River Garden Studio

Nestled in the Hills of Idaho

I am home again after a very special workshop.  

This beautiful woman is my sister, Stephanie.  

She is a history professor at Idaho State University.

Her lovely home is nestled in the hills of Idaho.

This is the book she made in my workshop.

This is Emily, she organized my workshop for me,

what a joyful person she is!

And Stacey, I didn't get his photograph, sadly,

but it was such a pleasure having him for the first day of "The Thread That Weaves."

And Jeriann, half the year she is an artist,

and half the year she works on her flower farm here.

She brought me this beautiful bouquet of flowers.

What a way to make the second day of our workshop even more special.

Here is her book.

And amazing Claudia, who first saw my video about my workshop and mentioned to my sister that I should go to Idaho State to do a workshop.

She is a professor of Women Studies and an artist as well.

These are parts of her book as they progressed.

And lovely Barabara, another beautiful soul, artist and teacher,

Here are pages from her book.

And Sandy... another amazing artist and dear soul

that spent the workshop with us.

And her book...

I feel so much gratitude for the chance to work with all of these artists.  

I hope that I could somehow make a difference in their lives

as they have in mine. 

There are more photographs on my Facebook here...

In the evening we our time on my sister's deck.

I was feeling pretty good! 

This is Allan and Seb, Stephanies sweet family.

Allan is also a history professor and just had this book published.  

Our evening conversations were fascinating.

My flowers from Jeriann made it to our dinner table.

And it even rained one day after so long.

The red maples were thankful as well. 

One thing that I have been working on is designing an on-line workshop based on "The Thread That Weaves."  

I'm not advertising it yet, but I do have some students that are starting October 1 with a discount.  

My next official workshop will begin November 12, but I think I could take on a few more students for this month!  

Please email me if you have any questions and stay tuned for details!!

Here are some new answers to my question:  

What is the thread that weaves through your art?  

Please take your time to read these responses

and thank you so much to the artists who have answered this questions so thoughtfully... 

"The Thread that Weaves" .....  I have noticed many common threads weaving through my work throughout the years:  nature, spirituality, beauty, colour. 

Colour affects my mood..... happy bright colours,  warm  peaceful colours,  soothing neutrals....I love them all, and use them all.  Colour threads its way into my work depending on my mood, depending where I am and what is happening around me.  I look to nature not only for its beautiful images but  for colour combinations,  for patterns, for the spirituality that an awareness of nature brings to my work.

On a  more physical level a common thread through my work is definately fabric.  Since early childhood I  have been lucky enough to have had women around me that loved fabric:  they sewed clothing and sewed for pleasure; stitched wonderful embroideries;  knitted jumpers, scarves, hats all from recycled wool.   These women obviously passed on their love of textiles and thread to me.   I have always enjoyed stitching quilts or cloths. I began quilt making about 30 years ago and loved many of the traditional old patterns. In recent years I have enjoyed a more organic style, using recycled and hand dyed fabrics mixed with some commercial fabrics. I still love those traditional old block designs, but work with them in a more 'free' way, heavily influenced by Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth and Judy Martin of Judy's Journal blogs.

  

I have always loved drawing and painting and as I got older I would stitch or glue a little piece of a favourite fabric to a little drawing.  I always seem to find a place for fabric....whether it be stitched, glued or painted onto my canvas or paper.  Fabric is definately the thread that weaves through my art.

-Jacky Williams

My thread began with my mother who shared with me her love of fabrics when I was a small child.  This was the beginning of my journey into creativity.

My thread of creating was strong and seemingly had a life of its own as it wove in and out of snippets of fabric, balls of yarn, and hanks of embroidery threads.

However, several years ago my thread took an unexpected twist into the world of art.  The thread was fragile at first as these hands had never drawn or held a paint brush!  Happily, this thread of mine continues on as it weaves and dips further into creating with paint and brush, papers and ink.

-Coral Smith

The thread that weaves through my work is real thread, the one that goes through the needle that weaves  the little scraps of my life together, layer by layer,  my story in cloth. That's it.  All of it. 

-Jude Hill

The thread that weaves through my art and my work in general is a theme about my journey to the development of home. I believe we all need places to feel safe and loved. I believe we all need to find the space to love and accept  our selves. Getting to that place of feeling held inside and out takes a lot of work. It is a hard, but worthwhile journey. So my art shows a constantly unfolding story about love, acceptance, sadness, vulnerability, community and home. And through all my work I hope to encourage others to also take the path less traveled and search for the truth in beauty to help guide their way. 

-Jess Greene 

"..what is the thread that weaves through your art?..." 

I see on your Blog that the previous answers are deeply thoughtful and poetic.

I have to admit that my journey has been far more the "Bull in a China Shop" path.

I'm self taught for the most part, and I've learned by that age-old method: OBSERVE, jump in, OBSERVE, trudge through, OBSERVE, fall flat on my face, OBSERVE, shrug, and continue Onward!.

This has served me well in my sketching, painting, sign-making, graphic design, business dealings, and only recently, REALLY learning how to cook.

So here's the THREAD:

I've been Brave, Naive and Willing to Fail. 

I think that you can SEE that in my work, and it defines my relaxed and somewhat humorous style. It's really much more fun to create without all of those creepy, judgmental voices running through your head. I really should know better than to attempt something that could turn into a smoking-screaming-trainwreck disaster......but I don't, and that's just fine with me.

