Artist Spotlight: Alma Stoller

Time to intruduce you all to another fabulous artist! I have to tell you that I really enjoy this process. Getting to know another artist and hearing their story is fascinating and inspiring to me. I hope it is to you as well. 

Alma Stoller creates some lovley and ethereal portraits and mixed media textile art and I think you might like her work as much as I do.

Lyric - It's so nice to "meet" you here Alma. I love your work and am wondering, did you always know you wanted to be an artist?

Alma - yes. I knew that very early on.

L - I love it when that happens. What are some of the interesting turns you took on the path to where you are now as an artist?

A -I always knew that I wanted to focus in the arts. For me, that took the form of Theater in High School and Music in College. I loved becoming Joan of Arc so much, that I cut my hair and dyed it black in order to 'feel' the part. I started writing poetry and songs when I was in my early teen and spent a good deal of time recording it and trying to get into the biz, but I realized that what I liked about music and theater was the writing, coming up with an interesting chord progression, the development of stories, characters and the creative part of it. 

I have always been interested in the healing arts.... how art, whether it's dance or doll making, theater or cabinet making can transform you. It has the ability to change your life....to empower you and make everyday experiences sweeter. In my own way, these days, I focus more on that angle of it than anything else. I've always dabbled with drawing and doodling on paper.....but it wasn't until my daughter was born that I shifted from music to art. I finished my BA in Music, (with one class short of a minor in art) and immediately started taking Graduate courses in Music Education. Doing what I thought was the practical thing to do rather than what I wanted to do. 

When my daughter was born....that was actually the best time. While caring for her, I was also able to care for myself. I actually had the time to think about what I wanted. I started writing and drawing again. I started sewing new things out of the little dresses she outgrew. It was a really sweet and quiet time for me.

L - Why do you choose your medium?

A - I work in a little bit of everything. 

I truly enjoy working in all fields of art, from painting, collage, to crochet and textile art.

  

L - What are your favorite art supplies - the ones you can't do without?

A - That changes depending on what I am into at the moment.....

Right now, my favorite supplies are Golden Extra Heavy Gel Matte, pearl cotton embroidery thread, gesso, and the current issue of Vogue.

L - Why do you teach and what do you get out of it?

A - I love teaching and I love sharing my ideas. Teaching others allows me to see my work from the outside rather than from inside my head and through my eyes. 

It forces me to be a little more mindful of my own creative process....something I am not quite aware of when I am in 'the zone".

L - Do you have any upcoming classes you would like to promote?

A - I am teaching a class called Fabric Beads, Oddities and Thingamajigs....it is a hoot.

Soooooooo much fun.

So there you have it. Alma is a lovely person and a whimsical artist. I love that she doesn't limit herself with one medium but simply applies whatever suits her fancy. How about you? Why do you use the medium you do? Did you choose it for any particular reason? If you had to work in another medium what would it be? 

Artist Spotlight part 3: Diana Trout book review

In her book

Journal Spilling

North Light Books

Diana Trout

writes:

"I wrote, "Admit that I am scared and do it anyway." "It" was something that I began to look at more carefully and ask myself what would happen if I did "it" and failed? As it turned out, failure didn't seem to be earth-shattering. So attempting "it" became exiting. I began to truly understand the truth behind courage - being scared and doing it anyway.

If you've read my writings you will understand why I'm drawn to Diana's work and to this book. My soapbox is all about overcoming your fears and just doing the work. I love that she says it right there in black and white. What is so earth shattering about failure? Not much. Most of the time it is just one step that you need to make on the road to success.

In working through this book you will take a journey through the world of the soul, the space where your wishes and dreams are freed from shadows and let out into the light of day. Diana gives prompts, asks questions, and gently guides you along the path of creative self exploration. My favorite part? She keeps it real. Nothing too schmarmy - just real life experiences and down to earth words that tell it like it is.

Along the way you will learn many different techniques - most of which I hadn't tried before as they are all about the paper arts. Suminagashi is the one I'm most attracted to. It's a japanese form of marbling and she makes it look effortless. Diana also covers using resists of all kinds, different ways to use different paints, a few bookbinding techniques, and several image transfer methods. This is a book that I wish I had time to very slowly, step by step, work my way through.

