perspective and appreciation for the other.
Restocking after a big weekend
Many thanks to everyone who has taken advantage of the deep discounts in my online store and to those those who turned out for our first-ever wearable art garage sale. My goal was to reduce inventory, and we’ve definitely done that! I’ve just added more items to the online store (https://russlittlefiberartist.com/shop-wearable-art), but this will most likely be the last addition this year.
The 50% sale is still running. All wearable art in the store is marked with its discounted price. Unlike last week, there’s no need to enter a discount code during checkout to get the sale prices.
Items usually ship within 24 hours of your order. However, due to holiday travel, we won’t be shipping on Thurs, 11/25 or Friday 11/26.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I’ve got quite a few things for which to be thankful, not least of which is this really successful sale.
50% off sale
Yes, you really did read that correctly. I’m having a huge sale to reduce my inventory of one-of-a-kind wearable art scarves.
After 10+ years of making and selling wearable art scarves I’m shifting the focus of my studio art practice to emphasize fine art textile. This isn’t a snap decision; I’ve been gradually moving toward this for awhile now. But, I will say that the upheaval caused by the pandemic and the things that Dan and I have been through these past 18 months have brought into clear focus just how precious time and opportunity are. I feel strongly that my path has shifted and I need to follow where it leads.
I’ve found joy and fulfillment in creating artwork that my clients have worn and enjoyed—things that have made them (you) feel even more attractive and confident. My studio practice has always been about creating fine art. Wearable art was an offshoot of that. My goal now is to simplify and go deeper.
Now for the fun part. As the flyer below describes, I’ll be hosting an in person sale this Saturday (Nov 20) in the garage at our house in College Park, 1:00 - 4:00 PM. Every wearable art scarf will be on sale for 50% off the marked price.
If you can’t make it in person, everything wearable in my online store is also 50% off starting right now. You can shop the online store at https://russlittlefiberartist.com/shop-wearable-art.
Hope to see you on Saturday for this rare opportunity.
The making of Reformation #1 - #9
If you haven’t already done so, take a few moments now to read the preceding post titled Reformation: A new artwork series because it sets the stage for what will follow.
The Reformation series is about trying to let go of things and ideas from the past and allow them to become something new—at least that’s my current thinking. As I was developing the first works of art in this series, I gradually began to see the the whole thing as a metaphor for letting go of—or at least holding loosely to—long held ideas about what is/was most valuable from the past and about how the future would play out. Events in my life and in the life of the world this past year have altered my perception of both past and future. The future that I think about today is different from the one I contemplated a year or two ago. Perhaps I can allow the past and present to inform the future and let it be what it will be (cue strains of Que Sera Sera).
The first 9 pieces in the Reformation series began by cutting up the three finished art quilts pictured below. These selections weren’t trivial. All of the pieces have been publicly exhibited, and the two pieces from Restructured Circles are part of the largest cohesive body of work that I’ve created to date. The first cut was a breathless moment, but once I started there was no going back.
What came next was step-by-step, largely unplanned combination and transformation of the pieces that I cut from the finished quilts. I wish that I’d taken more process pictures, but I say that at the end of every project. I worked hard to keep the process as loose as possible, and I allowed myself the freedom to do anything to the pieces at any point. I painted and printed over the fabric to add visual texture and shift the hue and value, lightening some pieces and darkening others. I fused fabric to add new elements and machine couched yarn to add linear elements. I also cut, sewed, cut again. Because I was working with dense, thick material (the quilted fabric was make up of a top layer plus batting and backing) I assembled the new quilt by butting cleanly cut edges together and zig-zagging over them.
And, if that wasn’t enough, all of the pieces (or at least these first 9!) are in original hand painted float frames or mounted on similarly painted cradle boards—all my own design and construction. The overall framed dimensions are 20 x 20 inches. The question is, did I really need to make the frames myself and did I have to make the process so complicated? Well, it undeniably cost less than paying a framer, but it quickly became more work than I’d intended. I began the frames with the plan of painting them all solid black. As I was doing the carpentry work I started thinking about how much I like painted and embellished folk art frames and how such a treatment might speak to the outsider quality of artwork. And so the hand painting happened.
