2023, Art, education, Family, Uncategorized

Silk Purses

47 Comments

I have no artistic ability whatsoever, and I am amazed by those who do. Husband can draw quite well, and his mother painted landscapes. Our daughter also has some nice artistic abilities.

I don’t think Daughter really liked art projects very much in the early grades, but seemed to really like an art class she took as an elective in High School. One of her projects was to weave a basket. It seemed to start out ok, but just didn’t work out as she wanted it to, and thought she had failed the project. The art teacher, however, saw something more in her failed basket.

He noticed that instead of a basket she had created a lovely Flamenco dancer. You can see her head thrown back, with her orange hair, and the outlines of her body under her dress. Daughter was surprised I still had the dancer. It reminds me that lovely things can come out of what we think are failures.

What kind of art are you best at? What kind of art do you like to have around you and look at? When have you made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear?

47 thoughts on “Silk Purses”

  1. I haven’t done any art for some time but recently was looking through my old sketch pads and found an India ink sketch I had practiced for the meat section of a cookbook. I liked it, decided to have it framed and yesterday I picked it up from the framer. It is the heads of a cow, pig, lamb and rooster. I have in the past done sketches, oil paint and water color portraits of animals, especially of my horses, goats and chickens. My walls are covered with paintings and lithographs by other artists, some by famous, some by not famous, some by friends. I wish I had more walls because many are off the walls so I do change them from time to time.  Cynthia “Life is a shifting carpet…learn to dance.”

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

  2. No visual art talent at all for me. Music and writing seem to be my default muses. I was into photography for many years in the 80s & 90s but lost interest when digital cameras hit the market. The challenge of using film wisely was gone. It became a matter of point & shoot, clicking a hundred photos without much thinking or composition or f-stop/aperture adjusting, then going through them all and picking the best one.

    But I took some photos I thought were good enough to frame and put on my walls, and they’re still there some 30-40 years later.

    Chris in Owatonna

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  3. I like to design things with color – I made a couple of (machine pieced) quilts, one for my mom that included scraps from dresses she’d worn in my childhood. It turned out pretty well, and while not high art, it was art-like. : )

    My walls have a little of everything in the various rooms – a pottery heron from an art fair, a nature painting by one of my mom’s cousins, Oriental bird print, two small rural scenes by a Mpls. artist Frank Wetzel, some western kitch my dad bought in Estes Park, a long narrow painting of dragonflies…

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. As most of you know: carving, pastels, sketching, fiction writing. All held in low repute. Even Sandra threw out lots of the carvings. My sister has many mostly for sentimental reasons. My sorta son and his wife have a few. Few scattered here and there. Sandy does not want any at her apartment. My daughter had a few carvings and paintings but gave most back. Has adopted poilcy of no stuff, wise idea in general, plus she has a move coming up sometime soon. I threw those.
    In prep for next move in a few months, threw out a bunch and a bunch more to go. Only framed pastels left. Threw all bird decoys. Keep reminding myself it was the process not the product that was the point of carving, painting/drawing, writing. Bad vision and bad hands have ended all of that.
    I wanted to do found art, but Sandra did not like it when I tried. She was right.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  5. We have Jim Brandenburg photos and lithographs of Old Montreal and the St. Lawrence in the livingroom. I am a sucker for Dala animals, so we have a shelf of those, too.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  6. I have an original Howard Sivertsen watercolor, nothing like his famous oils. If you have been to Grand Marais you should know who he is. Would mail it up to Liz but cannot be rolled. I think it is special. No one else wants it. I have a wonderful book by him full of his nostalgic paintings of Isle Royale. I will mail the book to anyone who wants it. I think I still have it. With Sandra for five hours now.
    Clyde

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Creative and worthy in its own right, an interesting and expressive shape. Assigning it a representative identity—the flamenco dancer—doesn’t validate it any more than a cloud needs to look like a bunny to be beautiful.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  8. Saw a video of a very talented sculptor who did a version of some great work of art in cardboard, which took him months. After it was on display in a museum, he put it outside to be slowly destroyed by rain as captured by video cameras.
    Clyde

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Stolen body of what? Humans? I hope not, that sounds grizzly. It also raises the question of where the heck did him steal them from? Gosh, people are weird.

      Like

      Reply

  10. Baboons seem strangely eager to disclaim any affinity to art, as if art were limited to something one can hang on a wall and artists were only those possessing a certain skill set. Art is accessible to anyone who can appreciate form and color and balance and juxtaposition and who employs that appreciation in everyday life. Art is an esthetic choice.

    As it happens, I have some of that skill set and was able to employ it during my working life. I can paint, and have a few paintings scattered around on the walls of our house. I have drawers full of drawings. Both my daughters have some of my artwork. Framed enlargements of the 1904 European photos I discovered grace one wall. Many vintage Japanese woodcuts from Robin’s family’s time in Japan are distributed throughout. I don’t really make much distinction between the art I made and the art I choose.

    Fact is, though I have that skill set, the production of paintings and drawings has limited appeal to me. I enjoy the process but lose interest when the work is completed.

    I get more satisfaction out of a successfully restored book.

    We have in recent years been seeking out exhibitions of quilts and other fiber arts. I confessed to Robin that I am more inspired by fiber arts than I tend to be by drawings and paintings. Robin has shifted in the last couple of years from knitting and spinning to sewing, with an emphasis on quilt-like pieces. I am honored that she sometimes seeks my opinion of her designs. Seeing the materials she has to play with and given my own experience with fabric construction has tempted me to find a project of my own in that medium.

