COMPOSITION: CREATIVE STRETCHES in FIGURE/GROUND
• Length: 5 days
• Level: Very advanced (must be a good machine-piecer and skilled at cutting improvisationally)
• Sewing machine used
DESCRIPTION
Jog your thinking! Push away mental roadblocks! Step out! STRETCH! Embrace possibilities! and gather ideas for creating fresher, more viable compositions!
Before coming to class, participants must collect together ideas as starting points using photos, postcards, magazine pages, art book pages, copies of works by ethnic artists, outsider artists, any artist or painter that one likes or has discovered. CREATE A NOTEBOOK OR NOTEBOOKS BY CATEGORY. File ideas into categories such as: VERTICALS, HORIZONTALS, PATTERNS, REPEAT PATTERNS, GEOMETRIC SHAPES, COLORS, DOORWAYS, ARCHITECTURE, TEXTURES, CIRCLES, CURVES, LINES. Again, look at ethnic art, ethnic craft, anything and everything!
• Homework preparation before coming to class: Each participant must go to Kinko’s or a similar venue or use their own copier and make “blow-ups” of these collected images or parts of images. Use PARTS of paintings or prints, patterns, postcards, art magazine pages, etc. Make these copies ONLY IN BLACK AND WHITE in various sizes such as double the size of the original and even larger and/or very large of entire pages. PREPARE by cutting up and putting back together parts to reconfigure and create new structures, new ideas, new configurations … note I stated new configurations ... in other words, please create collages in black and white of structures, glue them to a heavier sheet of paper and have these ready to bring to class.
***WE WILL NOT BE DOING THIS PART IN CLASS. YOU MUST COME PREPARED AS WE WILL MOVE IMMEDIATELY INTO FABRIC using BLACK AND WHITE AND NEUTRAL fabrics the first two days at least.
• Bring enough blow-ups and variety of blow-ups to work out new compositional ideas the first day of class.
Students will cut out and machine-piece 2-3 or more new compositions BASED ON THE STRUCTURES FOUND IN THE COLLECTED IDEAS ABOVE. No matter the results, new compositional experiences will build confidence, better technical skills, expand ability to handle color and values. One-on-one critiques as well as group critiques will be integrated into this class.
Presentation:
Optional but important: Each student may bring a laptop with a digital presentation or 3-6 actual quilts or slides and be prepared to make a short (5 minutes maximum) articulate presentation about their work and be ready to discuss and explain their goals. This helps me and all the other students to know where you are in your work at this time. The Crow Timber Frame Barn provides use of a digital projector connected to a laptop.
SUPPLIES
Sewing Machine
Swing-Arm Lamp
Digital Camera and Printer
Multiple Outlet Power Strip/Adaptors
Glue to Adhere Snapshots into Sketchbook
Iron/Iron Cleaner
Heavy Duty Extension Cords
Small Spray Bottle
4’ x 8’ Batting/Flannel (White) on which to pin work
Ball-Head Pins (very fine and regular size)
24" x 36" Cutting Mat/Extra Large Rotary Cutter and Blades
Scissors/Needles/Thread/Rulers
Sketchbook/Pens/Other Supplies You Want
Packing Tape if shipping boxes
Optional Books:
> CROSSROADS, 2007, Breckling Press (new catalog from one of Nancy’s exhibitions) - available at Crow Barn
> NANCY CROW, 2006, Breckling Press (new book covering Nancy's work from 1989-2005) - available at Crow Barn
Unfortunately, the following titles are out of print, but your local library may have them or order on Amazon.com.
GRADATIONS: FROM THE STUDIO OF NANCY CROW, Quilt House Publishing
NANCY CROW: WORK IN TRANSITION, American Quilters’ Society
NANCY CROW: QUILTS AND INFLUENCES, American Quilters’ Society
NANCY CROW: IMPROVISATIONAL QUILTS, C&T Publishing
Fabrics:
6 yards each of:
• SOLID BLACK and SOLID WHITE (Pimatex by Robert Kaufman is wonderful quality)
At least 1 yard of each color:
• SOLID COLORS (commercial or hand-dyed) the widest range you can afford to bring & be sure to include both flat & glowing colors - 80 to 100 different colors (1 yard or more of each color)
• BRIGHTS are essential for this workshop and they are defined as bright lime, acid yellow, red, orange, turquoise, hot pink, blue, apple green (bring 2 yards of each)
• OFF-WHITES tans, warm white, cool white, creams (1 yard or more of each color)
• GRAYS 5 to 9 in light, medium, and dark (1 yard or more of each color)
• BE SURE TO WASH AND SHRINK ALL FABRICS BEFORE CLASS IF POSSIBLE
• We will use everything listed above so do not decide to leave anything out!
• Do NOT bring fat quarters. We will work selvage to selvage most of the time.
• Do NOT bring prints.
• We will use a lot of solid colors so bring a good range that includes darks, medium and light values of Browns, Blues, Greens, Reds, Golds, Yellows, Oranges, Purples, Violets, etc.
NOTES REGARDING FABRIC SUPPLY LIST
Yes, the rumor is true!!! Yes, I do ask that each student bring lots of fabrics. My personal theory embraces the belief that one will be freer to be creative if one has many fabric choices available in class. After 30+ years of teaching, I consider each class I teach to be on a graduate level and therefore I expect students to arrive prepared with all necessary supplies. In that regard, I have outlined those fabrics we will use in this class. For some students, my fabric supply list will seem overwhelming in quantity and variety, while for other students, the selection they bring will never be large enough or good enough.
About solid colors - the more shades you have to work with, the more you will learn about how to work with color. Color is Joyous!!! Color does not cause pain!!! Take DELIGHT in color!!!
Working in color does not mean only using BOLD colors or HOT colors; working in color means learning to be versatile in all types of colors.
I caution you not to bring mostly middle value solids, rather you must bring a wide variety, including:
• Light values
• Medium light values
• Medium values
• Medium dark values
• Dark values
• Please bring the glowing version… AND… the dull/flat version of as many colors as possible.
• Remember that ANY COLOR… AND… ANY VALUE of ANY COLOR can be glowing or dull/flat.
Many students arrive with their own hand-dyed solids or stacks they have purchased from other
dyers. By all means, bring hand-dyed if you want.
But solids (dyed commercially) are equally acceptable.
I usually work with my own subtly dyed solid colors. My own palette includes approximately 500+ shades.
Regarding fabrics: I recommend 1 yard cuts or larger because I feel happier with a minimum of 1 yard cuts (actually 2 yard cuts), but please feel free to come with 1/2 yard cuts if this will facilitate your having a much broader range of values. But please do not blame me if you run out of any color as I have no way of knowing which colors you will use up.
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