HAND IN HAND
...an art show by Ann Tilley, is a multi-colored explosion of knitted and crocheted art pieces telling the small stories of relationships in the home. A symbology of everyday objects expresses the intimacy of shared spaces. Painfully familiar one-liners pulled from the world’s journal wrapped in the cuddly kitsch of textiles. A personal inner voice experiencing love through fragmented text and the ordinary.
What does your toothbrush say about you?
That's the write-up for a new solo show of my work going up in Harrisburg, PA next month! My bestie from SCAD days owns a store up there, STASH, that functions as a treasure trove for vintage clothing, a resource for the local and handmade, an art gallery, and an anchor for the young community that's slowly revitalizing this historical downtown. The show will feature more of my object work rather than my text work; all those toothbrushes and houses that have spawned out of the original LOVE SIGNS show I put on last year. This is a great opportunity for me to get my most recent knittings framed and get a chance to visit a dear friend. It will also be the first time I've shown my work out of state. Does this mean I can call myself a national artist?? Yes? Okay, I'll go ahead and add that to the other inflated text in my resumé :)
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I remember when having a resumé was SUCH a big deal. I used to stressss over getting on the computer and trying to design that wow write-up that was going to get me my dream job, whatever that was. I eventually hand-wrote the entire thing because I couldn't find a font that made me happy. Did you ever find it important to actually have a resumé? Or was that just another thing you did at the end of school because everyone told you to do it?
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On to COLOR CONCLUSIONS...
As a follow-up to my last post on color...I figured out what was bothering me with that knitting I was struggling with and how to fix it. In fact, the resulting work is the center image in the poster above. And wouldn't you know, the answer came from my own damn advice. I guess I finally started listening.
Here's the backstory and ultimate conclusion I came to:
I have an idea in the works for an outside installation, and I needed bulky yarn. So I went to Knit Picks and ordered nearly every color they have of their Brava bulky. While it was en route, I thought I could further utilize this new yarn in another toothbrush piece. So when it came in, I picked colors from my options and failed to make something that made me happy. Why? The first conclusion I came to was when I traded the olive green for a bright chartreuse green. I realized that olive green is not one of my colors. Chartreuse green is. What had led to my failure was that I ordered every color they had because I wanted options, not because each of those colors spoke to me. The way that I build the color stash I work with is to buy the colors I need for a project, when I need something specific, or buy the colors that stand out to me. And I don't just buy from one place. I do this in every yarn store in my area, as well as online. This means that when I approach my yarns to design a new knitting, I'm working from my color wheel. This gives me the greatest chance for success because I've already said 'yes' to each of those colors. I see now the mistake in buying every color from one vendor. There are probably yarns in there I will never use. But, on the bright side, I now understand a part of my process and the importance of allowing myself to buy yarn organically as I see something that compels me.
It's just like being in a relationship. The more you understand they way your partner ticks, the way you react to situations, what does and doesn't work; you get better at being together.
The better you start to understand your own artistic processes, the better you can be at your work. And we can all stop making things we don't like!
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