Life muddles on:However is the word

I seem to be on some kind of partial sabbatical from blogging and painting. Part of it seems to be the waning interest my blog generates and reduction of visitors (90% visits are via google search), part of it is my indifference to the whole business of art ( promoting it or trying to sell it). I would say disappointment and discouragement has taken it's toll in that regard.
HOWEVER
I'm obsessed with embroidery and I'm LOVING it.
So my creative needs are being met via the needle rather than the paintbrush right now.
Many people don't see embroidery as art, least of all fine art. I don't see embroidery included in collections in fine art museums (except in textile sections devoted to ancient cultures). Even in the Textile Museum in DC, there were no examples of embroidery other than incorporated into a utilitarian item or decorative/religious clothing.
There are samplers but they were meant to show sewing skills rather than an artistic expression using sewing. It's not that there aren't examples of exquisite deocrative embroidery, but as a fine art form it is still relegated to the craft and utilitarian. I wonder if that is going to change though as more and more artists incorporate embroidery into their repertoire of personal expression? Shows like "Pricked: Extreme Embroidery" at the Museum of Arts & Design have started that change perhaps.
AND
There are embroidery museums and one can see examples of embroidery as art but it is still relegated to a specialized craft rather than incorporated in the art world per se.
Embroidery Museum and Resource Center in Louisville, KY
UK Embroiderers' Guild at Hampton Court, London
HOWEVER
I did find this in the Philadelphia Museum of Art listed under modern and contemporary art.
Strange that the one example I could find was by a man, probably couldn't find any embroidery art done by a woman, ahem!


Which brings me to the Guerilla Girls and the fact that women continue to be seriously underrepresented in the art museums, art history books etc.
We shouldn't really need to have a Women's Art Musuem in the first place, but oh well!

Talking about Textiles
Mr.Plato is slowly coming along

I worked on his hand yesterday.

Comments

ckw said…
i so hear ya- i too have been out of the blog deal- i had some surgery and wasnt feelin up to par prior-but am now recouping-
i love the embroidery- my final high school art project in 1973! was an embroidery design on a henley (sp?) t shirt!-so i LOVE the needle and thread-what you are doing is beautiful- and i enjoy visiting you-even when i dont comment-
thanks for your inspirations
jafabrit said…
So nice to see you. I was wondering how you were. Glad you are doing okay and healing.
Art said…
I was going to suggest MAD, but otherwise in terms of fine art textiles..not much.

Maybe it's something about summer... I not feeling the blogging as much either
I went through an embroidery period - nothing like what you are doing! Mine was all kits - but I can appreciate great embroidery when I see it. You do so many really intriguing things! I agree that embroidery should be represented. My wonderful mother-in-law would do kachinas in thread - look at a photo and then recreate it in thread on her own - I need to do something with those to show them off. Even if you only write once a week, I enjoy your posts. I understand about staying up with the blog. As much as I want business, the blog really is a journal for me.
jafabrit said…
I think summer plays a role Art in lack of blog interest all round.

Hi Linda,
I did embroidery many years but like you did it from kits too. I did one or two original pieces but they were traditional. This is long before I got into art.
But you blog so well :) I think I'm beginning to agree with Linda that for many of us a blog is a type of public journal. Personally, I blog because I want to be able to write and speak about my art intelligently. Perhaps it's a form of practice. I read your blog for a similar reason. I like the art and I enjoy how you write about it. You can be very persuasive. Until recently I had no real opinion concerning embroidery or any fiber arts. Between your work and the links you provide I'm with you in wondering why some definitions/categories aren't keeping pace with the art being produced. Is this a form of misogynistic gatekeeping?
jafabrit said…
Bill, I think what I get with blogging is the same with creating. I explore ideas, process them and spit them out on the blog. The links are part of that exploratory process. So yes it is more journal than anything else. But along the way I did get a little lost.I got caught up in the promoting of my blog, my work,the business side of it and believing that all that hard work would pay off with my work selling. didn't work, just left me exhausted. Now though I am getting back to DOING art, and talking about it on my blog. Maybe not at such a fast pace but plodding along.
As to your question
"Is this a form of misogynistic gatekeeping?"

I don't believe so, not purposefully. more like status quo or the continuation of a pattern of thinking due to arts education that doesn't give the full picture.
shana goetsch said…
i think it's a form of mysogynistic gatekeeping. that's how 'art school' was, exactly.
jafabrit said…
shana, I still get a shock when I read a college or high school book on western art. Its astonishing, no wonder people don't think there were any famous artists, lets alone women who worked full time and very successfully as court painters.
Janets Planet said…
Blogging seems to be cyclical. Are you cover Mr Plato with felt?
jafabrit said…
Hiay Jan,
Mr.Plato will be covered from head to toe :)
I saw your post in Guerrilla Girls on fb and decided to pass by here-even tho it's summer ;-). The blog-thoughts you posted are interesting to me as it's my first summer blogging ;-) But also I get what you're saying about feeling caught up in the promoting-side and thinking it would pay off in sales...I'm getting a bit exhausted as well...maybe I'll "regroup" and get focused on making pieces too. So there, your post got me inspired and re-energized, just thought I'd mention it. Thx! :)
jafabrit said…
ria, thanks for dropping by and commenting. Hope you have super summer and get re energized :)
Lady P said…
that hand is AMAZING! and you are so right about the under representation of women - in so many things, not just art

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