Ping Ponging

I have spent a month in my studio ping-ponging from one thing to another with an itchy feeling of missing the ball every time. No focus, no inspiration, nothing. I did the usual exercises to jump start my ideas: cleaned the studio, organized my thread drawer, read about other artists, and walked aimlessly through the neighborhood with my phone camera.

Nothing.

This often happens after finishing a piece that consumes my imagination. I had just finished Encounter, a piece that really birthed itself made up of pieces of canvas on which I had dribbled paint and ink. After that cathartic experience I wasn’t sure where to turn for the next inspiration.

Encounter, 34x41, 2021, Paula Kovarik

I needed to move into a new headspace. A friend of mine gifted me yards of Silk Noil. The fabric is luscious, soft and raw looking. I decided to use it to revisit an idea I have worked on before: exploring marks that could illustrate words not spoken. Inspired by hieroglyphs, runes and Arabic script this visual language can be a way to communicate broader concepts.

Glyphs, 27x18, Paula Kovarik, 2017

Better Not Said, 41x26, Paula Kovarik, 2019

I started with a drawing to remind myself how these marks can be put together. Generally I try not to have a preconceived notion about how they should look. Instead I draw each mark in a random way then start to fill in the spaces that become available. I have noticed that I naturally follow an implied north/south east/west underpinning. I wonder why that is? I also like connecting the disparate shapes with unexpected lines.

Glyphs doodling.

Glyphs doodling.

Once satisfied with the density of the marks and the feel of making them I was ready to try it with stitch. I set up three 21”x21” silk noil sandwiches with some wool batting, drew a chalk circle onto each one and started stitching. Here are the results.

I don’t spend a lot of time on these exercises. Each square takes about two days to come alive. Using a neutral thread that matches the fabric to create the outer texture defines the circle a bit more and adds an element of energy to the composition. I don’t bury the threads on those end points preferring instead to use my machine’s automatic cutter that knots the threads on the underside. The back is not pretty.

I’m not sure I have broken the cycle of ping ponging. I am about to travel and teach so that might bring more inspiration when I return. Hope so.

How do you break the cycle? Drop me a note!

Books on my side table

What are you reading?

Recently I did a presentation for the California and Nevada Studio Art Quilt Associates chapter in which I mentioned that I read a lot in order to be inspired in my work. I am an eclectic reader and it shows in my work. Non fiction and fiction both have pride of place on my reading chair end table. I often have more than one book going at a time—which can be challenging I admit, especially if it is two novels. Characters can seem to float from one story to the next if I don’t pay attention.

I schedule my reading. Every day at around 4 pm I stop what I am doing and crawl into that chair to start another journey of contemplation. If I am lucky at the end of the evening I can squeeze in another half hour before bed.

Several of my pieces were directly influenced by books. Knowledge has Raw Edges was made in response to Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas is a constant inspiration for all the details within my quilts: ant trails, embryos, insects and roots.

Knowledge has raw edges, detail

In response to an inquiry during the presentation I am listing some of the more recent books that I have read as well as some all time favorites in no particular order:

The Overstory by Richard Powers, Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art by Mary Gabriel, The Glory and the Dream by William Manchester, 1491, New revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann, A Column of Fire by Ken Follett. Mink River by Brian Doyle, Late Migrations, A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl, The Broken Earth Trilogy: The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin, Life after Life by Kate Atkinson, Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol, The Man Who Planted Trees by Jim Robbins.

And mysteries, too numerous to list. I like Ruth Rendell, Elizabeth George, Brenda Chapman and Louise Penny for this escapist grouping. Give me a mystery any day to while away the too hot days of summer or the too cold days of winter.

Tell me what you are reading or what inspires you in your work.

Click here to send me an email.

How many stitches?

I’m having trouble with my Bernina 740 machine. So I brought it into the spa to shower it with care. And, it came back with the same problems. It stops intermittently with no discernible reason. So I am a bit hobbled right now. Which makes me think of other ways to entertain myself. Today I spattered more ink across a piece of canvas and yesterday I spent most of the day working on an upcoming presentation for the Studio Art Quilt Associates (all SAQA members can register for the presentation here).

