Lisa Call

Structures #62    © 2007    33" x 19"

A Slow Reply

Eight or nine months ago Meagan asked me the following question on one of my posts:

Something a little off topic, but still related: How do you know when your art work is “good enough” to start marketing it? (Obviously this isn’t a problem for you, Lisa, since your art is amazing!) Previous commenters (Ed) have mentioned that in the beginning of their career, they sold stuff that really wasn’t very good. How do you know when your art work has reached that particular level?

I’ve had a draft of this question sitting around waiting for an answer ever since. As I wasn’t up to a dissection of my studio newsletter as promised, I decided to go back and deliver on an older unanswered query.

It’s about Growth

The article I wrote was about selling my artwork (click to read). My thoughts have changed over the years and today I will answer this differently than I might have 3 or 5 or 8 years ago when I was not looking to pursue an income generating career from my art.

Today my answer is: You are ready to start marketing your artwork when you are ready to take that bold step and put yourself out there. It’s a big leap as it comes with many risks but also many rewards.

Sure, five years from now you might look back and think "Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I tried to sell that junk." But that’s the future. What matters is right now, today, this moment. How do you feel about your artwork? Are you happy with it? Do you think it is good? Do you want to market it? Great - go for it.

And I don’t think that’s such a bad future, to be a bit embarrassed about your work from years back, because it means you are growing as an artist. This is a great thing. Maybe something to look forward to.

How Will You Handle Set Backs

Artists are often advised to ask others for opinions about their work. Is it good enough? Will it sell? While this isn’t bad advice I’m not sure I’d recommend that. I suggest just going with your intuition. If you have the desire and resources to market your artwork, then go for it!

What’s the worse thing that could happen? You might fail on first try. The question is, what will you do with that failure? Will you let it destroy your dream? If so maybe you aren’t ready. I think this is probably the single most important question to answer.

Sure you might never face rejection, but chances are good you’ll face more than a few "we aren’t interested" situations. As Christine Kane says:

SWSWSWSW: Some will. Some won’t. So what? Someone’s waiting!

[Read her excellent article about not taking things personally here]

Even if you do face failure you might learn something. You might get better and grow. You might find new ways to do things. You might meet people that want to help you over that hurdle.

When you are ready to fall down and get up and keep on going. That’s when you are ready.

I’m Finally Ready

I’ve been making art that I really love for the past 10 years. Yet I’ve never taken the leap to go after an solid income with my art. I always have an excuse:

• I need to build up cash reserves.
• The kids are only at home for a few short (18) years.
• This work isn’t quite good enough yet.
• No one buys art quilts.
• I could never replace my software engineering salary with an art income.

Well, no more. I’m doing whatever it takes to get rid of the day job and replace it with the art income.

First up on the list of to-dos is to sell the house that requires a really big income. If I wait until I have enough money from my art to pay this mortgage it could be a pretty long wait. So I’m short circuiting that problem and downsizing.

It’s a huge task and when I think of all that needs to be done to get this huge home on the market I freak out, which is the reason I’m still here. I thought about moving 6 years ago after my divorce and then again 3 years ago, but I didn’t have the courage to do it.

Now it’s the year of courage, which gives me the focus needed to work through all that needs done. I don’t think about the huge list of to-dos. I make short lists of easily doable tasks. Things I can accomplish in a few hours. I’m just focusing on each step, one and time, and steady progress is made every day.

In the meantime I’m not ignoring my art. I’m in the 7th day of Artist Breakthrough Program with Alyson Stanfield and it’s fabulous. I’ve made huge strides in getting my new website ready to go. Tomorrow I’ll blog about how I did with my goals this week and what’s up for next week.

And yes - at some point I’ll write about all I learned when doing my studio newsletter. Hopefully you will not have to wait 8-9 months for that answer.

The above image was the one I selected for this post 9 months ago, I can’t tell you why. It’s orange. Maybe that was it.

