FOQ 2010 – Part 2

One of the best things about this years FOQ was the two day Master class that I took with Elizabeth Barton. I had not met Elizabeth previously and only know her work through her blog – but what a blog it is. She writes succinctly and intelligently about her quilting and particularly about what goes into designing a quilt. So when I saw that Elizabeth was presenting a Master class called “Design and Composition in Art Quilts” I signed up as soon as I could.

The class did not disappoint - as an opener we were asked what we wanted from the class and my answer was that I wanted a structure that would take me from inspiration to quilt design. (Needless to say it didn’t come out as succinctly as that, particularly as I’d been held up in traffic and was a couple of minutes late – not a good start for the control freak in me!) As well as that structure I came out with a couple potential designs and the wherewithal to look at quilt designs much more critically.

Over the two days we were given the opportunity to define the kind of work we want to create, a pathway from design source to cartoon, lots of new artists to explore and some considered insights. One such was “Make visual decisions visually”. This sounds obvious but there were several of us in the group who found ourselves nodding. Too often I work an idea out in my head, and then I’m surprised that it doesn’t look quite the same work out as I’d expected!

I haven’t yet put into words exactly why enjoyed this class so much, timing was definitely a factor but also it has given me a better sense of control over what I do. Elizabeth teaches in the US and on-line through Quilt University and I suspect i will be going back for more in due course!