Art + Quilt: Design Principles and Creativity Exercises

You don’t have to be a professional to create stunning art quilts. All you need is a little refresher on art and design basics, plus a few tips and tricks from master quilter and creativity coach Lyric Kinard.

Learn to understand, appreciate, and create works of art one step at a time with Art + Quilt: Design Principles and Creativity Exercises. Brush up on the basic elements of art, and then learn the principles of design that will strengthen your artwork. Work through homework assignments and field trips that harness your inspiration, then direct that creative energy into your work.

Here are a few short exercises from Art + Quilt that will get you primed to play and make art. 

Wouldn’t it be lovely if you could find 45 minutes every day for your art? Turn off the TV for an hour. Take a 15-minute break during lunch or after work to imagine and be inspired. Wake up 30 minutes early or stay up half an hour late to play with some art and experiment. Once a month take yourself, and perhaps a collaborator, to anywhere that interests you and seek inspiration.

Five minutes to imagine

Field Trips

Set a date, bring your sketchbook, camera, and perhaps a friend. Go to a museum, park, gallery, grocery store, downtown, or anywhere interesting, and contemplate your surroundings with an artists’s eyes. Be inspired. Look for exquisite compositions, well-balanced forms, and distinctive color combinations. Be inspired by a beautiful flower and the flotsam in the gutter. Sketch it, write about it, photograph it. Write down what inspires you and why. When people see your sketchbook and come to look, tell them “I’m an artist!”

Do you say “I wish I had more time to be creative?” Then this book is for you! Whether you create quilts as a hobby or as a professional artist, Art + Quilt will help you clarify your goals and take your craft to the next level through design and composition.

Just as everyone can learn to read, everyone can learn the basic elements of design and open the door to being an artist. You can learn to appreciate and create art if you are taught a step at a time.

OPEN YOUR HEART AND MIND- Why do you say "I can't" Did someone some time say you couldn't draw? Are you comparing your talent to a professional who has spent thousands of hours learning and practicing their art? You have to change "I can't" to "I'm willing to try!" I'll be your cheerleader, shouting and encouraging and cheering you on every step of the way. You need to give yourself permission to learn one step at a time. Guest essay - Overcoming Fear (Janine leBlanc)

Introduction to the Elements of Design: We'll begin by learning the alphabet of art. The basic elements of design are the letters that artists use to create words, paragraphs, stories and poetry. We'll start at the beginning and work up from the sounds and shapes of letters, to the combinations that make words and sentences. We'll give you the tools for your belt and show you how to use them.

Next comes putting the basic design elements we have learned about together. We've learned what the letters are and now we can put them together to create some sort of basic meanings... the beginning of words. Learn to use your creative tools from Chapter 2 to create beautiful compositions.

CHAPTER 4: HOMEWORK/ASSIGNMENTS

Student gallery examples for the following creativity exercises. Kids go to school every day and do (seemingly endless) grammar exercises and write countless essays. They learn through practice to not only appreciate great writing but begin to write themselves. A few with the fire in their heart or language go on to write novels and poetry. If you have the fire in your heart for art you need to spend your time practicing. You also need to practice a new way of thinking. Even if you can't bring yourself to say it just take as long a time as you can spare each day and "pretend" you are an artist. It's always been amazing to me how children will live up to our expectations of them. Set your expectations for yourself high!

Now What!? Shakespeare didn't write Romeo and Juliet when he was six years old! He probably progressed just like the rest of us by writing a lot of awkward verses and rambling essays and letters. He practiced until he developed the skills necessary to become one of the great writers in the English language. Now it's your turn.