Structures #42    ©2006    81"x 33"

Fencing In or Keeping Out

In conjunction with the 2008 Fiber Invitational (see below), Denver, Colorado textile artist and curator, Lisa Call (me), will display her own hand dyed and stitched quilts textile paintings. Call employs the use of abstraction, geometry, and the color pallet of the Southwest within her work. Interest in both geological formations and man-made structures such as fences and walls manifest themselves within her Structures series. Visible delineations suggesting containment and boundaries also allude to the psychological boundaries we set.

 
Lux Center for the Arts
Lincoln, Nebraska
April 4 — 26, 2008
Lux Center Website

 
Opening Reception
Friday, April 4, 2008, 5:00-7:00 pm

I will be at the opening reception and will be giving a gallery talk at 6pm. Please introduce yourself and say hello if you are in attendance.

Distinctive Directions

Lux Center’s 2008 Fiber Invitational, curated by me, brings together diverse and talented regional and east coat artists: Deidre Adams, Joanie San Chirico, Jeanne Williamson and Pam RuBert.

See our website and blog at distinctive-directions.com

Structures #42

The above piece will make it’s public debut at this show. Although I completed it 2 years ago it has never been shown or even entered into any juried shows. It reminds me a lot of bamboo. Although bamboo might not be blue.

Detail of surface stitching:

Structures #57    ©2006    33"x 66"

Putting out Fires

In a recent post titled Managing Urgencies Seth Godin writes:

Do you have a plan?

A long or medium term plan for your brand or your blog or your career or your project?

You can have grand visions for remodeling your house or getting in shape, but if there’s a fire in the kitchen, you drop everything and put it out. What choice do you have? The problem, of course, is that most organizations are on fire, most of the time.

In my post a few days ago about getting things done I talked about how excited I was to be making progress on projects that previously were ignored due to lack of urgency of the project.

This had become my default behavior:

Add up enough urgencies and you don’t get a fire, you get a career. A career putting out fires never leads to the goal you had in mind all along.

Last year I entered a bunch of juried shows instead of working on some bigger projects that require more effort and will take longer to yield results. Juried shows are easy, fill out a form and send off a CD and some money and there is illusion of progress when the acceptance letter arrives.

Stagnating in the Fire

Problem is these shows don’t do much for my career anymore. In the beginning they were great. They were the big goal and they got me what I was after, a resume filled with quality shows to give me the foundation for bigger things.

Thing is I’ve been doing this for 10 years - my resume is plenty long with lots of juried shows - they no longer provide much value and they are starting to look like they are my career and not just the initial step forward.

The past few months I paid the price of having entered all those shows putting out fires of the resulting acceptances. Doing paperwork, packaging and shipping work.

No time was left to work on the bigger projects like completing the redesign of my website, sending out my first studio newsletter (a project that has been on hold for over a year as it is never urgent) or lining up gallery representation. Things I’ve clearly identified as important for moving me forward.

Small Steps to Move Forward

As I said a few days ago. No More!

Basically I’m doing exactly what Seth mentions here:

I guess the trick is to make the long term items even more urgent than today’s emergencies. Break them into steps and give them deadlines.

I’ve identified the big projects that will propel my art career forward in a big way and now I’m defining the next steps that need to be taken to create my new reality. When I look at my next actions list I want to look at actions that are simple and easily doable. Things like:

• Determine List of Newsletter Articles
• Write Introduction to Newsletter
• Select template for new website
• Create header for new website

I don’t put ‘write newsletter’ on the list as that’s just too overwhelming and I won’t ever get to it.

Deadlines

In addition to the small steps I’m also setting deadlines as Seth mentions. Now I’ll make one of those goals public as it’s fast approaching and I’m committed to making that goal.

My first studio newsletter will be sent by March 31. I’ve already made some nice progress on the project and am excited about it. [sneak preview: I’m making 3 new aceos (artist cards) inspired by 3 pieces from my Markings series. These will be available to my subscribers via my newsletter].

