A couple of recent posts have prompted some discussion around how we define improv, so I thought I'd just share
this link to an article by Melanie at
Catbird Quilts. (I first saw it on someone else's blog, but can't remember where - sorry!) I really like what she has to say on the subject.
5 comments:
Those are great articles...Thank you...That the common view is that it has to be wonky...is only one way to do it...In my heart, I feel that I improv with color all the time...I can start with one choice and end up with another...one step at a time, rarely a plan....a great way to use self in quilting xo
Excellent post. Melanie is always so articulate. I wish I had written that!
People bring up jazz musicians and improvising in music.
I've got a music background and one thing I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that musicians
who improvise have lots of practice formal or informal and lots of just plain listening to all kinds of music,
formal or informal. They think music and speak music and dream music, they believe they can do music.
They are fluent in 'music'. That's why they can improvise, they know the language.
Improvising is making do with what you have, materials or ideas.
Then because you understand the basic 'language' and you believe you can, you start fleshing out your idea.
It's not really all that mysterious.
I enjoyed reading her definitions and explanation - partly because it’s more aligned with the way I work. I enjoy seeing how others work through their quilt designs so I like to share my own decisions, too. One of the joys of the internet is the ease of sharing; one of the curses of the internet is the homogenized results because we limit ourselves to what someone else did last week rather than considering what we can imagine. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing this, Kaja -- I read through her post and all the comments. LOTS of things to think about from a wide variety of perspectives.
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