So. Anyone care to come along for the ride? 

Leave a comment and tell me what "IT" might be for you. 

What are you afraid of? What keeps you from trying? Is there really anything earth shattering that might happen if you fail? One lucky commenter will with a copy of Diana's book. I'll compile the comments from this post as well as  this one and this one. Check back here Friday to see if you are the lucky one!

Artist Spotlight part 1: Diana Trout

I'd like to introduce you to another artist whom I admire, the lovely and talented Diana Trout.

Lyric - Have you always known you wanted to be an artist? How did you come to where you are now in your artistic development.

Diana - Oh boy, this will be a long answer. 

In a word, no. Apparently, I loved art as a child but my parents were pretty busy since there were five of us kids and my mom was sick. I remember being given a paint by number set. I loved the paint and hated the numbers. I wound up doing my own thing which led my mother to believe I wasn’t much of an artist. I spent a lot of time in our small town craft shop and used to spend all of my allowance there.

We didn’t have any art in school (mid to late 60’s, catholic school) but we did have plenty of music - all that choir practice! I love music, so decided that was my calling; all through high school and collage, I played guitar and sang in coffee houses. It was a good part-time job! 

D - And so it went. I went to several different commuter colleges, bouncing from one major to another and paying for it myself. Eventually, something snapped in my head and I went to art school and took a few classes. After building a portfolio, I applied to Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Everything I did there was magical and I immersed myself completely in painting and drawing the figure. That was it: 35 years later, I’m still sticking with it.

L - I agree - PLAY takes practice. It’s good to think through your work but it is so helpful to take the time to be free. 

L - We have so much in common! Large family, started out and paid our own way through college as musicians. You were lucky to find art early… it took me a while. It's never too late right?

L - Stranded on a Desert Island - what's in your art shoebox?

D - My watercolors, definitely and embroidery/sewing kit. I could make my own paper and find fibers there to stitch on. There would probably be berries for ink and sticks to draw with and I could make charcoal sticks easily enough. Better have some matches to start that fire, though. How long would I be there, exactly?

L - Hey we should hang out there together. I could teach you how to make a flint and steel fire and set a game trap for food. Let’s keep it easy though and just spend a few wonderfully isolated days with our art and plenty of food before the yacht comes to pick us up.

L - Your journals have an intriguing balance of rawness and beauty. I have trouble getting too tight in my work. Any hints for staying loose?

D - Oh yes, that is difficult! Practice is the solution, though. It’s a funny thing that adults need to practice re-learning how to play but we really do! Thank you for noticing the “raw/elegance” aesthetic, Lyric. It really is something that I’ve consciously nurtured for a long time.

I hope you've enjoyed meeting Diana as much as I've enjoyed getting to know her. Diana's blog is titled Hububbery. Go visit her there and say hello. 

You've got to love a woman who uses the word Hububbery.

And the WINNER is....

of Judy Coates Perez' Quilting Arts DVD Workshop

Mixed Media Painted Fabric

is.....

!!!Judy Whitehead!!!!

Go check out her lovely work at

http://www.judywhitehead.com/

Congratulations!

Review: Judy Coates Perez

It’s amazing how time gets away from me. July flew by. 

Judy Coates Perez has produced two DVD Workshops with Quilting Arts and I’ve already told you that she’s one of my favorite artists. Both are simply done and straightforward. I think they were early on in the line-up of QA’s DVD’s as the set is spare rather than the fun studio background in the current DVD’s. No matter because the techniques that Judy presents are solid and informative.

In Painted Cloth for Mixed Media Judy takes you step by step through the creation of a mixed media painted cloth. She shows you how to adhere various collage papers to cloth, then apply wonderfully juicy layers of color. Then another layer of lovely painted design is applied so that your first two layers just peek through. She ends up with a wonderfully rich and complex piece of cloth that can be stitched into used for a quilt top or formed into any fun accessory you choose. Judy’s style is at once both beautifully simple and richly complex at the same time.

