Tonight's guild meeting, led to a very interesting discussion and some deep thought on my part.
What is good enough? Does it matter if your points don't match, that your seams are more like jug handles than a 4 way intersection? Who cares if you cross over lines in your machine quilting, or if you just zoom across the top to get it finished.... is 'done' better than 'good.?
Is design more important than technique? If a piece looks good from across the room, isn't that all that counts? Does it matter if your stitch length varies greatly across the piece? Do you need to quilt evenly across the quilt? Would it get a passing mark from the 'quilt police'?
What is a 'fiber artist' or a 'quilting professional'? When do you graduate from a quilter or crafter to an 'artist' or a 'professional'? If it is on your business card, does that make it so? Or if you get paid for a quilt or a speaking/teacher slot, does that make you a professional? What about if you publish patterns, yet someone else makes even the sample from beginning to end... are you a fiber artist or quilting professional, or a pattern maker? Does getting paid to write an article on quilting make you a professional quilter or professional writer, or should you have to actually have made an award winning quilt.. or what?
Interesting questions.... most of which the answer is subjective, for others the answers don't really matter, as there is no regulatory body in the quilting industry. And I think you could ask many award winning quilters and get very different answers.
What do you think?
Renee
What is good enough? Does it matter if your points don't match, that your seams are more like jug handles than a 4 way intersection? Who cares if you cross over lines in your machine quilting, or if you just zoom across the top to get it finished.... is 'done' better than 'good.?
Is design more important than technique? If a piece looks good from across the room, isn't that all that counts? Does it matter if your stitch length varies greatly across the piece? Do you need to quilt evenly across the quilt? Would it get a passing mark from the 'quilt police'?
What is a 'fiber artist' or a 'quilting professional'? When do you graduate from a quilter or crafter to an 'artist' or a 'professional'? If it is on your business card, does that make it so? Or if you get paid for a quilt or a speaking/teacher slot, does that make you a professional? What about if you publish patterns, yet someone else makes even the sample from beginning to end... are you a fiber artist or quilting professional, or a pattern maker? Does getting paid to write an article on quilting make you a professional quilter or professional writer, or should you have to actually have made an award winning quilt.. or what?
Interesting questions.... most of which the answer is subjective, for others the answers don't really matter, as there is no regulatory body in the quilting industry. And I think you could ask many award winning quilters and get very different answers.
What do you think?
Renee
3 comments:
What thought provoking questions. Some I may have to ask some of my quilting friends too.
Good enough - done is done but some I like to do better on and will try harder (usually ones I think I might enter into a judged quilt show-local one).
No such thing as a quilt police. I think we are our own worst critics so we police ourselves sometimes. I have never met a quilt I didn't like. it may not always be my style but I can find beauty in almost everything.
And...we can call ourselves anything we want. I do art and traditional quilts but don't feel I need to call myself something other than a quilter. When I'm with my art group I do call myself a fiber artist but usually just a quilter.
I will have to pose these questions to my friends and see what they have to say.
Good post.
Hey Barbars, first thanks for stopping by my blog. Second, thanks for taking the time to respond.. I love the dialogue with fellow quilters!
Thought provoking indeed... I will be very interested to here what your friends have to say.
Renee
These are great questions. Much dependent upon the person and their goal and intention with quilting. First and foremost we are quilters and in that there is a lot of latitude for discovering our own personal desires, goals, tastes and style in quilt making. Much of the answer is dependent upon the person answering the question and how they perceive themselves in quilt making. Do they want to be an artist, professional, competitive quilter? If the answer is yes, how are they pursuing their goals and dreams? Does the quilter just want to make quilts for the sheer joy in the making and giving?
No matter what our "designation", whether chosen or given, we are all still quilters. And as such deserve to be respected for our quilt making.
Teri
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