Lisa Call

The river at the Bend of Ivy Lodge at the Great Big Dreams Retreat - 2007

 
I got back from the Great Big Dreams Retreat today. What an incredible experience. I learned much, listened to much, thought much, laughed much and found this to be one of the most rewarding weekends I’ve spent in a long time.

I’m now enrolled in Christine’s Great Big Dreams e-seminar to continue following the path I started this week. The money I’m spending on this retreat and seminar is usually earmarked for an art workshop but I’ve decided this a much better use of money right now. I’ve felt a need for a change for a while and instead of ignoring it and continuing on as usual I’ve stopped and listened and now I am doing something to make sure the change happens.

My art is super important and I know it will continue along fine without additional instruction at this time. It’s time to get help on the bigger picture - me.

 
This year I’ve decided to list my accomplishments for 2007 without comparing them line by line to the list of goals I set at the beginning of the year (art making goals - business goals). I stopped worrying about my specific goals part way through the year because of my dad’s illness and my preference to spend as much time as possible with him.

My accomplishments/gratitudes for 2007, and in keeping with my plan of taking a more holistic view of my life they are not restricted to just art.

1. I worked in my studio around 865 hours this year - over 16 hours a week on average.
2. I complete the 13 major pieces started prior to 2007 in my Structures and Markings series: Structures #47, Structures #48, Structures #49, Structures #50, Structures #65, Markings #4, Markings #5, Markings #6, Markings #7, Markings #8, Markings #9, Markings #10, Markings #14. No more piles of unfinished work from years past to sap my energy!
3. I completed 6 new major pieces in my structures and markings series: Structures #66, Structures #67, Structures #68, Structures #74, Markings #15, Markings #16.
4. I started 4 additional major pieces in the Nancy Crow workshop that I will complete in early 2008: Structures #72, Structures #73, Markings #17, Markings #18.
5. I challenged myself to do some smaller work and completed 23 pieces: Structures #69, Structures #70, Structures #71, Structures #75 - Structures #94
6. I kept my art business records up to date each month and will be able to hand my paperwork over to my accountant as soon as I receive all the forms from banks and employers and such.
7. I wrote 150 blog posts about my art and being an artist.
8. I updated my computer system with more memory and an external hard drive and avoided having to spend thousands to buy a new machine for a few more years.
9. I sent out 2 postcards to my mailing list.
10. I started an email mailing list that I will use in 2008 for my studio newsletter.
11. I was asked to curate a show at the Lux Center for the Arts in conjunction with my solo show coming up in April.
12. I sent out many solo show proposals.
13. My work was included in the Blogger Show so I had my first piece included in a show in a New York City gallery.
14. I did a minor update to my website midway through the year.
15. I got to display my work at a Ferrari dealership
16. I came very close a few times to getting my email queue down to 0.
17. I have learned to love my day job instead of spending 8 hours a day wishing I were in my studio instead. My life is now more peaceful.
18. I entered 7 juried shows and was accepted into the Visions Quilt Art Gallery Member show, Artist as Quiltmaker at FAVA, the Arvada Center Holiday Art Show, Materials Hard and Soft, and Art Quilt Elements.
19. I completed Matisse The Master, by Hilary Spurling and A Woman On Paper by Anita Pollitzer and have started a biography on Picasso.
20. I listened to many good books on tape, too numerous to list. My favorite by far was Eat, Pray, Love. Reading this book was a large factor in taking charge of my life to make it what I dream it to be.
21. I traded artwork with Tracy Helgeson and then received one of her Pay It Forward pieces. I’m thrilled to own 2 of her pieces now.
22. I gave away 3 small pieces of art via my blog.
23. I stopped complaining about what the art quilt world was doing.
24. I helped my daughter’s class make quilts for their teacher and the silent auction fund raiser.
25. I made a commitment to go complaint free.
26. I helped my daughter make quillows and pillows to sell for her class project. She came close to selling out her booth and grossed over $300. I earned about $100 of it as her employee, which I spent buying things from the other kids in her class.
27. I put aside money each month to purchase art and bought a few small pieces from artists who’s work I admire.
28. I made 3 artist trading cards and sold 2 of them. This one is still for sale Sold.
29. I got to see my piece, Structures #36, hanging at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design a few days ago.
30. I took the big step and put my work up for sale online, on my blog, my etsy shop, guild.com and my cafepress shop. From this I learned more about how I want to sell and market my work and what feels authentic to me.
31. I won the Lydia S. Golomb Memorial Award for Outstanding Use of Traditional Materials at Fiberart International.
32. I took a 2 week workshop with Nancy Crow and spent 2 amazing weeks completely immersed in my art.
33. As the year came to a close I returned to yoga, hiking and searching for the truth of what I want from this life.
34. I maintained a gratitude journal for a good part of the year.
35. I continued to build my investments focusing on my plans for retiring early.
36. I canned 2 batches of homemade salsa with tomatoes from my garden.
37. I went to Kansas to help my mother say goodbye to her husband, a really cool guy.
38. I spent more time with my family this year than I have in a long time. It’s been wonderful, even if not always in the best of circumstances. I appreciate my relationship with my mother, sister, brother and Shirley and am lucky to have them in my life.
39. I was able to say goodbye to my father in a comforting and loving way before he died and have no regrets. This was the hardest thing I did this year and I am very thankful for the friends and family that were there for me.
40. I left a long term relationship that was not working out, which took a lot of strength and courage as there were some good parts, but the bad was no longer acceptable.

