I spent last week "revising" an old quiltto enter in a show. In order to ease my conscience about it , I DID contact the( Lowell ) New England Quilt Museum to ask if a revised quilt would be considered "recent" It all started when I heard they were hosting a show whose theme was games and game boards. I had a biggish quilt from my early days ( 2002 ) that was an OKAY idea that never came fully to fruition. Not to mention the crappy sewing on it as I was still learning and sewing on a $30.00 church basement special. So having gotten the okay from the Museum, I took stuff off, added some much needed interest in the background and gave the figures some sort of structure to exist in. It's much better. But not one I think is really good. Nevertheless, having done it, I duly sent off my entry to NEQM. I was swearing off entering every show in the world this year. My friwends were calling me a "show slut". I don't know what happens to me when I see a call for entry that one of my quilts might suit. But I began asking myself why. Some of the reasons are personal...you know the "seeking approval" thing we learn as kids...especially a kid whose parent didn't like her all that much! But there is also a phenomenon I realized of being part of a big thing. When I worked worked worked every day as a painter/assemblage artist, it was more or less in a vacuum. Only one other artist friend and maybe one show a year with the gallery. But NOW because my milieu is so much bigger, and there are so many more people doing what I am doing, I feel more a part of life. A case in point is...I LOVE getting up each day and reading email. Then I have the pleasure of waiting for the snail mail because often I am expecting news of a show entry, or a quilt coming back, or a package from some nice quilty person ( like Thelma, who once sent me a BUNCH of fabric and I hardly even knew her then!) So even tho' seeking praise is part of it...maybe not the good part, the camraderie is also imposrtant. So I am forgiving myself for being a show slut. And anyway, I make so many art pieces what the heck else would I do with them?
Oh here is the before and after to my revision "Checkmates"