Ink spattered on canvas is a starting point for free-motion quilting designs. It won’t take long for this piece to inspire some stitching,

Fun with math

As the folks at the Bernina shop try to figure out what exactly might be causing this little problem they did give me some mind-boggling information. I bought this machine in 2016. That’s five years ago. It now has 2,395,196 stitches recorded on it. If I stitch on average four hours a day five days a week for 5 years excluding holidays and weekends that would mean that I put in about 1916 stitches in a day. And if there are ten stitches per inch then I would be stitching about 191 inches in a day. Or about 16 feet. Or about three times my height. That seems doable.

Changing my focus

Though I know that there are days when I stitch what feels like miles and miles of thread there are other days when I can’t stitch at all—like yesterday. Those are the days when ideas have a chance to breathe a bit. They can percolate or morph. I can attend to some bookkeeping or housekeeping. Those are the days when I can look around for other toys to play with. Those are the days when I spatter paint across a canvas.

At Play in the Garden of Stitch, thoughts that come while eyeing the needle.

At Play in the Garden of Stitch, thoughts that come while eyeing the needle.

About my book, At Play in the Garden of Stitch

I have had such positive feedback about the book I just released. Thank you. I am grateful for your thoughts and comments. For those not familiar with it you can order a copy at Barnes & Noble, your local bookstore, Amazon and at any number of online bookstores. It is a compilation of simple stitch exercises, stitch tips and quilt stories. Many of the samples in the book are from my students. If you do order the book I would really appreciate it if you could leave a review on the site on which you purchased it (a little shameless self promotion here). I hope the book inspires you to look for new ways to experiment with this medium.

An Interview with Ariane Zurcher

I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with the talented Ariane Zurcher about my work and art practice. Here is a link to the video that she posted. Take a look around at her other interviews while you are at it. She is a delight and provides many stitch-related videos on her site.

Invisible art quilt takes center stage

My art quilt, Invisible, is featured in a new video posted by the folks at the Dairy Barn. The directors at the Dairy Barn graciously asked the artists in the show to create short videos that would feature their quilt. There are many other artists who also created a video so pour yourself a cup of tea, sit back and be entertained. The links that follow will lead you there.

The Quilt National show is considered one of the premier art quilt shows worldwide. People from all over submit their work to the judges to be included. This year Nancy Bavor, the Director at San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, and professional textile artists Brigitte Kopp and Karen Schulz, were tasked with sorting through 747 submitted artworks from 388 artists from six continents. 84 pieces were chosen. The show is in Athens, OH until September 6 then some of the pieces will travel for three years at venues across the continent. If this show comes near you, or if you are within shouting distance of Athens, OH, take the time to see it. If not, the digital exhibition is here. The works are seriously ground-breaking textile works of art.

Here is the video I made to familiarize people with my point of view and the way the piece was conceived. Spoiler alert: It’s on wheels. Check out other artists works in the show here. Enjoy!

I wrote a book

At Play in the Garden of Stitch

At Play in the Garden of Stitch—thoughts that come while eyeing the needle. 

Published! Available Now.

I put it on paper. It’s now in book form. This is not a quilt.

I spent part of my Covid year writing, analyzing and illustrating my techniques and artwork. After fifteen years of creating and teaching, it was time to tell my story and share my process in a more formal way. 

This is a book of ideas and exercises for those who use stitch in their artwork. What seems like magic are merely (some simple) step-by-step exercises that will lead you to your own creations. 

This is the story of how I work and think as I make new quilts. It contains both successes and failures as both results can lead to finished quilts. One of my favorite exercises is to chop up a finished quilt to re-arrange and re-imagine a new piece working with elements I like and scrapping those I loathe.

As the great Miles Davis says: do not fear mistakes; there are none.
As I like to say: Art is found in the process. And stitching can take you there.

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The book contains lavish illustrations of quilts from my students and myself. For many of these, I demonstrate approaches to using stitch as an element of design and art. To understand my process, I include essays from this journal that reveal how I follow the thread or pursue an idea. 

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Order “At Play” from any number of bookstores including Barnes and Noble, Target, Indiebound, Discover books and more—such as Amazon. And, if you do find that this book has inspired you to try some new ways to create in stitch, please let me know by leaving a review or sending me an email. I would really appreciate it.

If you are interested in stitch and how to express yourself through free-motion quilting, this book will lead you gently down your own creative path. The secret is starting simple and staying at it.

I want to send out a bucket of thanks to my friend, Kathleen Loomis, for her help in making this book a reality. Her patient review of the content clarified my thoughts and made it a better book. Thanks so much Kathleen.