Finding a Way

"Finding a Way" ©2011 Ayn Hanna, 28"x12", Textile Painting (discharged cotton fabric, cotton batting, cotton thread)

Wow, it’s been awhile….and so much going on.

In the last few weeks, I have:

• Finished 2 pieces for upcoming shows (including the one above for the SDA members show at the annual conference in MN this June)
• Completed 4 applications for juried arts events (I think every artist that’s able to successfully navigate the elaborate gauntlet of digital image editing requirements for these things ought to be accepted outright)
• Designed the course and submitted the description for my first visiting artist workshop I’ll be teaching this summer at the Ah Haa School for the Arts in Telluride
• As a Shift-It Coach-in-Training, led 1 client through the complete Shift-It graphic coaching process.
• Attended a 2 day Artists’ workshop and have some new pieces of art cloth to show for it
• Enjoyed visits from 2 out-of-town friends
• Completed all my 2010 Income Tax paperwork!!!

One of my art cloth experiments from the surface design workshop.

The SDA (Surface Design Association) Annual Conference in June is titled “Confluence” and the members’ show theme is “Merge and Flow”.  Each member was asked to submit one piece for the show and the piece had to be 28″x12″ (either vertical or horizontal orientation).  I started out thinking I would do the piece below, “Another Way” for the SDA show, but after I started it, it evolved and became difficult to resolve.

"Another Way" ©2011 Ayn Hanna, 28"x12", Textile Painting (cotton fabric hand-dyed and discharged by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread, fabric paint)

While I continued to wrangle “Another Way” to completion, I started “Finding a Way” as an alternative piece.  While working on my course design for my visiting artist workshop, I’ve been experimenting with dyeing, resist painting, and discharging fabric with various mediums.  “Finding  a Way” is constructed of a whole cloth piece of black kona cotton, discharged with discharge paste and then quilted.  It is a nice complement to “Another Way”, opposite in so many ways, including in how easily it just came together, and in it’s simple elegance.

The past few weeks have been filled with lots of action and turmoil – in the world, my art, and my day job.  The extraordinary world events and revolutionary changes taking place have stirred the energy in all of us.  My heart hurts when I hear the news of all the battles being fought.  What can one do?  Be productive, make progress, move ahead with right action toward goals.  I’ve been sorting through my own thoughts, silently searching for my own peace, finding a way.