Candie Printz Craft Projects

Embroidery piece- in progress. I will post more reflections on this once it is completed. There is also a photo of a found object craft piece that I did just for fun.

I have chosen to do two craft pieces. The first is the main one I am striving to complete- an embroidery piece. I am doing an abstract piece using french knots, so far. I TOTALLY underestimated how long something like this would take. I have a small circle done so far and it has taken me over 8 hours, several fingertip jabs, and pains in my hands from the repetitive movements that I had not anticipated! This is a lot harder than it looks! I will continue to post updates with photos as I move forward with this. I am trying to fade the thread colors from dark to light. It has no deep meaning or message, but serves as an experiment in technique for me.

What surprised me is the difficulty of embroidery. I will try to include more stitches to change up the texture of this piece, but the french knot is very time consuming.

What impressed me is how relaxing something like this can be (when I'm not stabbing myself with the needle, of course!).

My take away from this is that this is something that is underrepresented in public schools today. I plan on doing more embroidery pieces with all of my classes next year. I think there will be students that will appreciate it.

Craft In America and Final Projects

Between now May 14th you can turn in your review of one episode of Craft in America, your final project and the short essay over your final project...apox. 250-500 words. Share your experience using our three regular questions.

I have enjoyed getting to know each of through this class. Thank you for your time and for sharing your thoughts on the book. This is the last time this class will be offered.  I have been re-assigned out of Visual Studies (not sure yet if I will be in Foundations or Art Appreciation ) as such I will not be offering the seminar this summer on Threads of Compassion: Crafts and Community, nor will I be able to chair any MAE committees.  It has been my honor to work within this program.

April 22, Chapter 11

Well, we have come to the end of this amazing book. I hope you keep this a reference and as an inspiration for your own work. As I have said many times before, it is one of my all time favorite books.
For the extra question share what you would do with an NEA grant...they were for $10,000 and could be used for anything. One artist purchased a car to take his art work to shows. Others used the money for supplies. All you had to do at the end of the year was write a short essay on how you used the money and did it make a difference.
You can give your review of one episode of Craft in America at anytime. The same is true for your final project.

April 15th, Chapter 10

Although clay and glass are still strong, wood expands into an unique art form which in many ways represents the growing gap between function and material object. The techniques and craftsmanship of a piece is still valued but there is a shift away from simple function to almost function or maybe no function.  As you read think about this change in purpose. Think about how you view art and craft or the art of craft, and how these pieces/ the attitudes they represent influence your teaching.

For your extra question share your favorite style of furniture.

April 8th, Chapter 9

Once again clay rules. Any of you who have or will take a clay class at TTU look at these images...this is what you/your work will be judged against. These are the images your professors were taught to admire. For me it seems clay and the other mediums had gone from a slow slide to a fast train away from functionality. Yet they were  more committed to the technical information and experimentation based on techniques. In a way this focus on technique was an compliment to tradition. I especially love the concept of textiles and spirituality.

In the first part of this chapter the book series Foxfire is mentioned. If you have not heard of or read this books take time to look them up. They are wonderful stories of life in isolation.
Another book from this time is Flash Deign...a documentation of the recycled and embellished  clothing coming out of the hippie revolution. Both books, along with Objects USA, are incredible recordings of the time.

Pay attention to the short section on how teachers "made" stars by showing slides of only certain people to their students. How true that was and still is. It is hard to trust our own judgments so just continue to use what others have said is good. For your extra question 1. share a famous work of art you would never consider as art if you had not been told so many times it was great. 2. share one piece of art that you love but is not found in the art history books.