-Lisa Hoffman

and here she is....

 

Autumn come quickly

Autumn, please come quickly.

I miss your colors.

The leaves are getting ready for you.  

With the first touches of red.

I am working hard on my art, 

my collages become backdrops.

Old books and new,

old images and new,

lie on my worktable.

A flower lives on.

Beauty can be a backdrop.

For the art to come.

Autumn please come quickly.

The ground is parched.

I love to write on my own photographs. 

Paste a picture on a dried leaf.

Add a little pen and ink. 

This makes me happy.

And sometimes a photograph,

becomes a page in a journal.

How lovely to play with art,

design,

a photo,

your pen

and matte medium.

What could be better?

Maybe the beginnings of a cover of a new book?

A dragonfly. 

As I look from the inside.

Out.

A package of panels mailed to this dear friend and collaborator.

For him to finish.

Autumn come quickly.

Here is a new response to my question, 

What is the thread that weaves through your art?"

by the beautiful Angela Receda:

One thing that I've noticed is that I love the vast variety of ways there are to express yourself in art.  You are really only limited by your own creativity.  And your art can change and grow as you, yourself, do.  I love that art can be sweet and beautiful, or raw and savage, or anything in between.  What draws me most to create is my love of colors and textures and patterns.  I'm inspired by so many things in the natural world, even something as mundane as the back of a decayed leaf.  I try to include and reinterpret these natural textures, patterns and colors in my own way.

And if you don't know about this intuitive painting workshop by the amazing Sue Simpson at Earthtone Studios, read about it here!  Camano Island in the fall.... be still my heart.  Sue has another workshop in late October which I and this lovely person will be driving up to! It is not advertised yet, but contact Sue for information about it!

And if you want to read more of my artistic adventures....

And, I am off here for a new "The Thread That Weaves" workshop.

Can you believe all of these links? 

Of golden threads, part three

 

 

This is my third post on the question I asked a few weeks ago to some of the artists that I have gotten to know the last few years, (most of them through the blog world!)  

The comments and responses to this questions have made my heart sing. I am honored to know or get to know every one of you.

If you haven't answered my question yet, please know it is not too late.  I can either add responses to this post or create a new one.  

Also, I have been making lots of art!  So please check back.

My question was:

"What is the thread that weaves through your art?"

 I begin with Sharmon from

True Adventures of an Art Addict

My artist statement says this: "I'm able to recognize threads of connection stretching through time from my childhood to the work I’m making now... As a child, I drew and cut out my own paper princesses, knights, horses and dragons.  I made ‘people’ out of natural materials such as sticks and apples, clothing them with flowers and housing them in villages of moss and clay." I wrote this part of my artist statement after realizing that what I do now is not so different from what I did then.  That thread of creativity has been my lifeline at times when life seemed too hard- when I had lost sight of who I truly was. 

Thematically, the main thread that runs through my work is that of interconnection; each piece I make, in one way or another, expresses a deep belief in the unity and connectedness of every thing in the universe.Having come from the same source, we are all intricately bound together; our threads are forever intertwined.  

Sharmon Davidson

 

WOW!!! Wonderful question and wonderful responses... I too, loved how you put the pictures in with the responses... simply beautiful...

Been Thinking about this question... for me, I think my Threads weave back and forth my Faith, my Heart Songs, my Creativity, all that is me, making each thread stronger as it weaves together... bringing me the most joy.... 

Faith Gasper

 

Roxanne, I've read these two posts and found them beyond inspirational.

They are informative.  They are touching and spark many points of recognition inside me.  I loved as I was reading them the growing reminder of the common thread that weaves through the artistic impulse, vision, and even the artistic imperative.  I'm sorry I've been late to this question, but the things I've seen and read here have certainly made me recognize and own the thread that runs through not only my art, but my life.  

Thank you.

Chris Miser

 

Wonderful responses, all of them to your call... The thread that weaves through my work is relationship. our lives are made up of papers, old book pages, post cards, sheet music and wrapping papers. I use them all to create layered mixed media pieces that represent movement, growth erosion and the changes that are ever present in my relationships with others and more importantly with myself.

Caterina Giglio

 

Answering this is like taking the rarest of milk from inside

a sacred Cow and setting it out for examination of transformative

powers.  How did this gift happen?  Is it chewed grass.

Chlorophyll and morning dew; a wild elixir of mammary gland

magic.  Yes, I use female imagery, believing this thread a grace

akin to mother’s milk, nourishment of and from mystery.

Meanwhile, the milk in its pail exposed in the heat of examination,

sours.  Mystics believe at times things should be hermetically

sealed from us.  Too much mind mis-carries the inner thing.  

This thread is not another curiosity to set among the tabled and

tagged of “things known” since history.  If you already understand,

chances are you won’t bother chasing its ineffable music.  This is

an eternal thread and its flower is all; you, and me; our hands,

loving; our eyes, voices heartminds trying to say—(the fragmentary

majesty of Being)--with lips that can barely mouth it.  I am grateful it

visits, know when it breathes through me, kisses me.  We are all

addicted.

Mansuetude

 

For more beautiful insight about "The thread that weaves... and binds"

visit this blog.

I almost forgot to include this beautiful poster that the Idaho State University Graphic Arts Dept. made about my upcoming workshop!  Please help me spread the word, or better yet join us!