A Reflection on Quilting and Art

Just finished watching "A Century of Quilts: America in Cloth". "forestcats" had mentioned watching it and so I thought I'd check it out. As far as documentaries go it was pretty flat. For a craft form, an art form, it can be inspiring and exciting yet the narration made me practically nod off and drool. How could they make it so boring?! lol Still I *loved* seeing all the beautiful quilts. I was surprised at how many many of them I recognized.

I also realized how much I've been limiting myself by setting up mental blocks as to to not only what I think I can or can't do but that it should live up to the approval of some unknowable judgement. I need to remember that art is only for the sake of the artist, for the sake of creativity. I need to focus on just expressing and not worrying about the end product or how good it should be or what others will think of it. I also need to remember that quilting is just another medium for expression, no different from anything else I've chosen to work in before, painting, ceramics, print making, etc. It really makes me want to explore the boundaries of this medium in ways I haven't before, to meld it with what I've done in painting and to some degree ceramics. I feel like I've just been skimming the edges and now is the time to jump in and really do something with it to make it my own.

If it seems like these are obvious statements, maybe they are. Sometimes a person just needs to remind themselves what creativity is all about on a personal level when they've maybe strayed a bit from the path.