So, here they are, the first 9 pieces of Reformation, each in its own custom frame.
Visit the Reformation section of my portfolio for more detail shots and information about each piece. Yes, they are for sale, but I haven’t had the time to add them to my online store. Feel free to email me if you’re interested (russ@russlittlefiberartist.com). They’re all $500.
Reformation: A new artwork series
Reformation #1
If you’ve been following my life through Facebook this past year you likely know that, in addition to the generalized concerns about politics and pandemic, my husband Dan and I have been dealing with the aftermath of his nearly fatal car accident on June 2, 2020. If that news escaped you and you want to learn more of our story you can refer to Dan’s Caring Bridge site that I started last summer (https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/danryancollegepark). Stated simply, my priorities shifted during the months Dan was hospitalized and the months of PT, OT, and several more “T”s that followed. The studio was abandoned and I did no art work.
In mid-winter I began tinkering a bit in the studio, trying to work in a bit of art time around a very full schedule of medical and therapy appointments. But, it wasn’t until April that Dan’s recovery had progressed to a point where I was able to begin to venture back to the studio in any serious way. Once there I found myself lacking in every way. I had no stamina, concentration, or inspiration, so I did what I usually do in such situations: I cleaned, put away, organized and rearranged.
In the midst of the cleaning I attacked the storage closed that holds all of my complete work. As I unrolled quilts to give them a good airing out I began thinking about the future of some of the older work. Some hadn’t been exhibited, but some had. Obviously, none of it had sold. Was it going to? Did I want to hang any of it? What if something happened to me; would anybody want this stuff?
That’s when I started wondering if I might be brave enough to “kill my darlings.” That’s a writer’s term for objectively editing your writing and letting go of words, paragraph, scenes, characters, even story lines that you might love but which don’t really don’t belong, are overused, cliche, whatever. In other words, it’s the writing that you, the author love, for reasons that are in no way apparent to the reader. I’m not entirely sure all of these pieces my artwork were “darlings,” but they weren’t exactly dogs either. Could I really cut up a finished work of art or slather it with paint?
The answer turned out to be, “Yes, I can,” and I did.
At first I thought I was just playing around, trying to jumpstart my creative engine with something radical; at least it was radical for me. As is most often my experience, I began to see this little play project as something with far deeper meaning. I gradually began looking at it as a metaphor for what I was going through in my life. Dan’s recovery has been altogether miraculous, but his accident has altered our lives and our expectations about the future. He continues to recover and we’re optimistic about the future, but it’s also true that the future will likely be different from what we used to imagine. Stated another way, some of our long-held expectations might need to be rethought, just like I was rethinking that older artwork.
“Reformation: the act or process of improving something or someone by removing or correcting faults, problems, etc.”
As this idea of rethinking and revising percolated in my brain I started gravitating toward the word, “reformation”. I wasn’t thinking of the 16th century Protestant Reformation or creating an homage to Martin Luther. I was thinking of the word as “re-formed” or “formed again”.
I nominated 8-9 of my older art quilts to be my starting point and then chose 3 to cut up to begin the experiment. Today, 3 months later, the first 9 works in my new Reformation series are making their online debut.
You can see the new pieces in Art Quilt section of my online portfolio or by going directly to the Reformation page.
You can also read this blog post about The making of Reformation #1 - #9.
Art Quilt Elements 2020 virtual opening reception and artist talk
Art Quilt Elements 2020, one of North America's premier juried art quilt exhibitions, was originally scheduled to hang at the Wayne Art Center outside of Philadelphia in March 2020. And then came Covid-19.
AQE 2020 will now open virtually this May 14th with an online gallery and live virtual artist reception. This event will also include the release of the 2020 print catalog and the debut of the AQE 2020 video.
I'll be speaking briefly about my piece "Beautiful Chaos #1" during the meet-the-artists portion.
The Zoom opening event is free, but does require pre-registration Visit https://www.wayneart.org/exhibitions/aqe-2020-online-exhibition-live-event/ to signup and get login info.
And now for something a little different…
I generally reserve my website for things related to my artwork or the workings of my studio. I’m posting this essay here partly because I need a place to park it besides Facebook, and partly because it touches on the core of who I am and is thus related to the art I make. If this topic isn’t of interest to you please feel free skip this posting and know that I will continue posting occasional updates about art here and on my studio Facebook page and Instagram feeds.
