Hasta La Ideas

The last post in this week’s series written by Christina Crook.

One can conclude that the best way to treat the Internet is like an exacto knife. Take it out of the toolbox, get the job done, then tuck it away for next time.

While for many the Web is a substantive source of inspiration, Karen, Paul, Valerie and Samantha agree that before you approach the keyboard it’s important to have a task in mind.

It’s better to get lost in the making than lost in the web.

Jean Arp wrote: “Soon silence will have passed into legend.  Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation…tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego.  His anxiety subsides.”  

Each time we access the Internet we are offered a shot of adrenaline: a like! a share! a purchase! Our egos are bolstered, our nervous energy absorbed.

But ideas come from wide open spaces. Face-to-face conversations, extended hours lost in a project, sketches in our source books, all over deep bowls of espresso and gulps of really good wine.

Cultivating an off-line existence is fundamental to our life-long development as artists.

Look outside. The world has outlived the web. Its this great wide world, and your imagination, whose possibilities are truly endless.

Christina Crook is a magazine writer partial to snail mail, typewriters and traveling on foot. Her articles on culture, technology and religion have appeared in UPPERCASE, Geez and the Literary Review of Canada. This January she stepped off-line for 31 days, chronicling the journey with a type-written letter a day. Her Letters from a Luddite project was featured on CBC’s Spark and is now a book available at Blurb.com.

This post is fourth in a series of posts by Christina Crook.
 

Karen Ruane:

Contemporary Embroidery

For Karen embroidery is both a vocation and obsession. She sets her hands to work every single day. Mixing classic and contemporary techniques, her sophisticated white-on-white designs are in high demand.

“My work is born from tradition and respect. Respect for my female predecessors and a wish to continue the traditions of needlework taught to me as a child.”

In addition to creating, Ruane has exhibited her work all across England, offers online courses in embellishment, buttons and more and runs an Etsy shop. The Internet plays an important role in her instructional work, but she sets aside at least four hours a day simply for making.

For her it comes down to priorities.

Describe your relationship with the Web. I am amazed and totally in awe of the internet. It opens up so many possibilities for communication, interaction and learning and I wonder constantly how we ever managed without it. It’s like when you have kids, you can’t remember what life was like before. That goes for the web with me too.

What advice would you share with others regarding the interplay between the physical work of making and the online demands of the Internet? I try to make the internet work for me yet not take over. I don’t want to be an administrator, I want to be a maker and a teacher. It is a conscious effort daily to set aside the time for both as separate aspects of what I do, embroiderer and online creative. Divide your time, prioritize, is your heart with making or do you prefer the interactive aspects of what you do….?

Do you try and restrict your time online? Why or why not? I try and control rather than restrict my time online. I have to have a certain level of online presence to work with students in my online classes but making is my passion and I set aside at least four hours a day purely for making. The internet time is decided by how much time I have remaining after making is planned.

What do you love about the Internet? I love that the internet gives me an opportunity to reach the world, for free in order to promote my work. I love that it allows me to teach in places like the US, Canada, Australia and Europe without leaving the house…isn’t that amazing? Having access to the internet also allows me to keep up to date with contemporary art, see what is new and developing in terms of my peers.

What do you dislike about the Internet? My main concern about the internet is the misuse of images relating to creative work. I have seen numerous examples of images being used without proper credit given to the maker. I also think that as the internet is such an ‘instant’ media there is an assumption that creativity is ‘instant’ which in some cases can devalue the work of talented, original makers.

This post is the second in a series written by Christina Crook. Christina Crook has been a regular contributor in the pages of UPPERCASE magazine and we’re happy to welcome her to the blog this week with a special guest post series on the case for being creative offline. 

Samantha Cotterill:

Textile Design

 
After a five-year break from a painting career to have children, Samantha Cotterill (also known as mummysam,) returned to the art world as a self-taught fiber artist, creating one of a kind sculptures using all natural fibers. Today her energies are focused on creating a line of fabric designed exclusively for her Etsy shop.  

“My current work is quite digital, with this past year seeing a big move from fiber drawings and sculptures to digitally coloured illustrations and textile designs. Many of my illustrations are based on raising a child with spectrum, and the textile design are a fun and playful outlet to explore my love of colour and pattern.”

Samantha’s relationship with the Web is something she’s given a lot of thought. Online she’s found Validation, a space to Experiment and an opportunity to Avoid. She’s recently implemented a specialized tool to curb her wayward online ways…A trampoline.

