2D - Väripintoja kankailla

I have been talking about putting my quilts on show some day. That day came this very Monday! It took courage to take this step but I think it is necessary in order to move forward in my creative work. Now these works from years 2016 to 2018 are there on the wall for everyone to see at the Rovaniemi Town Hall. At the same time this exhibition is a closure with these quilts and a beginning for yet unknown new directions that I will take with this technique I am so passionate about. Hope that my quilts could bring smile on people's lips as they pass by and that they could feel the colours. Maybe someone gets inspired to begin creating works of their own. It gives so much in life to have a form of self expression, a place of one's own that knows no limits. 

My exhibition 2D - Väripintoja kankailla At the Rovaniemi Town Hall 15.-26.4.2019. Open mon-fri 8-16. Closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. 

Holiday Photos As a Source of Inspiration

MoMa 2018, New York

Wall in Turku 2016

Do you agree with me that holiday pictures come in masses? In the era of digital camera and smart phones taking one or two extra photos is easy. Scary to even think about that one would miss a moment just by thinking if it is worth the film. Photographing is an obsession, more evidence the better. As a result one trip to nearby town can lead to hundreds of photographs. At least I am very lazy in sorting out the shaky pictures from the good quality and thus my personal archives are full of both messy catches and something that would be nice to get in a paper album for future generations. As this will likely never happen, if someone doesn't do it for me, the archives get to be what they are.

One reason why I take so many photographs is that I want to gather all things that I find exciting, new and inspiring. Colours, forms,  curiosities. I enjoy architectural details like curvy old buildings and modern polished structures. Edgy streets and urban city space are equally fascinating. In a traditional photo album a collection of windows would seem a personal option.

Few days ago I started going through my archives with a different thought. Maybe a pile of old photos could become a quilt. Instead of feeling sorry for all these old pictures that will likely disappear one day when some digital format changes, those could turn into works that survive from time. There would be no photo album but an artistic interpretation of a certain trip that would make the essence of the holiday memorable. 

To get the creative juices flowing with new quilt projects I took a notebook and pencil and began sketching. The technique is simple. First I went through pictures from 2016 when I visited in southern Finland. I went through all the material very quickly. Every now and then I concentrated on a photo, chose one detail and sketched it to my notebook. I got few pages full of small drawings. In the process some forms began to live and I studied those further after the sketching session. 

The technique was easy to practice and the photos I had taken served as a source of inspiration as I had once intended. Now I shall go through more recent archives as it was fun to go back to those moments and memories that the original pictures hold. I showed these new sketches on my Instagram stories some days ago and asked if you recognize the real thing behind the processed and more abstract sketch. Here I put the original picture under the sketch so you get a clue what I am meaning with this technique.

Ship masts at Turku 2016

Street lights in Helsinki 2016

Could I find a detail that would turn into a pattern in these photos. We will see.

Staten Island Ferry 2018, New York

Winter Is in the Air

As you can see from the styling of these photos Winter and Christmas have been on my mind lately. It felt great to get this project finished yesterday. To be honest it began to look like this would end into a closet of unfinished works. Evenings turned darker so rapidly that I hardly found time to make sewing and stitching work in proper lightning. Unfinished works are irritating and that is why I put all my effort to this project. I know that if this would have ended to the closet it would have stayed there to the unknown future. Now this one is better closure to the year's quilting. Next year will bring it's own projects that I am sure of. I have two ideas already and I can sketch those properly during the Winter months. Also it might be that I craft some very tiny projects for Christmas. Quilted Christmas ornaments would be nice and in a size scale one can handle without bigger mess in the house.

Empty table cleans the mind and gives space to create totally different projects and process new thoughts. Christmas decorations have been circling in my mind and I am excited to get to decorate my home soon. Just few weeks and most of the Christmas decorations can be brought in! Christmas being a limited period of time with it's own character it gives a needed break between old and new year. I like to divide projects to two categories at this time of the year. One, a pile of work that needs finishing touches and can be completed from to do list before Christmas. Number two, a pile of work that can be left to wait for next year and fresh start. (Three, a pile of work that can be forgotten :) With this technique Christmas time can be reserved to things that please the mind at the moment, small crafts, slow brunches, reading and just being and resting. 

Today's quilt art is called Net because it got it's color from a fishing net. I noticed during the process that it was difficult for me to create a pattern that is not based on repeating motif. I imagined nine boxes to the fabric and placed one motif in each box. This imaginary grid gives needed rhythm. Then I combined the motifs with stitching. In the stitching I used the same curl shape as in the fabric pieces. Stitching collects the net together. Another combining element is classic red in a hue that goes to orange in some light. First time in my life I made piping myself using the same fabric as in the curls. Red piping frames the work beautifully making it an entity. Otherwise it would be a bunch of curls that seem to run away from the work. I love these small details. Last October I made a cushion that has octagon shape, see more here. Tassels in the corners made a huge difference to the look. Not all works need pipings and tassels, some are best without. But I do love it when I can craft a little extra and test a new element. I was amazed how easy it was to make a piping and by making it by myself I got the exact color and size I wanted. Maybe I could make Christmas ornaments with piping? :)

Happy last week of October to You All!

