Tag Archives: Françoise Gilot

Too Far or Not Far Enough?

This week has brought with it an unusually large number of deadlines — 4 to be exact. So I have been scrambling to get everything done, and as a result this post gets a bit of short shrift in terms of content and execution. It’s a bonus that I can kill two birds with one stone by writing about one of the other projects I’ve been racing to finish.

Picasso

Green Man,     12x12in., ©2017 Elizabeth Fram

The latest prompt for our Journal Project group is “Picasso”. Without all the Instagram tributes last week that marked the 136th anniversary of his birth (October 25th), I wouldn’t have realized how appropriate  the timing was.

Last year I read Life with Picasso by Françoise Gilot, and while it was an interesting read in terms of learning more about how Picasso approached his work, it really soured me on the man himself. He may have been a creative genius, but reading Gilot’s recounting of their life together completely affected my thoughts about him as a person. However, personal failings aside, Maria Popova’s excellent Brain Pickings article “Picasso on Intuition, How Creativity Works, and Where Ideas Come From” steers attention back to the profound gifts he shared in terms of his work and his artistic wisdom.

Picasso

Green Man, detail     ©2017 Elizabeth Fram

I’ve had fun working on this piece, exploring and pushing the limits of color by playing back and forth between the dye and the thread. The biggest challenge has been to convey a complete image while seeing how much I could leave out — a task I might not have undertaken if time weren’t so short with so much already on my plate. I need to let it be for a bit to decide whether I’ve gone far enough or too far — and also to think about how I might explore this approach in future work. The experience brings to mind and illustrates one of Picasso’s many quotes:

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.”

For a bit of trivia to round out what you may already know about the master, enjoy this list.

 

On a Different Note________________________________________________________________________________________

I owe a huge thank you to the Essex Art League for inviting me to speak at their monthly meeting this week. They are a wonderfully warm and engaging group of artists who made it a true pleasure to get out of the studio on a rainy day in order to share a taste of the many layers of process my work has progressed through since I first started working with textiles some 25 years (+/-) ago!

Never Too Late

We’re on ‘stay-cation’ this week — taking time to explore and enjoy our corner of Vermont during this particularly beautiful time of year. Studio time has been next to zero.

processstitch

Mid-process stitching

A special thanks to my artist mother-in-law for getting me off the hook with the suggestion of this post’s subject: ageism doesn’t factor into being an artist. She’s been reading lately about Françoise Gilot, 95 and Carmen Herrera, 101, two artists who have proven that making art can be a life-long endeavor. The above links lead to wonderful interviews that will inspire you.

I’ve been doing a bit of research since she brought up the idea, and have been heartened by what I’ve found.

Check out Hilarie M. Sheets’ 2013 article for ARTnews, ‘You Become Better With Age’, for a discussion about many artists, past and present, who didn’t / haven’t allowed age to thwart their practice. Quotes from living artists emphasize that accumulated years often bring a sense of liberation and renewal, paving the way for new and significant discoveries while at times generating a measure of success that had previously been elusive.

quinnwatercolorsketch

Another Nap     ©2016 Elizabeth Fram

Also, Ermine Saner writes for the Guardian about how age affects the practice of women artists.

The benefits don’t stop with professionals. Lata 65 of Lisbon, Portugal is a wonderfully uplifting example of older folks who are finding new ways of appreciating and making contemporary art while beautifying their neighborhoods with a spray can.

In our youth-obsessed world where technology rapidly makes jobs obsolete and athletes age out of careers in their mid-thirties, isn’t it reassuring to know that there is no shelf life on creativity?