Carol Larson - textile artist

There have been several interesting developments as I languish in the land of non-creativity. I removed the fabrics which had been fermenting on the design wall for the past two months and put up new ones. Later I started another pile on the design table of interesting combos for another piece. What both of these collections have in common is the darkness of the shades. Dark green, dark brown, black, dark red. Wow! Today it hit me that the cloth on the wall and on the table are so reflective of the general malaise surrounding my very existence these days.

I am having the first of two cataract surgeries tomorrow. Strangely I am not the least bit concerned. I have complete confidence in my 15 yr old surgeon; that all will go well. You might ask what I am smoking as I tend towards an anxiety-ridden life? Actually there is so much drama connected to my elder parent’s health issues and the non-stop meddling of others with nothing better to do; that it has completely side-tracked me.

Last week I decided I just needed a treat. Since ice cream, wine and chocolate are verboten, I had no other choice than to upgrade to an iPhone! So now I am hooked up to technology even more, but totally enjoying it. And after my eyes are fixed I will be able to play scrabble far longer. My goal is to beat the computer!

Two unrelated things happened today both of which affect my work. I came up with a title for the yet to be started new work! And my father saddled with dementia fell and broke his hip. So now we begin that arduous process which I have witnessed with so many friends. What I learned last time I walked down this road is creativity pretty much heads south when concern sets in.

Although wouldn’t it be fabulous with a title in mind to actually start the work? Maybe I should go try, instead of being hooked up to this darn drip we call technology.

After weeks of fallow time, I just came across the above words on a coaching blog. And bam, it hit me! That is exactly it. Season of Transition describes in so many ways exactly where I am right now this minute in my creative life and art career.

I am transitioning from the debut exhibit of my Tall Girl Series to determining how active a part I want the series to play in my artistic life. To re-tell the story over and over brings me two distinct results. It is incredibly healing and gratifying for me and yet I find myself growing weary of the tale! A transition point, indeed…

While whizzing along making art at break-neck speed I was met with a dose of reality head-on last fall. I have never been driven by the marketplace and actually have adamantly fought any restraints in that direction. Last year shortly after the economy hit a major blip, I joined an artists’ co-op. On the one hand I am thrilled to have a consistent venue to showcase my work. On the other I am feeling the restraints of having to dummy-down my work just to make a buck. Another transition as I come to terms with this…

A huge chunk of my life’s work has been in listening to my own drummer. No one knows what is better for me than I do. So when a respected member of a regional art board told me, unsolicited that I needed to change the direction of my work in order to be discovered, it really messed with my head! I like to think I brushed it off, but I didn’t. Instead I stopped working and froze in my foot-steps. The idea for powerful new work has been festering in my cranium since, but I can’t seem to start. Today I realized that I may not be ready. More transition…

Quite possibly the most stressful and yet exhilarating transition is that I am on the cusp of cataract surgery. With the bad eye scheduled for Feb 23 and the ‘good’ eye for 5 weeks later, I relish the time when I can clearly see again, when I can go driving at night, and in the rain, and in cities and towns where I can read the signs, and to look out the bedroom shutters without an imprint staring back at me and where the speed limit reads 65 and not 6655! And the colors…People keep mentioning how vivid the colors are. I have always been a color whore, so this ought to be really something!

The season of transition…indeed! What really amazes me about change is how I usually forget that when I am agitated and irritable is when change is happening. Ah, that makes me feel so much better!!! There is a reason I am nuts right now!

We are just back from spectacular Southern Oregon! We made a quick 2 night trip this week to attend the opening of the debut exhibit of my Tall Girl Series: A Body of Work. Now I am both physically and mentally exhausted but feel the need to post immediately! The exhibit is up February 3-26, 2010 in the Wiseman Gallery at Rogue Community College in Grants Pass, OR.

Perhaps the most exhilarating aspect beyond seeing one’s art in a solo exhibit was how wonderful it was to see 15 pieces of this series hanging together. It is a cohesive and compelling exhibit. I could not have been more proud of my work, my accomplishment and my exhibit.

One of the ironies was that the work looked so pristine and professional in person and yet in the images a lot of wrinkles show! While I carefully rolled the pieces around pool noodles and packaged a maximum of four in four PVC drainage pipes to ship, a few wrinkles crept in. However there are floor heating vents all around the gallery so the work did move a bit. Perhaps that will allow the wrinkles to hang out!
I gave my PowerPoint to a group including an art history class and the public. I received many wonderful compliments on the work. I felt humbled and proud. My husband was suitably impressed! It was all good.

From time to time I Google my own name under images. I see images of my work on all sorts of websites, most of which I know about. I donate some work to charitable causes and it appears on those sites. My work has been in exhibits and appeared on venue websites. And of course my work appears on my own website. Occasionally though I come across websites, or this case, one particular website where the owner has TWICE taken an image from my website, rotated it, and posted it on her blog without my permission. And to add insult to injury she makes some snarky comment about the piece. On a red and green piece she wrote ‘merry christmas!’ How rude.

I am torn between being outraged and seeing this as free publicity for my work! Truly the images she used reflect poorly on my work, but she fancies herself some guru of textilia. Whereas I am principled enough that I never take an image from a website without permission; not everyone has the same scruples I do. I suppose it just comes down to you can’t control other people!

I am currently writing a proposal for a group exhibit. I asked all the participants to send me 2-3 jpgs of their work for said proposal. One artist asked me instead to take the images from her website, so I did with her permission. But I wouldn’t have done it without her permission. So call me a Girl Scout, it wouldn’t be the first time. Enough kvetching…

After a period of muse MIA, I decided to just start something! So I have been working on two baby quilts. Of course I waited until the first baby was at the starting gate, so it will be on a jet very soon. It’s been fun, easy and mindless, with no paint fumes involved. Best of all, it has drawn me back into the studio!

The image above is my own…taken at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis.