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Upholstery Foam, various fabrics
(c) Katherine Lynn Bierman 2013
Submission Information
- Views:
- 249
- Comments:
- 12
- Favorites:
- 4
- Rating:
- General
- Category:
- Visual / Sewing / Knitting
Comments
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Thank you so much!
Fibers at MICA is a pretty open-ended major. Our classes revolve around a bunch of subjects like weaving, textile design and dyeing, garment production/design, costuming, knitting/crochet/spinning among others. I'm interested in how to combine art with social-based and activism so I tend to focus on plushie/softie/puppet making and costume. The story-telling capabilities that go along with that I find work well with those themes. C:
What school did you go to?
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That's awesome! I went the fairly conventional route of Fine Arts as well as Art Ed, so I didn't get to rub shoulders much with the fibers folks.
I went to the University of North Texas. Not a big fancy art school by any means, but well enough regarded, and I couldn't afford to go anywhere fancier. P:
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Nice! I have a lot of respect for Ed majors- my boyfriend's currently studying for music educations. It's pretty crazy the amount of hoops teachers have to jump through and all of the precautions they have to take. I'd love to teach, but I feel like it will have to be an outside school sort of studio if I do for those reasons. xC
My home state unfortunately doesn't really have any fiber programs so I kinda had to go elsewhere. I got super lucky with MICA though. I still have a bunch of loans but they have decent aid considering the cost and all.
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Haha, as do I. I went through all those hoops just to hit my final semester of student teaching and realize that it was absolutely not for me. I could talk the talk and I felt like I knew how to be a good teacher if I put in the work, but as the semester dragged on I realized I had absolutely no desire to be in a classroom for 10+ hours a day. Wellp. :I I could probably do smaller group lessons of people who were definitely interested, but I didn't realize how disheartening it is to teach a 'blow off' class that only a handful of kids are really into. (And it bled into art in general; I lost interest in art altogether for a good 2 years after graduation and only recently started up again.) So I've got tons of respect now for people who are good at teaching and love it.
That's awesome! If your work is anything to show for it, it seems like it's been worth it. :) I enjoy what you've put on the site so far.
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Small classes I imagine could be a lot of fun- maybe much more rewarding for everyone involved. But I can totally see how the 'blow off' mentality can be extremely disheartening. :c Even just being a student interested in the subject matter in those classes is disappointing.
I'm glad to see your finding interest again. My roommate and I were actually talking about the issue of loosing interest. It takes a surprising amount of rule-bending and twisting personal projects into school projects to make sure personal interests line up with required work. At least in MICA, and I would be willing to bet other schools, the workload is the hardest part. Just the amount of projects in the semester schedule leaves little time to actually step back and analyze what you've made. I had a TA name it "fast food art" and it seems like a fitting title. l'D
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I think the interest-twisting is something I didn't figure out until very close to the end of my degree program, and it resulted in several years of getting better at art but having no fun doing so. I did eventually figure out that my professors were down with me painting/stitching/drawing loving tributes to extinct animals, but that was, like... the very last semester of my painting course. :/ The most fun I had was in screenprinting class, because the TA openly encouraged weird, off-the-wall shit.
"Fast food art", yes. That's such an apt phrase!
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Yup I've managed to get away sewing/drawing/painting animals for everything haha!
And screen printing is the best! It's actually a great group activity and a fun lesson for older kids. Most people I've taught it to have thought it was something out of their realm and skill level, but nope! Just need a screen, old credit card, some ink and you're all set.
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I think some of my earlier art teachers inadvertently made me feel like what I was interested in wasn't good enough, in their attempts to make me branch out. "Draw something other than dogs!" I mean, to be fair, I did need to and I am glad that I eventually did, but my first reaction to, "I want to draw Thing," is, "You should not draw Thing, because you draw many Thing and should put more thought into it." I'm getting over it, but it seems like it's a conscious fight to get me to draw things that I like to draw.
Screen printing is fabulous. It can be a time vampire, but of all the printmaking methods, it's one of the most accessible. (No horrendous chemicals involved for the most part, no expensive presses needed, &etc...) If I can figure out how to jury-rig a registration board and some hinges, and how to clean my screens without a power washer, I am 100% getting into it again. Where there's a will, there's a way. :3
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I can relate- a lot of my early art teachers would tell me that I needed more 'angst' in my work. That never really happened- I think there's enough 'angst' everywhere else and I'd rather not contribute to it.
An old toothbrush works well to clean screens! We have gorgeous print tables at school and I'm going to be really sad when I can't use them anymore. ; ;
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This is absolutely fantastic!!! I love the contrast and style you chosee
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Thank you so much!
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Link
Ruggy
Aaah I love this! It's so stylized and I love the bright red/orange accents. I notice on your profile it says you're majoring in textiles and fibers; is this the kind of thing you do for your major? I saw a few works by fiber majors at my school when I went through, but I wonder about the variety of stuff people come up with for their concentrations. :3