To subscribe to my studio newsletter, to be sent 4 times a year, enter your email address below:

 
I will never share or sell your email address and will only use it for the purpose stated above. All emails sent will include a link to unsubscribe should you decide you are no longer interested.

Structures #57

I posted an image of Structures #57 in this post a year+ ago but the color was off. I recently got this piece back from the art center where it was on display and rephotographed it. These are more accurate colors.

I love the blue thread over the red fabric in the surface stitching of this piece. Actually I just love the entire thing. A few years back I said I didn’t use much red, now I’m finding I’m using it more and more and really love the results. Maybe Cathy Kleeman’s influence, she uses red often and well.

 
Are you putting out fires?

Structures #15    ©2005    12"x 13"

Blogiversary

Today marks the 3 year anniversary of my first blog post, which roughly corresponds to the purchase of my first digital camera. According to wordpress this is my 425th post.

Some numbers (because I like numbers). Assuming an average posting time of 45 minutes, which is probably on the low side, I’ve spent at least 320 hours writing blog posts over the last 3 years. That’s an average of 107 hours per year.

In comparison I spent 865 hours last year in my studio and probably around 1800-1900 hours at the day job and at most 20 hours watching TV shows for the year.
 

What I’ve Learned

After all that time I feel I should have some profound words of wisdom about blogging so I thought I’d make a list of what I think I’ve learned during this process. You can decide if it’s profound.

1. I make a lot of typos.
2. I rarely feel a need to correct typos that are not found within the first hour. I appreciate all my kind readers that gloss over my mistakes.
3. There are 2 types of posts that generate a lot of comments. Those that stirred up controversy and those that were very honest about my work and myself in a way that is somehow universally felt. I prefer the later and have been looking to avoid the former as it causes me to feel unhappy.
4. I’ve learned more about myself and my art through my consistent writing on the topic than through just about any other method. I have no plans to stop anytime soon.
5. I feel I belong to an amazing community of artists as a result of my blog, which makes this an extremely rewarding experience.
6. I change my mind a lot. If you read this entire blog you’ll see at one point I strongly advocated using the term quilt. I now use the term textile painting. The old me would have had an argument with the new me. The new me isn’t concerned with defending my choices nor getting others to agree with them or even like them. The only post I have ever deleted was on this subject because I decided I didn’t need to explain myself and it was generating controversy I had no intention of stirring up.
7. There is too much stuff in my sidebar. It makes me feel claustrophobic. When I redesign my blog very little will remain in the sidebar (much of it will move to separate pages - like the archives). It’s part of my decluttering - it’s invading all parts of my life. Simplify, organize, categorize, only keep what is really serving me and get rid of the noise.
8. My categories and tags are a jumble. They stress me out sometimes thinking about which to pick. This tells me I need to rethink them all. I think simplify, organize and declutter will be the motto here also.
9. My cat likes to sit on my monitor while I blog and she puts her paw down over the screen when she wants attention. Actually, she’s not particular, I don’t have to be blogging for her to do this. She’s just as happy interrupting my reading of random wikipedia articles.
10. Forcing oneself to be profound when writing a blog post doesn’t usually result in a very high quality post.

Structures #15

The above piece was included in my very first post. It’s the one and only Structures piece that has hand sewn surface stitching. The piece sold during the opening night at Quilt National 2005 from the gift shop to the collector that purchased my piece in the show, Structures #31. He had me sign the back of both of them in sharpie marker. Kind of freaked me out.

Check out this detail image of the stitching. I think it turned out totally cool.

 
Tomorrow is the artist reception for my show, Markings: Repetition and Pattern. I’m super excited! I can’t wait to see all the work hanging in the gallery.

Structures #14    ©2003    29"x 35"

Enough Time

Most everyone has heard the story about putting rocks and pebbles and sand in a jar (if not look here). The basic idea is you have to the do the important stuff first or you won’t find time for it. The other stuff will fit in around the big stuff.

