Embroidered Collage

I am giving myself permission to create non-objective abstract works that have no direct relationship to the vision I've laid out in my artist's statement. 

I have been struggling against my own expectations and desires for my finished work.  I discovered my vision almost a year ago now and have attempted to live up to it, trying to capture a small slice of the layered and interrelated imagery and media that I imagine.  But when I went through my materials and sketches looking for the next piece to follow Kambaba Jasper I didn't really think about any of that. I just wanted to build up texture with small bits and develop patterning.

I am going to stop fighting this desire, which has been present in my art from the beginning.  Part of my objections have come from outside myself.  I remember reading somewhere that in the seventies fiber artists just explored the possibilites of their media and only in the nineties began to create art with meaning.  I know there is a continual discussion about how for art quilts to become more accepted as art they need to move away from being quilts made based on art principles and become art that happens to be in quilt form.  The idea in my head is that if art is based on an idea or an interpretation of an image, whether presented in an abstract, representational, or realistic format, that it means more than a piece of art that is based only on the materials.  I know that there are artists who paint about painting and paint about paint and so forth and do so successfully in terms of both acclaim and sales.  A good portion of that type of work appeals to me personally.  But I still struggle with the idea that it is something I can do without cheating somehow.

So I am adopting a self-help technique and giving myself permission.  I don't know if my work will change immediately or at all.  Ultimately, play with materials is still a step towards my overall goal.  Just the idea of allowing myself to make and market this type of art as legitimate relaxes me immensely. 

P.S.  I went to link to my artist's statement and found that I'd already modified it so that working with the interaction of materials was my current goal.  I started laughing.  I guess it just hadn't sunk into my subconscious yet.  I considered rewriting this post, but decided it has more value in this edited form.