 
Thank you to each of you that read my blog, whether you comment or not. I appreciate the support and kind comments so many of you have left over the years.

Happy New Year everyone. May the year bring you everything you dream of and more.

Quote by Maya Angelou:

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.

Excellent article by Christine Kane related to gossiping. There is also a second part.

Not complaining/gossiping for 21 days is a very difficult challenge. Step 1 - I become more and more aware of my words each day.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday - no matter what holiday that might have been. I spent yesterday in my studio designing 3 new pieces for my solo show in February. I determined I’d like to make 9 new pieces for this show between now and Feb 20th.

My solo show will be at the Andrew J. Macky Gallery in Boulder opens February 20th. This is the same place where I had my first solo show 2 years ago and the space is gorgeous. I’ll be exhibiting 12-16 new pieces in my Markings series in 2008.

 
I removed my last post (about what I want to call my artwork). I don’t feel I’m communicating my thoughts very clearly so instead of trying to explain myself I decided to just remove the post and when my thoughts are clearer I will try again.

Monday I decided to take the 21 day challenge.

No complaints, criticisms or gossiping for 21 days. In a row. I complain, I start over. According to the new book based on the Complaint Free World it might take me from 4-8 months to accomplish this goal.

Monday went pretty well for my first day.

And then tuesday morning I got an email I’ve been hoping I get for the last few months. Back in October I tried to sign up for Christine Kane’s Great Big Dreams Retreat but it filled up as I was working through the registration process. I was bummed but I asked to be put on the wait list.

Sure enough, I got an email from Christine there was an opening for exactly what I had hoped for. I just bought my airline tickets and I’ll be headed to North Carolina at the end of this month.

I post a lot about my goals for my art career in my blog and in other places I track other goals in my life - financial, personal, family, etc. My desire for 2008 is to take a more holistic approach to my life and to think about how all of it ties together and make broader plans for how I will fulfill my own great big dreams.

I’m looking forward to starting down this path in a few weeks with Christine as I love her blog and her outlook on life.

Structures #92, Structures #94, Structures #93
©2007    6"x6" each

 
A university textile student asked me to participate in some research she was doing for her course work on the relationship of quilting and art. These are the answers I gave her:

1) Another art quilter I spoke with said she’s not sure “quilting” is the right word for some of the more creative or abstract projects people are doing. She says it brings to mind something older and out-of-date. Do you agree? Why or why not?

I do not use the terms quilt/quilter/quilting to describe my artwork/myself/my process. I feel those terms have fairly well established meanings to the general public and overloading them to mean ‘art intended to hang on a wall made out of textiles’ is at best confusing. While some of the processes are similar the intent in my artwork is different than that of a quilter making a quilt for a bed. I make textile art, I am an artist, and the process of making my art is just that - making art.

I have changed the wording of the remaining questions to reflect how I answered those questions - substituting in the words I was thinking about when answering them.

2) Do you have experience with other art forms? If so, what are/were they, and how did you get involved with them?

Drawing. I wanted to learn to draw so I just started drawing. I’m definitely a beginner but it is something I want to explore more. I am also hoping to find time to explore some painting over the next year.

3) How and when did you get involved with quilting/textile art?

I began making quilts in 1980, completing the first as a senior in high school. For the first 10-15 years, pieced traditional bed quilts were my focus, although they had a contemporary look with bright bold colors and often an original block design or setting. During this time I completed a BA and MA in computer science and worked as a software engineer at one of the nation’s top computer science research labs, with quilt making as a casual hobby, making only 1 or 2 quilts a year.