Sannu

Abstract Quilt Art

It is already October. Last week we had the first snow as usual this time of year. Autumn is turning to Winter and I have decided that this quilt project shall be the last one I am making this year. Evenings are so dark that there is no sense trying to sew by hand and do the stitching as both require good light. In November I am going to a holiday abroad and I have plans to gather as much inspiration in few days as possible. Mid winter is great time to process all that inspiration into new works and maybe do some small Christmas DIYs.

There is something that makes me think of Christmas in this quilt project too. The colour palette reminds me of the colours of the fifties and nostalgic Christmas hues red and green. Christmas was not in my mind when I draw and planned this pattern. It took time to figure out where I had picked the colour combination. It was many months ago when I saw an old fishing net that had the most beautiful combination of reds and greens. I saved that picture to my mind and thought  I could use it sometime. A month ago I was in a fabric shop and began to combine colours that looked new to me. The red I chose turns into orange and it looked challenging with dark bluish violet. Then some green and the combo began to look nice. These colors together are not easy but they pleased my eye so I decided to take a risk. The pattern looks like a net too. It is about separate groups that attach to each other. The stitching will make it visible even though you might already see the links. There are nine groups and one is formed just with simple I. It is like the dot in a clause.

I am quite sure that rest of the October shall go with this project. I have had busy weeks and now I try to narrow what things I will take part to. There is everything interesting going on but I can't attend to all. I have to choose and find time for just being at home sewing and reading. Also I see that i need to lower my standards. I want to do all with 100% volume when at times it is not even necessary. Things would be more enjoyable if I didn't put too ambitious goals. With these quilt projects I think it is good to decide that now I make this one and then have a break until Spring and light arrives. Sure I can make just few stitches every now and then but in reality these projects occupy my whole home and I get pressure to finish these in some reasonable time. It is also appealing to get to crochet and watch movies in November and October evenings. I already bough yarns to one project in August.

What are your plans for creative work this Autumn/Winter season?

Modern Quilt Art

Quilt: Orange Is the Rule Breaker

In this work orange become the color that breaks the harmony. Without it this quilt would look boring. Now that the colour challenges the eye one has to look again to form an opinion.

It is always equally pleasing to introduce a new quilt work. These are all so different even though you might recognize that the style is the same and works are made by the same person. In every work I try to test new ideas, search inspiration from different sources and combine colours that inspire me the most at the time. These are all modern and timeless yet I am not afraid to put hints to the time these have been done. Quilt art should last time like art in general and it should not be bound to trends that make it look worn out after year or two. Still I think art also preserves the essence of the time and era that is lived. That is why it is natural that art represents the ideas and currents of the time or in it's most visionary predicts the future we all might not even see. Then we can both see the moment when work was created, let it discuss with what we have now and based on this discussion develop new ideas. One might see from the colours that I am using that this particular work is created around the late 2010s. The work might connect to what happened in this era and what we talked about in the society. When I go to an exhibition this is one way I look at the works. Next step is to understand the similarities to our time and if we ponder same kind of issues these days.

Quite often things just change form yet the core is the same. The pattern for this work is inspired by staircase I saw months ago on my walk. The end result brings to my mind art deco with it's shell like curves. What comes to the era after the first world war we might see many connections to our time. Fashion has always looked inspiration from past decades and centuries. What comes to societal climate of the 1920s - 1940s we hear same kind of voices today. People's desperation and those who are not afraid to use it for their own purposes. I really hope art can be one path to show us from where we have come to this moment. Art can make us see where appealing rhetoric and blind following will take us. In hard times artists made their dreams visible though art and those are the pictures that tell us our real possibilities and how high we can actually aim.

We can enjoy art and we are all allowed to create. What ever is the way for going through emotions -  quilting, painting, moving, cooking... - it is great there is something to make us think and process. We become emotionally blind if we don't create, play and question what is given. Person who creates solves problems and begins to see the opportunities and new ways of doing things. If we don't develop a capacity to question we begin to believe that the solutions given to us are all there is. I have always seen crafts as a form of empowerment. The moment when I draw, test ideas and make is a moment when I have a small arena of my own. I can make decisions, do errors and make corrections and after the process I have something that I can be proud of. An object I have made by myself with my own decisions and skills. Creative processes give self-confidence and knowledge about one's own capacity and through this one has courage to be critical and use their own voice. Quite many things can be taken away easily but creative mind is somewhere deeper.

I have already been sketching a new quilt project. I have fallen in love to the notion that fabric can be so fluent like liquid on canvas. It can be twisted and sculptured to curves. I will test the limits of fabric and draw more challenging patterns. I have noticed that even the most difficult forms are possible with the right technique. It is so much fun to use imagination and come up with an idea that craves time and determination to come into reality.