Carol Larson - textile artist



 I have been longing to return to the studio for months. However this year I fell into the chasm of marketing and while it has been fruitful it also became the  proverbial tail wagging the dog.  Last Sunday I ventured back into the studio and began working anew on a piece that has patiently clung to the wall for over a month. It is another in the upheaval series and spectacular, albeit lonely. I began the final piecing and early stages of stitching.

Then yesterday I lost my balance at the gym and unfortunately tweaked my dominant hand going down. I babied it all day, applying lotions, potions, ice and a wrist brace. Somewhere in the night I ripped that off and this morning decided it was well enough to clean both bathrooms for the holiday and work on a small piece. Rather than return to the existing on the wall I wanted instant gratification.

Recently an artist friend asked to trade work. She referred to it as art on the cheap probably in reference to a recent fundraiser art auction for a professional organization of which we are both members.  Since we are meeting for lunch next week, I decided to get on it and created this sweet little ditty in an afternoon. 

Mostly what I got out of this exercise is how very much I love making art. Thanks, friend for giving me that reminder!

Today I experienced this myself in real time. I was swimming in my private pool (a gym pool devoid of humans except me). My first thought was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel from this very harried personal and professional year.  Then I remembered a post somewhere…I think it was my pal Rayna who said the light is New Jersey!

…and off my mind went….New Jersey? Have I ever been to New Jersey? I don’t think so. Mom and Dad lived in Greenwich CT for a decade and we borrowed the brand new Seville and toured the Eastern seaboard in style…let’s see we went to Sturbridge for the yorkshire pudding bypassing Boston entirely, and to Vermont and NH for the apples and the leaves. New Jersey? No I don’t think I have been to NJ.  Hmmm…wait, oh yes I have been to NJ…I’ve been to the Jersey Shore, not the Jersey Shore of non-gifted, buff  MTV stars but Cape May on the Jersey shore. We went there when the kids were in college in Philly and we’d grown weary of Lancaster County field trips…and so that counts.  All of this came out of the light at the end of the tunnel. Somehow that brought me back to the original thought and I began to ponder this time of year. Now that I have time to make art, my natural inclination in Nov-Dec is to hide under a pile of paperwork.

Tomorrow is the 12th anniversary of the death of the man who gave me my freedom. My long-time employer died of brain cancer at just 56. Had he not died I would probably still be strapped in that desk chair seduced by a pension plan and 4 weeks paid vacation. Instead I retired at 50 with nothing to show for it except absolute freedom although I did contract work for the estate for 6 months in an effort to slow my withdrawal from work addiction. 

Very few of the Mom-isms and Grandma-isms traversed to my middle age. Most  -isms were wrought from old-time religion, guilt or both and really had no good use to me in the modern age. That is except for charity begins at home.  As I understood it …it is much like the flight instructions of giving oxygen to one’s self before a child on an airplane. We must take care of our own needs before attending to the needs of others…charity begins at home.

The problem is once they have the new toy there is another new toy and another after that. Let’s just tap our membership for more funds. After all they are going to spend it somewhere, why not here?!

I have been  generous this year with legit charities who help those less fortunate. I have however drawn a line in the sand over the non-stop pleads from these organizations who give me little in return but a tax deduction or my name in lights on their publication, which essentially calls attention to me as a sucker.

Charity begins at home. I would love a long-arm machine for stitching art works. Shall I send a letter to all my friends asking them to contribute? I think not.

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to spend five days at Lake Tahoe learning to apply wax to cloth. I have been dye-painting, dyeing and screen-printing cloth for nearly a decade and titled my website appropriately so live2dye.  Although I had wanted for years to study with the guru of contemporary batik, Els Van Baarle, there always seemed to be some reason I would not allow myself the experience.  This year with all the stress around moving my father and emptying his house, I found myself craving a treat and so I signed up for the workshop.  











Aside from the class being at Lake Tahoe for a week in all kinds of weather, seeing old friends and making new ones, visiting with former teachers from whose knowledge my art has grown and managing to go an entire week without any significant food issues was enough to convince me to sign up again for Art Quilt Tahoehttp://www.artquilttahoe.com/ next year to study with another mentor, Rosalie Dace.











For some unknown reason I had decided to push myself a bit with the current year’s art goals . What I learned is I don’t need pushing. I do left brain high anxiety mode really well. I have had a lifetime of practice.  As I ponder the 2011 list one thing keeps coming to mind…slow down. True I don’t have much time left but why not enjoy that which I have?