In 1992, I left the workforce to stay home with my children and looked to replace the intellectual challenge of a highly technical career with my quilting. Within a year I turned to more original work as it was more stimulating and rewarding.

Over the next 8-10 years I struggled to find my artistic voice and moved from traditional quilt making to the artwork I make today - textile art.

4) Where do you draw your Inspiration for your work?

My love of the colors and geological forms of the southwest, my interest in human-made structures for containment such as fences and stone walls, and my exploration of my own internal psychological walls and boundaries

5) Do you see your work as art in the traditional sense?

Yes.

6) Do you think that creating modern, unique textile art is similar to painting in any way? If so, how, and if not, why?

For me art is about intent. My intent is to explore myself and my subject when making art. I can’t speak for other artists.

7) What are a few differences you can see between textile art and other art forms?

The materials used. The expense in shipping.

8) What does making art give you–a sense of satisfaction, therapeutic release, something else?

A better understanding of myself. Peace. Happiness. And at times frustration.

 
This morning I finished up the little pieces I made for the Pay It Forward project, shown above. I’ll get those packaged up and shipped to Stacey, Juanita and Lisa later this week.

Structures #90, Structures #86, Structures #85
Structures #87, Structures #88, Structures #81
Structures #89, Structures #91, Structures #82

 
Last month I managed to come across Tracy’s Pay it Forward post and jumped right in to be one of 3 recipients of a piece of artwork from Tracy.

In return I agreed to continue the Pay it Forward tradition as follows:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

When you leave your comment, please also do one of two things: leave your post address or e-mail it to me.

I will be making 3 small textile art pieces this weekend for the first 3 people that leave a comment requesting to receive the gift and are willing to continue the Pay it Forward tradition on their blog. My current thought is to make some 6" square pieces along the same lines as the above pieces but that’s just a thought, we’ll see what mode strikes me when I get to the studio.

This has got to be a record - 2 days in a row of blog meme type stuff. Now I can go back to ignoring these things for another year. Although this one I really like - not only will I receive a wonderful piece of art I also get to share my work with others.

 
Blog administration: I have setup hotlink protection on my blog - this has the potential to break the viewing of images in feed readers. If you read my feed from a feed reader and the past few weeks the images have disappeared please let me know and I’ll see what I can do to fix it for that reader. I fixed google reader this morning.

 
I was tagged a few weeks back by Stacey for the 5 random things about myself meme traveling about the blog world and tonight feels like a good night to think of 5 because I don’t feel like writing about art and goals, etc.

1) I used to do a lot of hiking. The above photo was taken in 2002 on top of Crystal Peak near Breckenridge. The peak behind me is Pacific Peak. Climbing the 14ers has become very popular here in Colorado and there is a steady stream of people headed to the top so I started hiking the high 13ers instead. Same thing only significantly fewer people because there is no score card to be kept. I have no goals in my hiking other than to enjoy the outdoors.

2) A few years ago for father’s day I hiked to the top of Quandary Peak alone, a 14er also near Breckenridge, for the sole purpose of calling my dad from the top to wish him Happy Father’s Day in celebration of all hiking we did when I was a kid. I guess I do often have 1 goal in hiking, and that is getting to the top, something I think I inherited from my dad. Gotta see what’s on the other side!

3) I used to love skiing. Then I moved to Colorado in 94 and haven’t skied since. The traffic, cost and crowds are not worth it to me.

4) I’ve (mostly) been a vegetarian since 1985 and eat very healthy, mostly home cooked simple meals.

5) I love melted velveeta and rotel with chips, in stark contrast to item #4. I even like those nasty nachos in theaters with the plastic cheese. I know, disgusting.

 
Now to tag 5 folks. This is the part I don’t like - that whole popularity contest thing I don’t like. So instead I tag everyone that reads this post. Consider yourself personally tagged, and thank you for reading my ramblings, be it just today, or all the days you read. You are much appreciated.

