Like most of you, I have always loved making art. ALWAYS…like since I was a small kid. Now granted fiber art overall can mean a lot of different things. For me, fiber art is a mixture of dyeing, spinning, weaving, knitting, and crochet. But even that is a loose boundary as a mixed media fiber artist. 

Other forms of art take the pressure off of my job to fill me up creatively. Other forms of art foster play. Other forms of art can unhinge a creative block. Other forms of art reminds me to start where I am, let go of expectations , and quite arguably makes me a better fiber artist.

So today fiberista, for my Friday Five, I am sharing with you 5 other kinds of art I make…Just know this is a fraction of the other kinds of art I have and do dabble in on the side…

#5: Clay.

If you follow me on social media, You may have seen some of my ceramics. I m super fortunate to have an awesome community studio available to me through my town’s parks and recreation department. For a small annual fee, I have a place to go and access to a bunch of equipment, clay, and glazes to make what I want. I have taken classes as far back as my college days. But this is the first time since college that I have had the luxury of time and resources to just explore clay. It can take months to just explore an idea deeply, tweaking each version just a little bit more. No pressure of business production, just making something that is completely what I feel is right. I am currently working on my version of an Asian noodle bowl. I love noodles. I find that a traditional set of dishes does not suit the meals I make so I am making dishes I like to use with designs that are pulled from my art journal. The rabbit design is a nod to my friend Shay. She uses a running rabbit in her work back when we would hang out with our friends Mark and Tom. The Blue and white design is a nod to my friend Jun who was applying traditional Chinese ceramic designs onto her ceramic acorns. I love the deep blue and white…It goes with the indigo linens I have been dyeing during the summer months.

#4: Art Journaling.

You may have also seen my art journal pages on my Instagram and Facebook feeds. Art journaling is the anchor to so much of my art. It is also not something that has been easy for me to do. In college as an art student, this was the first lesson we learned for every class. We began out sketchbooks. They were meant to hammer out ideas as well as provide proof to the professor of the thought process we used to arrive at ideas. It taught us the proper way to work through an idea completely on paper. It seemed like it will take way more time to work through an idea in a sketchbook first. It never does. I taught a design class and required thumbnails through sketches with the project. Half did sketches first, the other sketched afterward. The sketchers finished first and their work was far better than the non-sketchers. The most successful designers I know take their sketchbooks a bit further and are constantly sketching ideas or inspirations they see. It is a book they carry with them always. This is what I see as an art journal. It takes a lot to push through your inner critic to just make bad art pages. It helps me personally to learn how to let go of an idea and even learn to keep working till it gets better….or till the page just needs to be cut out or covered up altogether. But in my journal lies ideas on colors and textures and random art playtime just waiting for the right idea or spark that will catapult the pages into new work be it a length of fabric I have woven, a yarn texture, colorway or even my next favorite noodle bowl.

#3: Bookbinding.

There was a time in my early 30s when I toyed with the idea of getting my MFA in bookbinding. The University of Alabama had a program (that is actually a part of their library science program). I sat in on a 6-hour letterpress class and I was hooked. I was never able to resolve the time or money to do so. But bookbinding is a passion that kind of goes hand in hand with both graphic design and art journaling. I don’t do it often. But It has made its way into countless snail mail gifts and party invites throughout my life.

#2: Sewing.

Maybe it is a given that I do a little sewing being a fiber artist. I have been sewing since I was a kid. My great-grandmother was a seamstress. My mother sewed many of my clothes as a kid. I am not as skilled as either of them, but I can pull together something I am not ashamed to wear. I have been exploring some fantastic designers who are generous with their ideas and instruction. India Flint, Tina Givens, and Natalie Chanin. I am using inspiration from all three to design a capsule wardrobe.

#1: Graphic Design. 

I was a professional graphic designer by trade. It is what my college degree is in. It is the job I had for 20 + years before I quit to start a yarn business. The picture above is from a photoshoot for a crochet book that I designed at my last job with a craft book publisher. I would knit between shots.

I will always be a designer, and everything I do for my current business involves my skills as a designer. A lot has changed…I learned how to do it all without a computer back in the days of drafting tables, typesetters, and printing presses. Everything was designed as a tangible physical product…a brochure, book, magazine ad, or even billboard. Today graphic design primarily designs that are digital. So even in the years since I was an art director, there has been a learning curve to keep pace with the skills I needed to maintain to design graphics for myself. 

What kind of other art do you dabble in? Leave me a comment below (Friday 5 style if you feel compelled).