And then I asked them to pray!
Russ Little, 16 June 2020
Over the past two weeks I’ve called on a wide circle of family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances to pray for my husband, Dan, who is in a trauma ICU fighting to recover from a near-fatal car crash.
I asked people to pray, and that’s made me think a lot about what exactly that means. What is prayer? What does it mean for me to make such a request? What is my own prayer life like? Is it hypocritical to ask for something that I’m not even sure that I do all that well? Part of the way that I’ve been working my way through these thoughts is by writing this short statement—writing it and rewriting it.
I’m not especially interested in proselytizing, evangelizing, or any other “izing.” I think that faith is a very personal choice and I believe that it’s arguably a faithless act to assume that only one tradition or belief system is right, and thus all others are inherently wrong or evil. So, you do you. As long as that means that you’re kind to others, strive to practice diversity, equality, respect, and love, and you’re grateful for the good things in your life, then I think we’re both headed in the same direction.
And yet, I asked people to pray. What if the concept of “prayer” is foreign, off putting, or downright antithetical to your own beliefs? Am I adding to the grief and confusion folks are already feeling about this terrible accident by throwing prayer into the mix? I think the answers lie in a shared understanding of what prayer means to me. If I take this moment to say a little more about my own understanding of this particularly loaded word, “prayer,” then… We’ll, I don’t know. Maybe we’ll all be more comfortable.
I’m not going to regurgitate what I’ve been taught about prayer. This is what I personally believe—prayer according to Russ. I use prayer as an umbrella term to encompass the many forms of mindful contemplation, by which I mean gently holding a thought with an open mind, an open heart, and a willingness to welcome new feelings, insight, or healing. My thoughts about formal intercessory prayer (asking for a specific thing on behalf of another) are complicated. I’m not comfortable with the notion of a quid pro quo relationship with the universe—“If I say X or promise Y, then Z will happen”. But, I do pray for others. I think prayer does two things, one tangible and one intangible. First, I think that prayer—mindfulness, presence, contemplation, and openness—can be a source of personal growth and healing. It can make your own life better, and a healthy, grounded you means an incrementally healthier world. Second—and this is the harder part to embrace—I believe that the same prayer that expands your own heart and mind has the potential to reach others, either through a change brought about in you or through some intangible and inexplicable metaphysical shift.
So, when I ask you to pray for Dan, me, and our family, what I’m asking is for you to bring us into your mind in those quiet moments and hold us in love. My hope is that this will bring you peace and hope and that some of that will spill over to Dan himself.
As to the mechanics of prayer, they don’t need to involve mats, altars, incense, icons, beads, or other appliances unless those things help you. The two best prayer times for me are while walking and when I’m in the studio. I’m a working studio artist. When I’m painting, drawing, or stitching it’s helpful for me to disengage as much of my conscious mind as possible as a way of opening up creative flow. A quieter mind also allows me to hold a concern or another person in my heart while I work. Walking does a similar thing. Getting out of the house and putting one foot in front of the other creates a similar kind of open inner space. I also use prayer beads, not a rosary but sort of. Working my fingers slowly along a circle of beads as I walk helps me to hold focus on a specific thing—or gently return to that focus when I drift. It’s a balancing act between focusing and not focusing so much that you close your mind to all else. It’s also worth noting that keeping the beads in your pocket while you walk might be discrete but it also looks a little...um...suspicious.
If you’ve read this far then you have my thanks. I hope that by sharing these thoughts I’ve created a place of common ground between us. Prayer need not be the elephant in the room. Feel free to call it by another name that’s better aligned with your own beliefs. I hope that some form of prayerful engagement will bring you peace, improve our world, and bring healing and grace to those you love.
With love,
Russ
My video interview as "Guest Creative" for Jane Dunnewold's Creative Strength Training seminar
A few weeks back I had the genuinely delightful opportunity to sit down for a conversation (via Zoom) with Jane Dunnewold. Artist, author, teacher, and mentor, Jane created and now facilitates a program called, “Creative Strength Training.” Each month she interviews a fellow artist as part of the “Guest Creative” component of the program. When she asked me if I’d be willing to sit for an interview I leapt at the chance. Who wouldn’t? Conversations with Jane are always a perfect combination of easy, free flowing, and substantive. This one was no exception. Click the link below to watch our discussion.
