I am a glass-half-full kind of person.
I tend to be optimistic, positive, and hopeful about my creative
efforts, and most everything else. I think everyone should be this
way and then wouldn't we have much more upbeat art in the world?! I
tend to create art that is about the beauty of color, line, shape,
texture, and balance in life, nature and experience. I respect the
desire of other artists to reflect the human condition and the sad,
desperate, tragic conditions of our world, but I don't want to
encourage people to hang that kind of sentiment in their homes and
live with it. I want to influence their day from the moment they
wake up to see the lovely color and swoop of my quilting lines to the
time they go to bed and see the shadows and depth of my layered
cloth. I am “Sally Sunshine”, I want to make everyone smile, and
I've been that way from birth. Just ask my mother.
When I begin to work on a piece I am
usually influenced by the color and texture of the cloth. I choose
fabrics and shapes to create a pleasing collage and then I add stitch
to communicate movement and mood and to lead the eye around the piece
in an enjoyable way. I add embellishment that furthers that
effort---or sometimes not, if it isn't necessary to the finished
work. I hope that the viewer will enjoy the piece from the
standpoint of theme or subject, as well as because I have a
well-balanced, artistically pleasing composition.
Many of my
pieces are made up of a variety of textures and materials and I enjoy
experimenting with various surface design techniques. My work is
mostly non-representational although I frequently incorporate
recognizable imagery, often from nature. I like to add the
unexpected ingredient that will catch someone's eye and make them
wonder how I thought of it. With these elements in my compositions I
hope to communicate a mood, a feeling, or a memory of a place once
visited in reality or imagination. My art seeks to mean something to
the viewer but it is open to their own interpretation based on their
background, experience and views of the world around them. Maybe it
lets them escape from those negative “human conditions” that
might be in their life, or maybe it just lets them remember a time or
place where they felt good and happy. Feedback from people who buy
my work leads me to believe that the feelings they experienced that
led them to purchase the piece stay with them over the years as they
live with it and enjoy it in the light from dawn to dusk. I find
that very affirming and rewarding.
So, although I understand the need of
some artists to create art that reflects the more negative aspects of
life and love, in my work I feel the need to reflect beauty, hope and
the good things about our world. I hang my work in my own home when
it is not in galleries or shows and I enjoy living with it and
discovering the details of it again and again. Throughout the day as
I walk by it or enter a room where it hangs I see it in a different
light---not only the physical light but that which reflects the mood
I am in at that moment. We definitely create art based on our moods
as well as viewing it that way. Through my art I can make someone
smile or trigger a memory that is meaningful to them. I do feel good
about it and will likely continue on this Pollyanna journey. Because
hey, it's my art and that's who I am. If you don't like that maybe
you need a little more positive influence in your life. As Martha
says, “It's a good thing!”
