Once upon a time, there was a group of women. It was a very large group with a common interest in learning how to make a quilt. They got together regularly to learn new skills, to bemoan failures and to celebrate successes. website load testing tools . Once a year, they displayed their best work in the town’s library. They called themselves the Scrapbaggers. That was years and years ago.
When I joined the group, there were about twelve of us. If asked what we did, most of us would still have answered that “we make quilts”, but would probably further qualify that answer a bit by adding, “we make ‘art quilts'”. Meetings were still about learning new skills, sharing work and things discovered, and maybe, most importantly, critiquing work in progress when asked, all over some great coffee and cake. We still had the annual exhibit of our work in the library; we started calling ourselves Scrapbagger Art Quilters; or, Scraps, for short.
For some sad reasons and some other better ones, our group got smaller and smaller. At one point, there were only six of us who could come regularly to the weekly meetings. If one or two couldn’t make it, they would be dearly missed or the meeting would be cancelled. At this point, though, if asked, all of us would have described ourselves as “fiber artists”. (What’s the difference? Think of “art quilts” as a sub-set of “fiber arts”.) It seemed to be just a small leap given how we saw ourselves at that point to invite others interested in “fiber” to join our group. Today, we are a pretty diverse group which includes several knitters, a couple of weavers, and a mixed-media artist or two. All of us are enjoying the expanded interests of the group. From one meeting to the next, we never know what someone might bring to share. Each of us is finding new techniques to learn and to incorporate in our own work. Everyone’s art is all the better for it. Our annual exhibit at the library is even more exciting. We still call ourselves Scraps.
But, change is afoot. There is a general feeling that our name no longer fits what we do, or how we see ourselves and our work. This is not a new discussion. It has been ongoing, in a general way for a long while, but most especially, each year when it is time to make the poster for our annual show. It is not September, yet, but we are talking about it again.
Last Friday, over tea and cake (on a field trip to visit a gallery in Millerton, New York), Chris (one of our weavers) suggested that maybe we should start with a “mission statement” first, and then, a name might naturally follow (a truly good idea, and ever hopeful). Well, true to form, there was even some discussion questioning the “mission” part…we amended it, sort of, to an “Artists’ (note the plural) Statement”…sort of…The problem, of course, is that words connote different things to different people…and, not always in a positive way…I have mentioned that we are a diverse group, didn’t I? (Sometimes, I think “scrappy” is pretty accurate(!) in a good way, of course).
So, here is my stab at a statement:
We are a group of artists who create a diverse range of work, using fabrics, threads and yarns, whether they be sewn, stitched, and/or woven; which are glued, fused, and/or secured, the old-fashioned way, with a needle and/or needles. We enjoy being the teacher, sharing the good things we have discovered , as well as the student, learning new skills that might enrich our work. To each other, we give thoughtful critiques when asked and encouragement when needed. Each of us might be in a different place in our art, but all are enjoying the journey. Please pass the cake.
And, here is a stab at some names (with commentary…sorry)
For those who don’t mind the word “fiber” (that is not me, fiber makes me think of oat bran and stuff you eat to “get things moving” as my grandmother used to say…had to say it, I really don’t want to be a “fiber” anything…but, trying to be open-minded:
FIBER MINE (play on words, maybe too subtle)
FIBER FUSION
FOOLS FOR FIBER (maybe not sounding serious enough)
FIBER BEE (I like the connection back to our roots, but not to the insect…)
FIBER CONNECTION
For those seeking a name that relates to the traditional thoughts of sewing circles, and friends, supporting each other and working together towards common goals:
STITCH SISTERS or maybe, even better:
SISTERS IN STITCHES (get it?)
STASH SISTERS
STITCH WITCHES (connotation problems, again, maybe…)
For those thinking a little humor and a smile in a name is a good thing:
SAW IT, STASHED IT, STITCHED IT (we ALL do do it!)
SPOOLS ON THE LOOSE
SPINNING SPOOLS
FLYING FINGERS
NIMBLE NEEDLES
THREAD TRAVELLERS
RUNNING WITH THREAD
WALTZING NEEDLES, DANCING MINDS
WANDERING THREADS, WONDERING WOMEN (as opposed to Wandering Women, and Wondering Threads, made you smile, right?)
For those wanting a more general, “noun-like” name…all that flying and spinning can be exhausting!
COMMON THREADS
HEART IN HAND or heART IN HAND or heART BY HAND
SILVER THREADS
heART WORKS or HEART WORKS
Post Script: That’s it. That’s my list. And that said, I have to say, that I may be the only one, but I still like SCRAPS best. I like that it has a history of women getting together to show their stuff and make lifelong friends. I like that even as different as the things we make are, we ALL have scraps. (Finding a name that addresses all our tools and techniques seems impossible–someone is bound to feel not included–maybe, important, maybe not.) And, speaking of scraps, I like that once we have made the “big idea” piece of art, that it is often, the art that is made out of the leftovers, the scraps, that is the more interesting, the most engaging, and just plain fun. And, I like thinking of us as each being a bit “scrappy” when called upon to express an opinion or a challenging point of view.
THE END
