Nothing prepared her

 

"I wanted to write a novel about a woman I would recognize, who had a reflective side to her life"

"I wanted to write about a woman's discovery that she was an artist and the impact of that.  Nothing had prepared her for this sense of herself."

Carol Shields

in Holland

 

design wall in Holland

I have been too busy to stitch.
I am attending the ETN conference in Leiden and visiting friends.  Very little time off.

In Amsterdam I saw the Riksmuseum and the stars on the ceiling and Marian Bijlenga's studio and the Oasis of Matisse.  I have been sleeping solidly but not for long periods.  My feet are swollen and achy, I should have brought real shoes, not sandals.

slow design

 

  

My ideas don't occur in a specific moment.
They are more like processes.

nina canell  sculptor

roots and wings

 

 

My mother is a practicing textile artist, and has been so for my entire life.  Growing up I was privy to many conversations about the place of art in the life of a mother, a woman, a person in the community.  Art and art making were integral to my upbringing, from the activities I was given to pass time in our home, or the cultural landscapes of new cities we would visit as a family, art took precedence.  My desire to be an artist comes from my understanding of the language of art and it is the conversation that I want to be part of both on a local, daily, and intimate level as well as a larger global dialogue.

(part of April's letter to apply for grad school - written 2014)

sun cloth

 

Abstract design comes from inside.

It gives the work an alien feeling.
that is mercilessly intimate.

a Frank Webb idea

I don't exactly know

 

 

take away the sun
paint the moon white
put the sun into a darker sky

simplicity / complication

drawing in

 

 

evidence of time spent

the ice is out
the birds are singing

the beauty of a cloud

 design walls in newfoundland

 

 

April asked me:  "Do you think you are a disciple of Agnes Martin?"

"Agnes Martin doesn't talk about her work so I'm not going to talk about mine" she said.

"I'm interested in the beauty of a cloud." she continued.