I confess that I’m usually horrified at the sound of my recorded voice and by the way that I come across on video, but this is an exception. I have to credit Jane and Zenna (Tech Consultant at Jane Dunnewold Studios) for making the entire process easy, putting me at ease, and posing stimulating questions. Thanks for this wonderful opportunity.
Visit my booth this weekend at the Greenbelt Festival of Lights Art & Craft Fair
It feels like the Thanksgiving dishes are barely in the dishwasher yet suddenly it’s December and we’re anticipating the next round of holidays with all of the associated gift giving and merriment. I’ll be doing my part this weekend, selling my originals wearable art scarves and shawls at the Greenbelt Festival of Light Art & Craft Fair. I hope you can make time in your weekend plans to stop by to see my newest creations as well as the work of other local artists. This is a juried show and it consistently attracts a good group of talented artists selling their own original fine craft and art. It’s also a great way to shop locally and support artists in your community.
When:
Saturday, Dec 7, 10 AM - 5 PM
Sunday, Dec 8, 10 AM - 4 PM
Where:
Greenbelt Community Center, 15 Crescent Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20770
I’m donating to HIAS and I want you to help
The November midterm election results give me hope that the pushback against hatred is gaining ground. But, the undeniable truth is that we live in troubling times and there’s still much to be done. Consider the following.
On Saturday, Oct 27, 2018 an anti-Semitic terrorist stepped into the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Pittsburgh armed with an automatic rifle and multiple handguns. He then murdered 11 people and wounded 6 others, all of whom were gathered for worship.
In a country where words like Pulse, 9-11, Oklahoma City, and Charleston Emanuel AME are etched into dark and tearful places in our minds, why does this latest atrocity stand out? It’s the antisemitism. It’s the hate-filled killing of innocent people, several old enough to have already witnessed and experienced more than enough suffering for a single lifetime. It’s the attack on people in a holy place in the very act of worship. It’s the terrorist’s bigotry that he twisted into a rage over the work of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) and their efforts to help people fleeing danger and persecution.
It’s not the first hate crime, and it won’t be the last. But, for me it was the last straw for that particular week—one already marked by other acts of violence and remembered violence. There are undoubtedly mental health considerations in all of these cases. I just can’t accept that humans are born to hate and kill one another. So, while I’ve been mulling that over, wondering how to forgive and how to have hope, I’ve been thinking about other things.
Since the attack I’ve taken the time to learn a bit more about HIAS, their history, and their work. You can read about the organization on their website at https://www.hias.org, or you can visit Charity Navigator (https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3820). For now, I can think of no better response to these killings than to do good in the face of evil, and to do it in a way that’s diametrically opposed to the supposed object of the terrorist’s rage.
That’s why I’m donating to HIAS, and I want your help. Here’s how.
I’m offering 8 wearable art scarves for sale and donating 100% of the sale price to HIAS.
Each of these lightweight cotton scarves features affirmative words appropriate for our present situation, and patterning reminiscent of…well let’s just say “past times of protest” and leave it at that. Let’s work together to push back against the darkness and send a positive message and good energy out into the world draped around your neck. Click the SHOP button in the menu above to visit my online store and select “HIAS Fundraiser” from the lefthand column.
The fine print:
When I say 100%, I mean 100%. I will absorb all of the credit card processing fees and material/labor costs. All I ask is that you pay the sales tax and shipping costs. So, purchasing a $60 item results in a $60 contribution from me to HIAS.
I’m not operating a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, so yes, you do need to pay sales tax on this purchase; and no, I cannot provide a gift letter for your income tax preparer.
In order to give everyone equal access and make this truly a first-come-first-served kind of thing, all purchases must be made by credit card through my online store.
If you live locally and would like to arrange to pick up your scarf at my studio, go ahead and complete the purchase online and use the code HIASFUNDRAISER during checkout. This will apply a $7 discount to your order, thereby reversing the shipping charge. You must then contact me to arrange a pickup time ASAP.