This is my version (another of the notes I have posted in my studio):

When I first read this quote years ago it was a good reminder that I really do have time for all the important things in my life. To me this said it was about making the choice to do so.

So I put this quote on my wall to remind me that I chose to believe I have time. My thoughts and attitude about my life create my life. If I believe I have time, I do and I truly believe I have enough time.

I remember showing this to a friend that is always stressed out and saying how busy she is. Doesn’t matter what she’s doing she’s harried and complains about lack of time. She looked at this sign when I put it up and said "that’s not true". Years later she’s still living her life on overdrive saying she never has time for all the stuff she wants.

Maybe she’s busier than me. Or maybe we just view life differently. I know I have time for a full time job, kids, family, friends, home, a garden, laughter and also an art career. I believe it - so it is so.

Priorities

There may not be enough hours in the day for everything I might possibly want to do but there is always time for the stuff I really really care about. That’s the other message I get from this note on my wall. That’s it’s about identifying the important stuff.

If I start feeling overwhelmed I review where I’ve been spending my time. Is it on important things? Generally when I’m feeling stressed I find I’ve been spending my time doing things that aren’t all that important. Like checking email a zillion times a day or writing a blog post when what I really wanted to do was work in my studio. Unconscious behavior like this is a good way to get off track.

When I refocus on the present and get back to the tasks that I currently feel are important my life, goals and intent all just fall into place.

Sifting out the Junk

When I go for days, weeks, month and maybe even years not putting time into something I claim is important, I take this as a sign to reevaluate how important that thing really is to me. If I’m not finding time for it, does that mean I need to let the thing go? Instead of being a priority maybe it’s really an energy drain. Often I find that to be the case.

I have to be careful here, because sometimes I’m not doing what I want for other reasons. Fear often being one of the biggest factors, which will lead me to my next post.

Right now my brain is say Didn’t you say you were going to get Markings #19 finished tonight?  so time to stop writing and get to the studio.

Popsicles

For a few years I had the above photo on the wall right in front of my sewing machine. Some time after completing Structures #14, at the top of this post, I realized I’d finally made my popsicle piece. So I took down the photo and glued it into my sketchbook. It’s funny how inspiration works even though you aren’t consciously aware of it at the moment.

Related Posts

Transitioning and Intent
Holding Intent - Part I
Holding Intent - Part II
Holding Intent - Part III

Structures #96    ©2008    16.5"x 28"

The Pulse

Seth Apter, of blog The Altered Page, has posted compilations of artists’ responses to a few of his questions. It was fun to read the answers. I asked to join in after he got going and my answers are posted in the postscript.

Purple and Rothko

Two of my answers (you can read the others on his blog):

If I could take a class from one artist from anytime in history, including today, it would be…Mark Rothko - I love his work and would love to chat with him about his take on abstract expressionism.

Today my favorite color is…Purple - always purple - deep royal purple but any of them will do. Although I don’t use it often in my artwork as I’m drawn more to earthy southwestern colors in my art. Subtle purples creep into these pieces. Maybe I’ll go home tonight and make something purple.

In response to my answers Seth sent me an email with this image (one of Rothko’s amazing paintings):

Structures #96

A few days later I made Structures #96. It will also be part of my solo show at the Lux Art Center, Fencing In or Keeping Out. Hard to miss the influence.

I also had the Structures #35 in mind, the piece recently installed at the medical facility in Cleveland. I didn’t take the idea in that piece very far and now I’m excited about seeing where it leads me.

 
Detail image of surface stitching on my piece:

100

Only 4 more pieces in this series and I’ll hit 100 - woohoo! I might have to plan an event of some sort.

Although I’m switching gears back to my Markings series tonight to finish up a few things for my solo show opening at Macky Auditorium Gallery in Boulder, Colorado in 2 weeks. I won’t get back to Structures pieces until late this month.