    Many years ago, I sewed myself western-style shirts using fabrics that were less than western—Hawaiian prints, for example. Although my sewing skills are admittedly rusty I’ve begun making shirts again, this time incorporating Japanese prints and themes.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. Something you may see mentioned in reference to creative mending is Boro. It’s a Japanese style of mending that makes no attempt to hide the repair. It has become popular enough that classes are being offered in its name. Whether they are strictly true to the tradition of boro is probably a matter of opinion. Here’s something of an elucidation (scroll down to see samples):
        https://upcyclestitches.com/what-is-boro/

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

        1. I’m wondering if the Japanese sensibility of revering things that have been broken, that has resulted in their developing techniques for repair that highlight rather than hide the “scars,” translates to fewer surgical or other medical procedures to minimize the signs of aging in humans? Very likely there are statistics somewhere that can give me the answer, but I haven’t looked it up.

          Liked by 1 person

    2. Me andd my art . . . sort of like me going to see Sandra and walking through the regular part of the facility to get to the memory care. About 70% of the people in that part are there for handicaps and not age, some very young. Very few of them have regular visitors. Same in memory care for that matter. But they get jealous about me coming through and sometimes get angry at me more often about me. I understand and accept it. Most have siblings, parents, children, parents, spouses who have abandoned them. They have little money. They play bingo for bingo bucks a few times a month and then they can spend them at the bingo store, buying things donated by people, most of it lately by me, which they have now found out.Not necessities, but things to brighten their lives, like candy and microwave popcorn and puzzle books and craftmaking items and cards to send, and the like.
      In the middle of Amazon’s big sale here I ordered them some things, not much in the sale itself . They have mixed feelings it seems about me donating it to their store.
      I have kept my art at a low profile all my life because people think it is arrogant of me. My sister gets very jealous. To profess interest in art in Minnesota, even just to talk about it or say you go to museums, gets you some scorn. My closests friends on the faculty who are very involved in the arts do not look at my art, do not want to want me to talk about it. She is an excellent seamstress and user of threads and fibers. I have made a point of admiring and purchasing her art.
      I admit there has been a lot of hurt in this, another reason I dismiss it myself.
      So I am now trashing it, as it seems is fit.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. Probably because of my ambivalence about my own art, I have difficulty talking to artists about their two dimensional art, i.e., drawing and painting. I am much more able to get enthusiastic and conversant about aesthetic crafts like ceramic and fiber. I guess that just reveals where my true enthusiasms lie.

        I’ve never sensed any scorn regarding my interest in galleries and museums, or that my interest was arrogant. Maybe I’m just oblivious or maybe it’s the admittedly artsy crowd I run in.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

    3. Glad to hear your comments on this Bill because as I was reading along, I was thinking “well there’s my garden.” I have so many different colors of flowers and while I often think I have kind of a willy-nilly approach to, but I plant where, I do know that I think about the height of plants and flowers when I put them in to the yard and garden. It looks glorious out there right now. If you can imagine a color, I probably have it blooming out there.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  11. abstract expressionist and impressionist paintings are my favorite
    sculpture large and small
    pastel
    poetry
    architecture
    folk blues jazz
    broadway musicals ( go to into the woods at the guthrie if you can maybe my favorite ever)
    i like fiber arts but don’t go there often
    my grandson denver is an artist
    i love being there for his mentorship
    and ari is starting piano as his teachers youngest student
    cooking is my therapy my wife says
    art is my therapy
    i look forward to finding a creative mode toile slot
    it will come
    i’m plotting

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  12. Well, from now on I will take Bill’s advice and declare I have no ability to draw, but I am am artist in the kitchen and the garden.

    Like

    Reply

  14. I don’t consider myself an artist. Never have. Not because I don’t think I have any artistic abilities, or because I don’t think of myself as creative. I used to dabble in mosaics, ceramics, metalsmithing, weaving, and painting, activities that I think most people think of as falling within the “arts and crafts” spectrum. There was nothing artful about my assaults on the piano, that I’m sure of, but I’m a pretty creative cook. I occasionally dabble in writing poetry and some prose, but I rarely share that with anyone. In the various art classes in college I felt oddly vulnerable sharing my pieces; they just felt too personal.

    Seven or eight years ago, I participated in a creative writing group. Not a class per se, but a group that held each other accountable for having completed the weekly assignment, and offered supportive critiques of each other’s scribbles. We had a “professional” writer as moderator of the group, and she was terrific. It was a surprisingly pleasant experience. I would love to participate in some such “class” at the Loft, not with the goal in mind of writing the great American novel, and not necessarily with publication in mind, but I find writing a good way of figuring out how I really feel about something; unearthing my subconscious, if you will.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I’ve taken a couple of poetry writing classes at the Loft. I enjoyed them but found that without the discipline of the class I don’t continue.

      Like

      Reply

  15. Found the Howard Sivertson book and one so expressively painted by his sweet daughter Liz but I don’t think anybody was interested. Lately I have been getting the autist’s reaction from so many people so I just threw them.

    Like

    Reply

  16. Evening.
    I guess I’m an artist with lighting. Sometimes with sets, sometimes with stage painting… but I don’t look at myself that way; it’s a skill, it’s a job, it’s my passion, it’s fun. “Artist”?? Ar-teest!
    I used to play the trumpet in band. Guess that was an artist too, right? Even if I wasn’t that great; I didn’t have the solo, but I was part of the ensemble.
    Farming and creating this shop… nothing artistic about it, but for someone who doesn’t know how to do these things, maybe it is in a way.

    Eh. Labels. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  17. I like having things like well made pottery and wooden bowls around.

    I have done some collage and mosaics, and might try my hand at woodburning one of these days. Mostly I like the process of working on something that feels creative, especially if the project turns out reasonably well.

    The last art fair I attended had some very creative stuff made from odd objects – windchimes made from forks and keys and things, yard sculptures made from rusty shovels and birdhouses – things put together in ways I wouldn’t have thought of. I admire people who can do that.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to reneeinnd Cancel reply