Tag Archives: textile art

Break One Rule

I used to do Artist in Residence programs in schools, and one of my favorite projects was “Break One Rule”.  I would hand out fabric and scissors or paper and glue or whatever the materials of the day would be, then give the students a list of rules (the number of rules depended on the age and sophistication of the students).  The last rule in the list was always, “Break one rule.”  After the initial grumbling and eye-rolling at the rule list, a few kids would start whispering excitedly.  “What if we break rule 3?”  or “Let’s break rule one!”  And occasionally there was a gasp, “What if we break the LAST rule?”  Oh Lordy, I loved that moment!  I could feel the creativity zooming around the room: we can ignore all of the rules!  Or we can ignore any one or more of the rules!  Or we can follow them ALL but the last one!  So “rules” in art are definitely more like “guidelines”…

So, yeah, I’m no good at rules.  The current challenge in the Facebook quilting/art community seems to require rules, so guess what?  I’m not following them.  I don’t do quilting or fiber art anymore, but quilting and its geometry and textures will always influence my art.  So here are 10 examples of “quilty” art.  And if anyone in Loosely Bound is interested, I nominate you – just post some pix of your quilting journey!