Friday, January 20, 2017

The Boundary Composite!




If confession is good for the soul, then here goes. 
This word acted like the two bars on one of my favorite cartoons [see the 5th row] I used when I was teaching humor and creativity in the classroom. I had all 14 quilts in a row ready to place them in some order on the composite and I just couldn’t see a creative pattern. My boundary had become a closed box, not just 2 bars.  Rita looked over my shoulder and said look for lines and colors and faces and there it was, my bars opened. Yes, I know, each quilt makes its own heartfelt statement. For the composite, here are my thoughts as to how the rows speak.

Row one: How obvious, fences, wide open inviting views, clouds with blue sky, leading lines taking [breaking our boundaries] us off into new adventures, wonderful perspectives.

Row two: The faces row. A simple one panel cartoon is known as “economy of expression.” If a picture is worth a thousand words, these 3 images say it all. First, does the monkey really feel that boundary? Personally, I think it does. Carolyn’s quilt says it shouts, no more boundaries, no more! And then Tricia caps it off, “Boundaries, sure, but who cares!” Row two makes a powerful statement for the theme of this round. 

Row three and four: You just can’t take you eye off the color and line. Each block demands your eye to move to the next block and then to the next then back, almost as if the quilts are tied together. Gail, it was almost as if you saw the fissure in Nedra’s panel but in abstract. Kathy, I saw rain drops on the sunrise in Dee’s panel. Candace, at first I couldn’t decide if the black border was part of the quilt, then saw your signature in the corner. It ties very nicely with the blacks in Sara’s work. My eye has difficulty leaving rows 3 and 4.

Row 5: What an imaginative way to complete the composite. Karen’s open gate into the distance tells us there are no boundaries and what great perspective in a vertical image. Yes, I was very involved with Rita’s doors and I have been behind [or better said – beyond] each one of them. As we photographed each door I was reminded of what a magnificent word for this round. You proved the fact that you know no boundaries on your creativity. My cartoon character is/was trapped by only two self-imposed boundaries. Creativity and positive outlook is a great hacksaw. 

Job well done everybody!

6 comments:

  1. It'a always a delight to SEE Randy's composite and to read his rationale for why he arranged the quilt as he did. As usual, Randy, a superlative job!

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  2. It is educational to read your process; just as it is to review the comments of the other artists. Economy of expression; I never knew this term, but today I own it!!

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  3. I love the composite and to read your thoughts. It really helps me as an artist to see what other people think about my choice. thank you so much.

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  4. Randy, thanks so much for all you do to present our works of art so brilliantly ! As others have mentioned, I too, really enjoy reading about your thought processes, and how you magically put our individual works in a beautifully rendered 'whole piece' quilt !

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  5. What a wonderful composite. You are able to take the diverse examples we present as our interpretation of the theme word and present them as a cohesive design. Thank you for your thoughtful presentations.

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