Today was the 4th meeting of my fiber study design group. This group started last August when I was asked to teach a class in design for a group of artists who know one another through various groups and workshops, and who all work in different mediums. I had developed the outline for this design class over a year ago when I was asked to teach by some members of our local art quilt guild, the Front Range Contemporary Quilters. I had been thinking about how quilters and fiber artists often progress in their development by taking lots of workshops and learning from one another. These workshops tend to be mainly focused on techniques, so they know how to use materials and follow a process, but they often have no background in basic principles of design and composition. I knew I didn’t want to just teach yet another technique, so I developed a design class instead. Last August was the third time I have taught it.
The class was originally intended to be 2 days, but this group enjoyed learning about design so much, they wanted to continue on with more study. Each time, I give them homework exercises which they have a couple of months to complete before the next meeting. In today’s class, we looked at what every one had done with the homework, and the results are really amazing. They are all so creative and the different solutions everyone comes up with are truly inspiring. Unfortunately, being new to blogging, I completely forgot to take pictures to include here, even though I had asked them early on if I could. Next time I won’t forget!
Anyway, the house we met at is very close to a local library where some of my work is currently on display, so I went there after class to get a shot of the exhibit wall. This exhibit, at the Tallyn’s Reach Library, is part of the City of Aurora’s 2007-2008 Art in Public Places program. More of my work is on display at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Starting March 1, the work leaves the libraries and moves to the Aurora Municipal Center.
