I’m giving the family in the rowboat a week off. (They are on my worktable resting, glue on the felt backing drying.)
What I want to share is some thoughts I’ve had about turning an idea over and over again. Looking at it in more than one way. Continuing to look for more things to see in a single idea. Finding out if there is more.
I know that many artists struggle with “What should I depict?” It can be tempting to search for new and different subject matter. Sometimes that’s a good choice.
Sometimes, however, I think there is real value in focusing on a single idea, or a single subject, or a simple set of visual symbols and continually revisiting them.
There is probably more to see with each revisit.
A house. A tree.
2013 Art Quilt So It Will Not Break In Two
2014 Art Quilt And the Trees Were Stronger
2014 Art Quilt From the Place Where We Landed
2017 Art Quilt This is the Way to Get In
This week I have been looking deeply at the body of work (21 quilts) I will be showing in a solo show this summer. (More details at the end of this post.) What I see in the work is my interest in the emotional pull of home—a house—viewed alongside an image of other forces at work—a tree—explored over and over again, over an artmaking journey of about twelve years.
2024 Art Quilt (Detail) Living in the house of Blue Shadows
2025 Art Quilt (Detail) American Dream Dream
2025 Art Quilt Recurring Dream
2026 Art Quilt (Detail. Work-in-Progress) Following the Path Home
I did not begin with the preconceived notion of depicting houses and trees. I began by listening to the stories inside me that I wanted to tell. This is how they have evolved.
Simply looking through a folder of jpegs in my computer has been an emotional journey. I have remembered what each work meant to me as I created it.
Whatever is in your soul that you want to communicate through your artmaking; don’t be afraid to look at it and address it.
And don’t be afraid to return to the same idea over and over. It will grow, just as you are growing and increasing in your understanding.
. . . . . .
I am thrilled to announce this upcoming exhibit. The Museum of Art DeLand is a 75-year old vibrant museum, with a first-class exhibition space, newly renovated, right in the heart of downtown DeLand, my hometown.
For all of us: focus each day
on the good that needs to be done in the world.
Be part of doing it.
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
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