The things we try to define

I usually laugh when people go all wordy about stuff. It’s easy to imagine them frantically treading water trying to keep their nose above it all. Meanwhile they are getting sucking into the undertow of…. oops – bit of a wordy tear there LOL

Today there was an extension of an SAQA deadline due to lack of enough entries. This evoked a brief discussion about why people might not have entered – theme and size problems seemed predominant. I did wander over and read the prospectus because I vaguely remembered thinking – that’s not going to work for me, but I wondered what it said exactly.

The theme was definitely the problem for me.

Theme: A Sense of Adventure asks you to expand your personal comfort zone. Beyond the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch is the sense of adventure. Webster’s defines “adventure” as: 1 a : an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks b : the encountering of risks (the spirit of adventure) 2 : an exciting or remarkable experience (an adventure in exotic dining) Use techniques you’ve never used before. Plumb deep within yourself for a personal sense of adventure. Share your adventures through this exhibit.

I don’t see myself making a special piece just for this show that is outside of what my current work is. Wouldn’t I want the respected juror to see my “real” or “ongoing” work? I once endeavored to make a piece for an invitational sort of show that involved using metal or metallic stuff on the quilt’s surface. I even had an idea. I acquired the materials. I ended up with stuff that looked like someone else made it and I wondered why they bothered. I dropped out politely.

The bigger issue for me and these SAQA happenings is this goofy definition of what art quilts are supposed to be:

Artwork must meet the SAQA definition of an art quilt: a contemporary artwork exploring and expressing aesthetic concerns common to the whole range of visual arts: painting, printmaking, photography, graphic design, assemblage and sculpture, which retains, through materials or technique, a clear relationship to the folk art quilt from which it descends.

From what I can parse out from this, it really seems to leave out what I do altogether. I guess I could stretch it a bit and say I’m all about the graphic design. I mean really – who isn’t? But ho hum – all I do is sew little bits of fabric together and quilt the heck out of it. That’s just not what the whole art quilt world is about.