Things that make your brain explode:

A couple days ago, someone was asking questions about what I do (quilting-wise) and the question became

“so where do your ideas come from?”

I just sort of shrugged but simultaneously there was this BLAM as my brain exploded. It might have imploded. It was hard to tell. There were parts everywhere!

• Part of my brain thought of all the people I know who could have stood there and delivered a brief formal artist’s statement about their work. “My work is an exploration of the natural world and how it relates to our ever-changing relationship with technology and the loss of self…”
• Part of my brain thought – who the heck knows?
• Part of my brain thought – how weird is that? What will you do with that information?
• Part of my brain thought – should I even know this? Do I want to know this?

In that pause and shrug, the person tried to explain the question some more. I shrugged and said – I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I don’t worry about where the ideas come from – they come from my head.

I probably should thank them for asking, since my brain has been ruminating on this since.

I think the response “they come from my head” is pretty valid. Although I do sometimes do landscape scenes or other more realistic work, my work is usually more abstract using color and pattern. In reality the answer is something like: ideas come because you get in there and work, every day. Every stinking day. You think about the work all the time. You get ideas from everything. Everything. Every day.

Talking to a co-worker today about this, we talked about all the different things that could trigger an idea – a color combination, a graphical pattern, an idea, pondering about some issue. I said how sometimes even just rummaging through fabric stacks putting stuff away can trip an idea.

I think what people develop over time is the ability to recognize ideas, figure out how to save them, wait for them, develop them etc. I allowed as in the recent period where I wasn’t working, it wasn’t that I had no ideas, because I did. I even made notes on some of them. Having no impulse to act on them though, I did nothing with them. Now I have ideas and I’m doing something with them. Much better.

I’ve always made notes about ideas – sketches, math, written notes, which help keep thoughts from skittering away. Sometimes photographs help with that too.

Anyway, I’m still not sure what to think about the question. I take it as well intended and all but it didn’t have quite the intended effect LOL, but it certainly had an effect.

Meanwhile, a posting by Jane Dunnewold – Art Quilts, Emerging Genres, has a lot of people talking about what it’s all about. That pretty much took care of whatever else was left of my brain. It’s well worth the read – this is the text of a lecture. The comments are also well worth the time and I hope they go on for a while longer. There’s also a discussion about this going on in the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) lecture forum.

PS I have never liked the term “Art Quilt”, I say that I make quilts because that’s what they are and I don’t need to call them textile or fiber art although since they are textile and fiber I guess they could fall into that bin. You are free to call your work whatever you like.

In the spirit of full disclosure I will say that I am currently a member of SAQA and that my hope for joining was to hear about possible exhibit possibilities and to attend a conference I’d hoped was going to be held simultaneous to Quilt National. The latter turned out not to be the case and I haven’t yet participated in any SAQA sanctioned events. I had joined once before but didn’t find it particularly helpful exhibiting wise and I just hate the endless discussion about “what is an art quilt”. Again, that’s just me.

Maybe some more ironing will soothe my brain.