Markings Show

The Macky show is titled Markings: Repetition and Pattern. Mark your calendars now for February 23 from 2-4 for the opening if you want to see the show in person. I’m also giving an artist talk at 3pm. I’ll be posting images of all the work in the show on my blog after the show opens.

The gallery isn’t open to the public very often, just Wednesdays from 9-4, as it’s in the lobby of a theater, so I asked for an opening time on the weekend for all us working types. Thousands of people will see the show during performances so it’s an excellent venue, just not very accessible to friends.

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.

Structures #65    ©2007    49"x 51"

Staying

For years I’ve had inspirational signs in my home and studio. These daily reminders help keep me on track so I can hold my intent and meet my goals.

The simplest one is a single word:

I find this to be a great reminder to snap back to the present. It’s so easy to get lost in thought and minutes, hours and even days can go by with no idea of what I’ve done. Although I make a lot of goals for the future, this is a reminder that the future will only happen if I focus on the present and do what I intend to do.

Staying in the present is a key element to holding intent for me.

Structures #65

The above piece was completed early last year but my attempts at photographing it were less than successful. I posted an image of it in progress a year ago here that is rather dull. As a result this piece has never seen the light of day. We’ll see if I can remedy that this year.

This piece is heavily textured with stitched parallel black thread lines that are 1/8" to 3/16" apart. Adding all of that black thread on top of the bright colored fabric was an interesting experiment. I love the effect on this piece. You can see this better in the detail image:

 
 
Bonus points to the person that can point out what changed in the design between the in progress shot of Structures #65 and the final piece above.

 

Related Posts

Transitioning and Intent
Holding Intent - Part I
Holding Intent - Part II

Structures #8    ©2002    39"x 86"

Stop Complaining

Late last year I committed to going 21 days complaint free, in a row. I’ve succeeded in this task a few single days and I’m now very aware of my behavior. It’s been a humbling and eye opening experience but also a very positive one and I’m sure I will be successful as it is a priority.

I find letting go of the negativity is a huge help in holding intent in all areas of my life. I just do stuff, instead of making up excuses and complaining about why I can’t.

 
Along those lines I find this Nike video to be very powerful. I don’t like it when I sound like this:

Structures #8

I’ve been reprocessing some older images, this one included. I decided to flip the image and show it horizontal in this post as that was how it was originally designed. It can be hung either horizontal or vertical. I wrote about making this piece a while back in this article. Short story is that it was the result of living in New Zealand for 5 months.

Related Posts

Transitioning and Intent
Holding Intent - Part I

Structures #35    ©2005    49"x32":

 
I am super happy to announce that the above piece, Structures #35, the piece I use to brand my website, blog, business cards, etc has been purchased by the University Hospitals in Cleveland. The piece was installed in the Twinsburg Medical Center earlier this month.

This is one of my favorite pieces and I use it for my online identity. Any avatar or place to put a photo of myself online, I use this artwork to represent me. I’m thrilled it’s found a home where many people will be able to enjoy it.

The art consultant, who has been absolutely wonderful to work with, sent me some pictures today and I think it looks great.

Twinsburg Medical Center
 

Structures #35 in it’s new home.
 

The piece is framed behind plexiglass. People have a very hard time keeping their hands off of textiles. There is something so appealing about the tactile nature of the fabric it can’t be resisted. It’s one of the reasons I work in the medium, although it presents some challenges when installing the work in public. I think they did a really nice job and am pleased with how it looks.

Another outside photo of the facility.

I love the way the lines and shapes in my work echo the lines in the building. It’s the first thing I noticed when I opened my email with all the images. Too cool. The piece was clearly made to live in this space.

 
This is the 3rd piece I’ve sold to be part of a public art collection and I am thrilled. Selling art is way cool. Selling it to be part of a public art collection is fabulous!

You can see pictures of one of my older pieces installed in my local town hall here. I need to get some photos of the other public art piece, sold to a library many years ago. I wonder if they still have it hanging.

Happiness!