I was watching QA TV this morning and something hit me. I had an ah-ha moment.

 

There used to be art quilters who were all original and inspiring, they  created edgy art. Once upon a time when Pokey and John owned the magazine they called their show art quilting. Now they call it contemporary quilting and it is owned by Interweave press.  When this happened there was a lot of scratching our artistic heads. We wanted our art magazine back!

 

Contemporary quilting TV and QA magazine among other media  is producing a generation/ genre of cut and paste, follow the directions and make an art quilt aka: contemporary wall quilt, hobbyists.  There is nothing wrong with that, but they aren’t my definition of a fiber artist. 

Then there are the studio artists who are exhibiting in museums and art shows.  I aspire to be that kind of art fiber artist rather than the kind that gets the magazines and follows directions to make a wall quilt.   It seems to me it is in the same category as the old paint by number kits.

I know that the last piece I did for the American Craft Council comes under the category of art and not contemporary quilting. What do you think?