Working closely with Kay and her pieces allowed to be fully immersed in her work and thought process of her artworks. It was really refreshing to see looking through pieces she has made over the past 5 years or so how her work and process developed.
A reoccurring conversation I have with fellow student artist always seems to gravitate around our insecurities of what is "right" or "wrong" in our artwork. By working with Kay it made me realize that the reoccurring questions we should be asking ourselves is are we growing? Are we continuing to challenge ourselves? Being able to recognize growth in your own work and then challenge yourself to top that and try something new is not easy. But while preparing Kay's show pieces and sorting through her wide selection of art pieces it was inspiring to see how she is constantly questioning her method and testing all it possibilities.
I helped put together some of her stuffies as she calls them, we talked about the stitching technique, what looked neater, but what also added lasting strength to the piece. Feathering edges with varying cuts to stop gathering and hand sewing labels and hanging strips.
There was a really nice balance between function and artistry which is something I have always struggled with. But by seeing Kay's progression in her own work and how freely she spoke of her growth it gave me confidence to not be afraid to try new things and always be looking for opportunities of growth through my own work.
The pictures above show some of our process, something like stuffing a fabric arm in the beginning of the fellowship took my several weeks but towards the end I was then doing in a day, it was so exciting to me that I grew and developed skills so fast and was constantly thinking of ways I can apply these new attained skills in my own life/work.
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