I pretty much got lambasted over a recent post concerning artistic angst. I deleted the post, because I don't want controversy on my blog, which I do for fun. I was ignorant of the rivalry between art quilters and traditional quilters. I found this out last night when reading the QuiltArt list. Seems if you have an opinion that doesn't mesh with some of the others, they are all over you. They are talking now about emotions in art. Some people think that if you don't reflect angst in art, then it isn't art. From what I can see, the people that have that opinion are also the most vocal against anyone else's views.
I will admit that I may have been a little to personal with my opinions in myprevious blog post, and I'm sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings, but at the time I posted, that was the only information that I had on the subject. I didn't realize that emotions ran so high, until I read some of the recent posts on the Quilt Art list.
Personally, I like all kinds of quilts. I think traditional and innovative quilts are art if they are done well. That's where I was coming from when I was talking about not understanding what the big deal was concerning being thought of as an artist. I still don't know. I know there are traditional quilters that look at 'art' quilts and say they aren't quilts, and there are 'art' quilters that think of traditional quilts as 'blankets'.
I don't know why people just can't get along and embrace all kinds of expressions of art without being so insecure about their own.
Which comes back to the original reason for doing the post at all. I really, truly think that when you take something that you love and try to make money at it. Then the whole reason for doing it gets skewed. You get competitive and insecure because you need to sell/win/whatever for the money. I'm not against selling your work, or making money from your knowledge. I just think sometimes that artists and/or their work suffer if they HAVE to do it to live. That's my opinion, and I have a right to it, and it's my blog, and I have a right to post it.