Describe your relationship with the Web. I have a love/hate relationship with the Web, and will probably continue to do so for as long as I allow the internet to be around me. The types of relationships I have struck with the internet are quite diverse, with each one occupying my life at varying degrees. Validation, avoidance, dependence, healing, experimental, past-time, and survival are but a few examples of the types of relationships I can have with the Web. I look to the internet for validation when posting new work and waiting for feedback, and avoid it when the time spent creating is being squashed by the endless hours of searching and looking at meaningless things. I depend on the internet to keep me creatively connected to others and help my business grow, and experiment with it when posting new work that is unlike anything I have done before. 

What advice would you share with others regarding the interplay between the physical work of making and the online demands of the Internet? Make sure you are the devoting the time you need physically and emotionally to create a good body of work, and set up a structured routine that will eliminate any wasteful “let me just check this quickly” moments on the internet.

Do you try and restrict your time online? Why or why not? As a means of necessity, absolutely. While going on the internet can offer a wonderful source of inspiration, it’s accessibility to all things creative can allow oneself to easily get lost in it and lose sight of how much physical work time is being neglected. I would mistakenly tell myself “just 20 more minutes and then I’ll start work”, and find myself still saying that 3 hours later.  It takes time for me to get into a good work rhythm, and if I spend much of that time browsing the internet, then another day will have gone by without any real work being accomplished.

Do you have a structured approach to your use of the Internet such as set times you check email, do updates, etc? This is something I have only just implemented, after noticing the amount of wasteful time that was being spent from jumping back and forth between my work and the Web. With the recent implementation of a daily schedule and clock that sits right in front of me, I am trying to bring back a balance that stops my ADD brain from wanting to quickly check something on the internet just 5 seconds after opening up Photoshop.

I have forced myself to only check e-mails two times a day, which has been much more difficult than I thought. I didn’t realize how much I was going to my e-mail, and even worse yet, checking my flickr account to see how many new views I had since my last check 3 minutes prior.

With the suggestion of a trampoline from a friend of mine, I now go and jump madly for a few seconds when I start noticing my little fingers starting to twitch as the “need” to check things on the internet gets stronger. (I know it sounds silly, but it works. Trust me).

There is a set time where update are made, and another set time for any networking that needs to be done for the growth of my business.  I have even incorporated a set time for “free time”, where I can spend some good guilt-free moments to have fun and just tinker about…

Up Next: Tugboats & Woodcuts

Creative work-in-progress can also be the more mechanical or industrial process of getting your product made. An industrial designer might need molds to be made; a jewellery designer might have to cast some forms; a furniture-maker might need some welding or spray-coating done to complete a piece. You are welcome to post images of these in our Work-in-Progress Society pool of images… submissions right now are quite feminine; it would be good to get some grit and muscle in there!

Eric is busy getting ready for the launch of his Spring/Summer Collection tomorrow.My neighbour Eric Goodwin is launching his Spring/Summer collection of bags, belts and watches at tomorrow’s First Thursday celebrations in Art Central. He let me snap a few details of the preparations. Eric was including issue #12 (which is nearly sold out, by the way!); I’ll share his article below.

EG Forge: Canvas Bags Made by Hand
by Eric Goodwin

Nestled into one of the studio spaces in downtown Calgary’s Art Central building (and a neighbour to UPPERCASE!) is EG Forge Cases and Baggage. Every day, proprietor Eric Goodwin is busy in his studio, designing and sewing.

“When I design a bag, I always like to think that it will be taken on adventures like glacier crossings, safaris and expeditions through the rainforest. Even though in all likelihood they will never be taken to places like these, I still design every bag so that it could. I design every bag to be as durable and functional as possible, and I don’t consider the form and style of a bag very much when I design it. I think that the style and form of a bag will come naturally if it’s designed well. This is what sets EG Forge bags apart. I don’t put fake buckles on a bag for style, I don’t use plastic in any of my bags and I add things like finger loops for snaps so you don’t crush whatever is inside the pocket.

Apart from the actual design of the bag, I use materials that are durable and strong, yet classic and stylish. I use waxed canvas, which is waterproof yet supple and develops an amazing patina over time; oil tanned leather, which is soft and flexible to the touch and waterproof as well; and I use antiqued brass hardware that will never rust, chip or lose its finish. I really design every bag to be as sturdy and durable as possible so it will never fail when you need it.”

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Come on out to Art Central tomorrow from 5-9pm for this and other fun and creative events. (UPPERCASE is having a party! Try your luck at games of change, indulge in Crave cupcakes and marvel at the sparkling new issue #13.)