So - Leave a comment here or on one of the other spotlights on Judy and Monday I’ll let a random number generator choose the lucky winner of this DVD! Tell me if you’ve ever used paper on cloth. How is it to sew through? If you use it for something like a tote bag how durable is it? I’m having all sorts of fun accessory ideas after watching Judy’s workshop.

Artist Spotlight part 1: Jane LaFazio

Hello Friends. I'd like to introduce you to another artist whose work I admire and enjoy. I think you will come to love her artwork as well.

Jane LaFazio is a mixed-media artist working in San Diego California. She has degrees in Graphic Design and Asian Studies, worked for a bit as an international flight attendant, in marketing, and in graphic design. Her career as a full time artist began in watercolors and gradually morphed into collage, sewing, and cloth. I'm very glad it did. Her work with thread and fiber is fascinating, rich, and deep. I was so happy that she took the time out of her very busy schedule this month to answer some interview questions.

Lyric: You are a prolific artmaker - something I hope to become when my children are no longer consume most of my time. (years and years away!) Have you always been prolific?

Jane: I’ve been blessed with a lot of natural energy, and now I’m focusing it on making art. I LOVE making art. As I mentioned, I create a lot of artwork for my workshops and classes, and that act pushes me to finish a project, and work out the problems, rather than just walk away from it. If I’m scheduled to teach something the next day, I’d better figure it out!

L: Do you have to work to discipline yourself to create art?

J: No, I need the discipline for the household chores, not the art making! I have a wonderful, supportive husband who cooks, shops and even does the laundry. Yes, I appreciate him VERY much!

L: Do you have any great habits that help you produce?

J: I work small. I like to work small, but it also makes it easier to do many different projects or types of art. And I almost always have some project that I work on in the evenings, watching TV with my husband.

L: I love working small as well. You can always have something with you no matter where you are. You work in a broad range of media and a variety of styles. Do you think this is an advantage, a disadvantage?

J: Seen in the light of “professional artist” probably a disadvantage. What did Kelli Nina Perkins call herself, a “promiscuous art maker.” That would be me. I love all kinds of art, so I’m always switching media and beginning a new passion, for about a week, then I’m on to something else! My sketching and watercolor: journal style has stayed true and consistent for a number of years now. In the past year, I’ve begun creating heavily hand stitched needle-felted pieces that I intend to stay with—I love the work that’s coming out of me and want it to become some of my signature work. But I’ll still see something in a magazine or on line, and rush to my studio to create something I’ve never tried before. I do LOVE a new technique!

L: What inspires your work? Do you work from realistic sketches and try to reproduce them? Are you inspired by your materials?

J: I get inspiration from everywhere. Online, magazines, walks, museum visits, art fairs, shopping… I don’t plan any of my work. No sketches to work out the kinks for me! I just dive in. that’s where working small works for me. I’ll often create a number of small pieces, then assemble them into something larger. But always, with no real plan. I work intuitively, by starting with a material or a color usually. 

Ralph’s Letters, my ‘breakthrough’ piece was created using love letters from an old boyfriend, and I just began a page at a time. (Breakthrough because it was my largest piece to date, and got in many juried show AND was my first piece published in Cloth Paper Scissors, thanks to Lesley Riley.)

Ralph's Letters

L: What are your favorite materials?

J: Needle and thread. I started as a watercolor artist, and as I moved into collaging my watercolor paintings, I started sewing on the paper. Now I also sew on fabric.

I hope you have enjoyed getting to know Jane and her work a little better. She is a prolific blogger and I encourage you to head over and browse through her work. It's complex and rich and beautiful. Next week I'll tell you about some of the amazing work she does in teaching and sharing her creativity. At the end of the month I'll be giving away a copy of her DVD workshop "Small Art Quilts" to a lucky reader. The winner will be chosen from among the comments left on any one of the artist spotlight posts about Jane - including this one. How about telling me your favorite "creative habit." Tell me something that helps you get the work done. (Yes, I am struggling with that particular issue right now. Can you tell?)