This week, I was catching up with an old friend who said, "I didn't know you were artistic!"  That

struck me as strange since he knew darn well I've been quilting for nearly 30 years.  "Oh, I know you quilt, Nina, but I didn't realize that you did art too!"  As the inside my head exploded a bit,  I explained that what I do is design art which I then create with fabric.  

long pause

crickets

blank stare

"So do you frame them?"  OMG what this country doesn't know about art is crazy.  I mean. people can  tell you what Meghan Markle had for breakfast but they still think that to be real art it needs to be framed.  Honestly with all the ugliness in the world you'd think that the general public would be seeking out some beauty and uniqueness.  Okay, I'll stop this rant before it gets full blown, but my point is that art is more than what you see framed in a museum.

Don't get me wrong, I personally think art museums are a perfect place to start your art education.  That's where I started mine (Thank God the Cleveland Museum of Art is free so you can go as much as you want ... not as much as you can afford).  But for all that is Holy,  Art is so much more than what is framed or even chiseled.

Last weekend, we spent our 28th anniversary scouring the Salamanca Antiques Mall.  There we explored over 1000 vendors' treasures of yesteryear.   Seeing that much Stuff - most of which was decorative- can set your senses reeling!  What I ended up doing most of the day was look at mid century pottery which of course is my latest obsession.  The fluid shapes of the pieces were amazing.  Yes most were old planters or vases but all were art.  Art they framed?  No...still art. The place was over flowing with unconventional things that people could use for decorative art.  Most not framed....all were art.

 (I did in fact bring home the prettiest print from 1900  that was framed for $10 but that's a whole other post...named "Weird Stuff I bought because I couldn't live without but my daughter will have to sell  or donate when I die")  

This is part of Martha Stewarts McCoy Collection (of course it is!)

Back to my original point though ... if you are a quilter who designs original quilts then you are an artist.  Your thing may be a more traditional flavor of log cabins and bear paws... still art  .... It maybe improvisational piecing... still art...It may be embroidery stylized with a 19th century flare ... still art.  ....  If you are creating with color, value, texture, line, shape, pattern....IT'S ART.

Now normally, I'm too old to get hung 
up with titles.  Am I an artist?  Yes  .... Am I a quilter? ... Yes!  I like both words..  Truly, at this point in life I don't feel the need to justify to anybody what I do anyways.  But it would be nice once in a while if people actually understood what I did......ALSO if they didn't look so surprised when I say I'm an artist.  I mean, gosh, we all don't have to have tatoos, body piercings and purple hair.

Rant over.  Thank you for indulging me.

So What Have Been Up to Creatively?