Lisa Call

Structures #95
©2008 Lisa Call
52" x 34"
Textile Painting (hand dyed fabric, batting, thread)

Music

Many (most? all?) artists are happy to talk about the music they listen to in their studio while creating art. I’m certainly no exception and have written about it before. Today’s post is a bit of a stream of consciousness and my music listening.

So now the confession – I’m not a big music person. It’s not that I don’t like music, it’s just I can’t be bothered to learn very much about it and there are days and weeks that go by when I forget to listen to it.

I like silence. I like the meditative quiet as I stitch parallel lines back and forth on my textile paintings for hours on end. Much self coaching and problem solving happens during this time.

But this post is about music, so back to that.

Music History

I have a nice sized CD collection, mostly the rock I listened to in high school and in my 20s – cause it’s what I know, I like it, it’s obvious, it’s easy. Stuff like The Beetles, The Gogos, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Leonard Skynard, Blondie. Pretty main stream stuff or at least it was in the 70s and 80s.

I listen to this music on the stereo I bought in graduate school with the student loan I took out to go on a ski trip and buy a stereo.

I actually have a pretty nice stereo because I was dating a guy (who I eventually married) that vacuumed his records with a nitty gritty record machine (if you don’t know what that is – it’s fine – just imagine a vacuum cleaner for records and people rather obsessive about sound quality from a piece of black plastic).

Music was a big thing for him. Listening to, playing, watching performances. A crappy stereo was not an option (hence the need for a loan).

We attended a lot music events in college and then in New York City when we were working at IBM Research. Almost weekly we’d head down to Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center from Westchester County to listen to folks like Yo-Yo Ma and The Berlin Philharmonic. I learned to love opera during these 2 years.

He grew up with music and his family is packed with musical talent. He inherited that talent and love for music.

I don’t remember a lot of music in our house growing up until my sister conned me into paying for half or her stereo (with an 8-track player – we were on top of the trends). When she left for college she took the stereo with her. I don’t recall being unhappy about it.

About the same time my mom moved out and my dad started listening to music. Even bought a nice stereo as I recall. I enjoyed the likes of Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers with him. And PDQ Bach.

I owned a few albums so I listened to them over and over as it was all I had. Lots of repetition.

In the Studio

So now – back to the studio. As a result of having been married to a guy that was into music I have alot of CDs. Mostly rock – he kept the classical.

But what I listen to is extremely limited. For the last 18 months it’s been almost exclusively Christine Kane’s music.

The above textile painting was designed while I listened to She Don’t Like Roses on repeat over and over and over again for hours and hours.

Turns out I love repetition. Not surprising as I’ve created 111 textile paintings in the Structures series over the years. Could be how my brain is wired.

In the past a few other artists have captured my attention and I’ve listened to them repeatedly – just before Christine it was Johnny Cash.

The music I do remember as a kid was my brother listening to Johnny Cash over and over and over again. He was apparently into repetition also. My sister and I used to tease him mercilessly about it and he was smart enough to ignore us (or maybe he didn’t, but he didn’t stop listening to it).

After seeing the movie Walk the Line (about Johnny Cash) I bought a few of his CDs on my way home from the theater. Listened to them repeatedly for months and months. Bought my sister a CD as a gift, which she also liked.

We decided we should probably apologize to my brother for teasing him so much – he apparently had pretty good taste in music as a kid.

I try to remind myself of that when my kids are playing music in my studio (they bring their ipods and plug them into my stereo). Last night my son was programming (my 16 year old is writing an game for the iphone this summer) and came up to spend the evening in my studio while I worked.

We listened to Velvet Underground and The Horror from his MP3 player. Not bad but more on the noise side than I usually listen to.

 
PS – this blog post is also my entry into Vinyl Art’s contest: Storied Past. Barely squeaking in by the deadline.

 
What are you listening to in the studio?

An Artful Weekend

After my post on saturday morning, I not only removed my laptop from my studio/bedroom I removed the modem and router. I decided I had to get the computer out of my studio and out of my bedroom. It was interfering with not only my art but also my sleep. The flashing lights on the router and modem don’t make for a peaceful night of sleep at all.

So I dumped it all in my living room and spent 16 glorious hours working in my studio this weekend. It was perfect. I reconnected with that right brain art making focus and completely recharged my creative batteries.

