Hot topic question of the month - June 2009!

[Sue Bleiweiss]

Are you creating the type of art you want to or are you creating based on what's popular at the moment? Do you find that your work is influenced by what the latest magazine articles are about or by the newest products to hit the shelves in the craft and fabric stores?

[Neki Rivera]

i've asked myself that question over the last years as i don't want to succumb to the latest fad, color, technique etc.etc.
i guess i try not to jump on the bandwagon . i ponder what i want to express and really scrutinize how i carry it on, not paying too much attention to peer pressure.
then again i'm also a weaver and that's a pretty sobering practice. as long as i stay away from chenille :) :)

cheers

neki desu

[Cindy Bettinger]

I always want to try the latest techniques - and find that I either discard them once tried, because it didn't really interest me, or pursue them further, to see if I can make it my own. As a result, I haven't a focus, but am optimistic that the exploration is a journey that is leading me to discover my style.

[Lorraine Rigby]

I get bored quick and so am forever trying all kinds of techniques...I do most of my shopping on ebay so dont go into craft stores. I have a look in magazines but try and do my own interpretation which often leads me to a completely different idea! I am trying to learn crochet at the moment after having a mad phase of burning everything with a soldering iron!!

[joe lewis]

over the years of making art, it has always been what it wants and needs to be at the moment and not what is selling. I had a perfectly reasonable reputation as a landscape painter with a market and collectors, when I moved into textiles they were revolted, by price mostly because I kept that at the same level as my paintings, which many poeple thought was absurd because its was only a quilt. I have stuck to my guns and the market slowing returns. where i could have thirty paintings to show each year, I have produced 14 jacquard tapestries in the past 7 years, there have been other things but I am perfectly happy with the work that has been produced, and am looking to exhibit them finally, my last show was in 2001.

the rest of the time I write about all this in my blog and magazine and other "Real" in print magazines.

and the reality is none of it makes much money but it does pay for itself, and for me that is enough (at the moment)

[Vickey Brickle-Macky--FanXstitch]

I'm doing what I want to do so I can be as wild or conservative as I want to be. I do all my own original art because so much out there especially in primitive rug hooking is very similar to one another and I don't want to be accused of copying someone else's work. I may look at what's out there in the magazines and books as well as on line, but if I like a particular idea I try to work it around in my head until it is mine and doesn't resemble anyone's. I work pretty much alone, as there are no local crafters near me in any of my mediums so I don't get peer pressure except for occasional on line comments.

Vickey in SC

[Carrie Gross]

That's a little tricky for me to answer, because I'm always influenced by what I see, and of course most of what you see is going to be what's popular. But at the same time, for something to actually inspire me enough that I want to do something with that style or image, it has to be something that appeals to my personal aesthetic. Right now I'm really into steampunk, which is getting very popular, because something about that old/new/rugged/elegant/technical/fanciful mashup really appeals to me. In this case, I can honestly say I liked it before it was popular, but the thing is that before it was popular I didn't know it had a name - it was just the style of Brisco County, Jr. and Spirited Away and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I'm rambling now, but I suppose my answer to the question is not one or the other, it's "both, but dictated by my taste more than by its popularity."

[Tree Heckler]

I guess I like to try out the latest techniques, but having said that, I tend to just incorporate them into my current projects. I am not overly concerned with selling my work, so what's popular isn't really important to me. New products are so much fun, even if I buy them and they sit on the shelf for months until that amazing inspiration comes along that prompts me to use them.

[Jules Rushing]

Funny you post this question...I had a serious talk with myself yesterday about what I really want to do and the "little things" that I am making right now to put in my ArtFire Studio.

To directly answer your questions ~ sometimes I create what is popular, but I always end up chaning it up so it has my unique twist to it. I look through the lastest mags to get my influences and spin it into my own creations. I don't look at the craft stores for the newest products, but I do look at what is new in the art quilt mags and websites of other fiber artists.

I really love making Art Quilts and painting on fabric. I am enjoying learning new processes and sometimes I have to make myself take the time to learn a new process instead of falling back to what I already know because it is faster and easier.

So, starting today I will be concentrating on a new art quilt and learning new techniques. I'm only going to do "little things" on the days I need a mind break. Basically, I like to make bookmarks and purses out of the left over fabrics from project/quilts I have completed.

[jeanne]

I get inspired by the monthly contests online. It kind of keeps me going.

[DebraAnn]

Whenever I try something faddy it doesn't really make me feel what I like to feel when I embroider. I also don't feel that way when making things for craft shows which still aren't faddy. Now I do love to look at the work of others to inspire me to do my own thing not to do something else just because I think it may sell better then my own work(which to be honest probably sells a bit more then my work does). I guess you can tell I have a love hate relationship with selling my work.