Structures #9    ©2002    31"x31"

Alyson made the following comment on my Blogging as Popularity Contest post last week:

… Your blog works, your blog is popular precisely because you share in an authentic way. It’s accidental marketing, if you will. And it works so much better than forced sales speak…

That might be true. Maybe my blog is a useful marketing tool even if I don’t think of it as such. Although none of my readers have yet ponied up thousands of dollars to buy my large artwork so I’m not necessarily convinced. [But please, I’m open to the idea of someone proving me wrong so don’t let my opinion stop you from buying some large abstract textile art for your loved one for the holidays. How’s that for marketing? har har…]

 
Alyson continued, in response to this comment of mine: "I write my blog for me - because it helps keep me focused and on task, because I learn about myself and my art by writing about it, and because I’m basically a geek and this is the socially acceptable way for geeks to communicate", by asking:

But would it keep you on task if no one was reading it? Would it be the same if you were writing the same by hand in a journal? Or does it work precisely because so many people are reading it?

First, there is no way I would do this if I had to write it out by hand. The inability to easily edit would be a problem. It is partly my new ability to embrace the revision process when writing these posts that has improved my writing over the last few years.

I do keep a personal journal that I write in about 3-5 nights a week. The focus of the journal the past year has been about gratitude and appreciating the people and world around me. I also work through personal issues, which I rarely write about in my blog, in those pages. I do believe there is value in such a journal but that is not the focus or purpose of my blog.

I think the piece that was missing in my last post is that I also blog for the community that comes with the territory. I implied that in my "I’m a geek and this is how we communicate" comment but it was probably a bit cryptic. I’ve been on the internet since 1983. In 1984 I started reading and posting to the usenet newsgroups and I’ve been involved with online communities ever since.

This form of seemingly private but really public conversations is part of my social, creative and emotional support structure. While I am still a member of 1 email mailing list the majority of my online interaction with other artists is now through blogging and private emails that ensue. I pick the conversations I want to read and those that care about what I have to say can come and read my posts. It’s a great system.

As to the keeping on task, I do think that publicly stating goals gives me a bit of extra incentive to meet those goals. Although I believe in holding myself accountable for my own goals and I don’t post them every week or even every month, yet behind the scenes I’m still working on them. I’ve never tracked it but I suspect I do about equally well with staying on track the weeks I post my goals and the weeks I don’t.

I have to admit I totally failed to meet my goals the last few weeks. I decided to toss them all out and just spend time with my kids before they left. So I did little more than attend kid events and hang out with my kids the last few weeks. We have a new favorite board game called Ticket to Ride. Both the kids and I really enjoy it and noone has to be talked into participating. Or bribed - I used to offer to pay them if they could beat me playing blokus. They won once and now they won’t play anymore, which is a bummer because I really like that game.

My kids are now in Europe (my son says he’s eaten the best indian food ever their first day in London) so I now have 3 months of kid free time to really focus. I’ll get back on track with my art and business goals in a few days but first I’m spending time with friends who I haven’t had much time for given my year, and wrapping up some holiday and personal chores.

 
Paula made the following comment on my last post about goals:

Isn’t having a goal just the same thing as wanting something?

I absolutely agree and it reminds me of the quote I posted a while back:

Discipline is remembering what you want.
- David Campbell

Having the goal is the first part. I find it important to write down what I want.

The second part is the follow through. I find it helpful to break down my goals into small steps to actually achieve them. I find I have the discipline to complete smaller sized tasks and when a goal is huge and parts are unknown I am more reluctant to start working on it. Much of what I post about here are the smaller chunks I break down my goals in to.

 
I didn’t want to have another long wordy post with no pictures so I found some artwork I’ve never posted online. This 5 year old piece was made for a specific exercise in a Nancy Crow workshop years ago.

Colin has an excellent post over photostream about goals and states:

What none of the recent outflow of goal oriented writing ever questions is whether having goals is a good thing. That is, whether getting more done is a good thing…

Excellent thing to ponder and it reminds me of a story a cousin shared during my dad’s memorial service last month.

My dad, who retired early from his job as an electrical engineer at Los Alamos National Laboratory, kept office hours throughout his retirement years, allocating time for all of his different projects through out the day. He accomplished an amazing amount and was very happy with this arrangement.

When his wife was preparing for retirement he told her she needed to think about what she wanted to accomplish and how she wanted to structure her day. He suggested that she should think about it for a few days and then he would help her get organized. She told him she didn’t need to think about it and she already knew what she wanted. She told him that her goal was to have no goals.

They definitely viewed life differently but got along super well and were very supportive of each other. Neither way of living (or any shade in between) is right or wrong and what’s great about both my dad and his wife is they knew what worked for them and just went with it.

 
I clearly inherited from my dad the goal setting gene. The drive to accomplish much. My dad’s wife called him the energizer bunny and I definitely resemble that behavior.