It didn’t hurt that sunday afternoon I had a yummy brunch with my super talented artist friend Julie and then spent a few hours at the Denver Art Museum surrounded by art. I didn’t feel tired at the museum at all but was exhausted when I got home so I took a nap. What a treat, to take the time to sleep during the day.

After the nap I was in the perfect inspired frame of mind and designed Structures #99 in a few hours. This is one of those pieces that just happened, no fights or struggles. It basically designed itself. I love it when this happens.

I have a few more hours of surface stitching on Structures #98 then I’ll start the construction of this new piece.

It was exactly the weekend I was hoping to have when I decided to commit the weekend to art with no distractions.

Total Silence (almost)

After unplugging the computer on saturday I thought about turning on music or listening to a book on tape but decided to have a silent day instead. Parts of my process don’t require much creative thought (the surface stitching) so it’s a rather meditative process.

With no music or noise to distract me, my mind processed a lot of stuff that has been piling up over the past few months. It was interesting to see what came up as I sat there for hours stitching lines back and forth on the surface of my textile painting.

I’m learning to allow the thoughts to just happen, observe them and just let them go without judgment. While not formal meditation, which I struggle with, it is a very healing process. It was tempting to distract myself with noise but didn’t.

The only talking I did on saturday were a couple of short phone calls with my boyfriend, Jim, who says I never mention him on my blog. So I’m now mentioning him. I’ve been told I can only say nice things, which is easy. One of the really wonderful things to have come from 9-10 months of getting clear about the life I want, was finding a very wonderful guy to hang out with and hike with. And he’s a really amazing cook.

Reconnecting

I had some art business todo’s on my list for the weekend but sunday evening rolled around and I had no desire to plug in the computer and do them. So I didn’t. It wasn’t until monday around 9am when I finally figured out where to plug everything in that I reconnected with the world. Just in time to find out I missed a meeting at work. Oh well – people should not be allowed to schedule meetings over the weekend for monday morning.

My computer now lives on my desk in my living room. I’ll have to do a lot of shuffling to do paperwork and there are electrical cords and network cables all over the place but this seems like a better solution temporary than interrupting my sleep and my art.

When the remodel is finished I’ll have a small study to put the computer. I went back and forth during the design on whether or not this was luxury or necessity. In the end I decided for my sanity, it was required and worth paying more so I can have that division of space.

Today I was going to catch up on the art business things but decided I’d prefer to make art, so that’s what I did after dinner. I plan on this desire and focus for working in the studio to stick around for a long time.

Pictures

Too many blog posts without pictures can be boring so here are a few photos from a recent hike in the Mt. Evans wilderness.

 
I love Colorado.

Structures #95    ©2008    52"x 34"

New Artwork

Publicity images were due today for my solo show at the Lux Art Center, Fencing In or Keeping Out, so I’m very happy to show this piece, newly completed and photographed. I sent off my resume, artist statement (newly revised), bio and images so I can check yet another item off my todo list.

According to my spreadsheet I started this piece in 2007, although I don’t recall doing much more than select the fabrics. I did most of the design and construction work middle of January. When doing this type of work, the design/creative stuff, I either keep my studio silent or I listen to music. No books on tape because it slows me down and distracts me.

Repetition

I get a bit obsessive at times with the music and I’ll put my CD player (no ipod here – I live in the dark ages) on repeat and listen to the same album over and over again. Or the same song. For this piece I listened to She Don’t Like Roses by Christine Kane, on her Rain & Mud & Wild & Green album, over and over again while constructing the composition. I love this song.

Over and over again, for about 6 hours one day. Repetition – it’s soothing.

When I do this the artwork becomes permanently linked in my head to what I was listening to. This piece will always remind me of this song, and the book A Version of the Truth, which I listened to while doing the surface stitching, a meditative repetitive process itself. The book was fun and felt like it fit the piece, as does the song.
 

Detail image of stitching:

Taxes!

Next up on my to do list are taxes. By end of this week I’ll have the packet in the mail to my account plus have budgets and spreadsheets for 2008 up to date and ready to go, for both business and personal. I actually like doing taxes and the financial stuff. I’m good with money and it’s fun to add up the numbers and see how the year went.