Archive for the ‘documentation’ Category

wonderful news…

Friday, April 6th, 2012

Recently I posted about documenting my work  in an official format other than website or portfolio. And much to my surprise I had designed nearly 200 pieces in 12 years.  This number both comforted and disturbed me as I had been fretting quite a lot with the volume of work I put out into the Universe and what would happen to my inventory when I am no more. Documenting it actually seemed to calm me down a bit. And then I read this from Robert Genn’s column on being a painter…

“I was intrigued by what you see as Norman Rockwell’s decline with age. Do you think artists must inevitably suffer a waning of their powers as they grow older? I would like to think that, unlike athletes, for example, we can just keep getting better and better.”

…The Canadian painter A.Y. Jackson called it “painterly senility.” He thought it had something to do with the number of paintings painted. “Every painter has 2,500 paintings in him,” he said, “no more, no less.”

When I heard that statement (in a radio interview in 1974) I was already up to 7,000. I briefly figured I was prematurely on my way to the old painters’ home, but I was wrong, and so was he.

Seven thousand?! I have no worries. I must get back to work!!!

 

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keeping track…

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

My friend Franki Kohler suggested I maintain a daily log of  all I accomplish in a day’s time. She said I accomplish more than just about anyone she knows and yet so often I feel as if I waste so much time. This is in reality a WASP upbringing hangover  about being idle..rest being akin to lazy.

So yesterday I began the list.  I was gone  from 8:20 am-4:10 pm.   I then ‘relaxed’ by completing  five tasks on the computer before making dinner!

Today I was up early (for me) and in the pool swimming by 8 am. It’s not yet noon and I have accomplished two marketing tasks as well as read two newspapers.

I think now it is going to be quite entertaining to maintain this list and who knows? It may eventually be fodder for new work!

Off to the studio I go…for more accomplishments. Thanks Franki!

Posted in documentation, time management, Uncategorized, wisdom | 1 Comment »

documenting my work, part deux…

Saturday, March 3rd, 2012

Just the other day I thought I had finished documenting my work. I noted I had made 150 quilts in 12 years. I have spent bits of the past few days rounding up images of baby quilts. Today in the middle of acupuncture I recalled a small portfolio I made of my very early work. It contained 4″x6″ photos and I was sure it was still somewhere in my studio. I came home, found it and ay-yi-yi discovered about 20 more quilts. So I scanned those images and documented those and now at last count I have 184 . This includes the four kid quilts for which I am seeking images, and two of my own. One of these was donated to the San Jose Quilt & Textile Museum auction about 7-8 years ago. I remember the title and the squabble that ensued when the woman who purchased it for a song marked it up ten fold and listed for sale on her website! That was my introduction to free enterprise. The other piece I believe was cut up but I can’t find anything anywhere on it.

I am not going to lose sleep over it though. I have well-documented the work that counts, through spreadsheets, photos, a hard-copy portfolio and my website and now the super-duper documentation binder.

Dare I say I am finished with this task?!

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documenting my work…

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Last year while teaching at a Denver conference I also had the opportunity to listen to some  incredible speakers. One of these was Nancy Bavor quilt appraiser, lecturer and curator.  She spoke about documenting one’s work for historical purposes.

In a private conversation later she really encouraged me to do so, especially for my Tall Girl Series: A Body of Work. She said that this body of work carries so much meaning that I should record for posterity, beyond the Blurb book, the exhibit and the PowerPoint.

So I came home, wrote it on my to-do list and never looked at it again…until this week when  I read an  article she wrote on the same subject and that was the kick I needed to tackle this awesome task. I am now finished and can report the following.

It was SO worth it!!! All of my contemporary work is well-organized but go back a few years and I had files all over the  computer…files of original images,  copies of original images, and hi res images,  folders  on the PC and on the external drive. Images of very early work were filed under some obscure folder,  spreadsheets here and there. Now everything is in one file on the PC, the external drive and a hard-copy 2″ binder.

I filed my work chronologically by year while not in exact order of production within said year. I filed the Tall Girl Series in its own divider within 2006, the year I started the project .  I made an alpha cross-reference list so all work can be found if only the title is known. And I made a CD for hard-copy binder to be updated as needed.

What shocked me is I have taken photographs of nearly everything I have sewn with the exception of several baby quilts:  Jad in Seattle, Cooper, Myles and Sophia here, Rose in Seattle,  Stella and Julia in MSP.  Figuring I would never use them in my portfolio I didn’t bother!  Ishould be able to round those up. And I did not have photos of three pieces I donated to charity although if I ferret through old tax returns I could probably flesh them out. Oh now that’s another fun project for another day….not.

All in all I have designed and sewn 174 quilts in 12 years. I guess I need not feel guilty when I take a day off! It feels awesome to have completed this daunting task.

Posted in documentation, photography, time management | 2 Comments »