I spent time with someone that last few years that constantly told me I was stressed out and I needed to relax. He didn’t like all the goals I set. He assumed that just because I was busy I was not relaxed. I stupidly tried to defend myself, which of course never works. If someone doesn’t ‘get’ you no amount of talking tends to change their mind as they’ve already made their judgment.

So I won’t try to defend this way of living here either. You either get it or you think I’m stressed out and do too much also.

I’ve tried to live my life without the lists and the goals and the projects and the plans. When I do, I flounder and do nothing and then get depressed about it and my life feels like it is falling apart. I am far from stress free or relaxed with this happens. Things tend to spiral downwards until I again get back on top of things and start setting goals and "making progress".

So my suggestion to everyone is that if goal setting works for you and accomplishing more is what makes you happy then go for it. If goal setting makes you edgy and nervous then don’t do it. Live the life the way you want to live it and when someone tells you that you are doing it wrong - ignore them.

Turns out I was stressed out - and the stress was a result of having to defend my every choice. Life is a lot more relaxed now that I don’t feel guilty for being who I am.

Structures #84    ©2007    7"x23"

 
Over at Laketrees, Kim Barker has compiled a top 101 artist blog list, based on technorati rating.

A blog’s rating/ranking is calculated as follows (or was when I last saw a note about how this was done): For each in bound link source, 90 days old or less, a blog gets 1 point - total up the points and that’s the blogs "authority rating". The "technorati ranking" is where a blog falls in the big list of all blogs. These numbers go up and down daily as the inbound links age and new ones are added.

I check technorati every so often to see what the inbound links are around in case I miss an important tag (I still owe a 5 random things about me list for stacers). But I never paid much attention to how I ranked in the specific world of art blogs. According to Kim’s list my blog clocks in at #9 of the blogs she identified as being by an artist.

Did I need to know this information? Did I want to know?

 
If I drop down in the list does it mean I’ve become boring? If my rating goes up does it mean you like my new haircut? Do I write and link to others just so they write about me and link back to me? The pressure.

Should I jump on the art link cloud viral tagging started by Casey over on the colorist to get even more links even if it’s not about content and just a link farm?

Okay - I admit - I’m clearly bad at the marketing game - maybe this is what we are supposed to do.

 
Instead I’m going to try to ignore this and just write what is authentic for me to write and not worry about who might or might not link to me as a result. This is the advice I give others - don’t waste time worrying about all that linking and concentrate on content. I believe it is content that keeps people around - not marketing hype or popularity. I read blogs that I find interesting, not ones that other people find interesting. Content is king (or make that queen).

I write my blog for me - because it helps keep me focused and on task, because I learn about myself and my art by writing about it, and because I’m basically a geek and this is the socially acceptable way for geeks to communicate.

If all my inbound links disappeared tomorrow I’d still blog. If noone read what I wrote ever again, I’d still blog (although I’d probably spend less time fixing typos and poor grammar).

This blog, while I suppose a potentially great marketing tool with my popularity, will never be thought of as such by me. I know Alyson, I just don’t get it.

 
The above piece was made a few weeks back when I was making small work for the holiday art market at the arvada center. I hadn’t yet hit upon the idea to make 9 similar pieces and was playing around just having fun.

In my dreams all 9 pieces will sell opening weekend (it opens thursday) and they will call me up and ask for more work, and I’m all ready with new pieces. Maybe if I did more marketing (like sending out the flyers that feature my work to my mailing list) I’d succeed in my goal. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy.

The Quillows (a quilt with a pocket so it can be converted into a pillow)

 
My daughter’s middle school humanities class is studying capitalism and each of the kids (or group of kids) has secured a small business loan from the Micro Business Development Center in Denver to start their own business through their YouthWorks program. Her teacher is an amazing teacher and this is a wonderful opportunity for her to get a glimpse into my world as an artist hoping to make a living from their art.

At one point she told me she was stressed out because she had to start a business and that I had no idea what she was going through. When I told her I knew exactly what she was going through she countered with "yeah, but you aren’t 11". Hard to disagree.

The Pillows (my daughter’s original designs)

 
They are working on marketing this week. My daughter is going for the socially conscience save our environment approach.

A selection of "cornbags" - heating pads you microwave.

 
The kids are setting up shop this friday during the monthly First Friday Artwalk in the Santa Fe Art District here in Denver. If you are in Denver come check it out. I hear there will be some very cool products available that will make excellent holiday gifts.

December 7th from 5:30pm to 8:00pm

The stores will be upstairs in the Micro Business Development building located on at 700 Kalamath.