What inspired you to write The Uncommon Quilter?
Jeanne Williamson: My main focus working as an artist has been with fabric, specifically with making "art quilts," which I have had the fortunate opportunity to exhibit in many galleries and museums around the world. Throughout my career, I have struggled with finding the time to be truly creative, to set aside my preoccupations and ignore my distractions and truly experiment with ideas and techniques. For many years, I felt I didn’t have the time to sketch, experiment, or just play, and that any time spent creating art had to be used for working seriously on one piece, rather than taking the time to try new things or make mistakes.
As 1998 was coming to an end, I was thinking about the opportunity afforded me by the new year, and how once again I’d struggle to find the time and inspiration to get a small collection of art quilts completed in 1999. At about the same time, I went to visit the studio of a friend of mine from art school, who is a painter and sculptor. For months before my visit, during our phone conversations, I’d ask her how her painting was going. She’d always reply that she had gotten "a little" work done. When I visited her studio, not only did she have a really good group of paintings, but she also had piles and piles of small postcard-sized drawings and sketches done in ink or watercolor. She had found the time to work, and even though she didn’t think she had produced anything at all, I saw a wonderful progression of ideas, images, and creativity.
After visiting my artist friend, I spent a lot of time reflecting on how I could give myself more time and permission to "play." After running through several different scenarios, I remembered meeting an artist at my photographer’s studio a few years earlier who had decorated a paper sandwich bag every day for a year. I liked her concept, but knew that I did not have the time to commit to making something every single day. I decided that I could, however, commit to making something once a week, and that is how my idea to create one small quilt every week in 1999 was born.
I planned to make the quilts 8" wide by 10" tall, and they could be made any time during the week, from Sunday through Saturday. The purpose of this project was to give myself a dedicated time to play and experiment (but not to necessarily to create beautiful artwork). My rules were simple: as I worked each week, I could not throw out the original piece and start over with a new one if I didn’t like what it looked like. I would not obsess over the aesthetic of the piece–the goal was to create. There were no limits on what techniques I could use. Each quilt would be dated, numbered, and referenced on the back, with details on what was happening in my life, or what the quilt was about.
I continued making a quilt a week for seven years, in the end producing a total of 365 quilts. Some of the quilts took only twenty minutes to create, while others took a few days. As an additional challenge to myself, I decided that as the years changed, I would change the size of the quilt for the next year, offering me new design challenges, inspiration, and ideas.
After I finished each quilt, I usually looked forward to starting the next one, and, as the pile of quilts grew, I developed a real sense of accomplishment. As I continued to make my weekly quilts over the years, my creativity also increased, in turn enriching my other, more "serious" artwork. I could feel myself growing as an artist. It felt like a little pipeline was turned on in my head, and ideas came steadily bubbling out.
Looking back on the quilts I made over this seven-year span, I think that many are beautiful and creative, and there are also those that I consider to be badly designed, awkward, or plain old ugly. But whether certain quilts were good or bad is not the point; the point is that I made the time to try new things, I took risks, and I learned a lot. It was one of the best things I ever did for myself, artistically and personally.
After making a quilt each week for the seven years, I was inspired to write a book about my project so I could share what I learned. I also wanted to inspire other artists to set aside time for creating (whether it’s daily, weekly, or monthly), to take risks, and to try new materials, so they could also grow as an artist.
Jeanne Williamson
Jeanne’s Blog
The book website — theuncommonquilter.com
Jeanne, thanks so much for this — it’s very inspiring, full of great ideas. Really like how you discovered a way to try new things creatively, to take chances, and how the new method helped spur more energy, creativity and ideas. Really great essay.