Wherein I copy Debby’s homework

Debby told on herself yesterday and I’m being a bit of a copycat (this is a bit of an inside joke between the two of us, for our own amusement) today and just coming right out with it. I’m taking Introduction to Art: Concepts & Techniques on Coursera. Debby first introduced me to Coursera by sending me a link to a writing course on there, that I immediately signed up for to improve my writing skill. I’ll admit that while I did well in all things “language arts” in school, this time not so much. I can not tell a compound-complex sentence apart from a complex sentence. I need to go back to 8th grade!

One fun discovery: the instructor Anna Divinksy is a fiber artist and there are a lot of quilters taking the course. When the course description came up I immediately signed up for it to learn more about art. I mean I like going to museums, enjoy the art, have personal likes and dislikes but want wanted to develop a better understanding and see how I can translate that understanding to quilting. Perhaps this too will lead to a deeper understanding of the art quilt, fiber art community.

This week we studied the Fantastic art movement which includes artists like Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, de Chirico, Marcel DuChamp to name a small few. In starting the reading assignment, learning more about the artists and the style, it’s something I like. The art assignment, should we choose to do it, is to create a collage. Ms. Divinsky shows us several techniques to do this on paper using magazine clippings. Yah, no.

So Debby and I messaged a bit last night and I told her I was hesitant to cut up one piece of fabric. After her very honest comment that essentially I’m hoarding – which is a very quilterly trait, I decided to go for it. I thought only of filling the space.

This is the end result for me. Yep after all that tidying up when I get creative...watch out...the level of stuff left over is astounding. — This is the end result for me. Yep after all that tidying up when I get creative…watch out…the level of stuff left over is astounding.

This was part of the process. See St. Therese? It's the fabric she's part of that I had a hard time cutting up. Why do I have this fabric if I don't use it and can't enjoy it? — This was part of the process. See St. Therese? It’s the fabric she’s part of that I had a hard time cutting up. Why do I have this fabric if I don’t use it and can’t enjoy it?

I decided to trim the piece to 8 1/2 x 11 so I could complete it on time. This is the finished piece.

The rest of the fabric used is from Paula Nadelstern’s Fabrique-Istan line, the detailing and a good pair of scissors just filled in the rest of the area. I decided to layer this with tulle and quilt it using MonoPoly while listening to the Yankee game last night. Finishing around 1 AM this morning.

I’ve also decided to create a 2nd piece and leave a bit of negative space just to see the difference and if I like it.

Off to quilt!

Teri