52 Week– 5″ x 7″ Challenge to Readers

At the National Quilt Museum, Paducah, KY

Here’s a call to all you other artists out there!  I’m starting a 52 weeks of art challenge for myself and others to get creating consistently throughout the year.

I went through 3 years of design training by Lorraine Torrence, an art quilter, pattern-maker, and graduate with a Masters in Fine Arts.  Lorraine started the first session with a story from one of her teachers about a study for art students done in a university.  In it, the upper-level students were told to either 1) make one piece of art for the semester, but have the quality be their focus or 2) don’t worry about quality, the grade the second group was going to be based on quantity… make as much art as they can and show the result at the end of the semester.  The result?  The work from the second group was by far of greater quality… not every piece, of course, but just the fact of repetition and developing a practice of making art regularly helped the artists really become much more than an effort at doing one really good piece.

Should you wish to participate in this challenge, you need to do the following:

  1. Make 1 piece of artwork in a 5″ x 7″ format (13 cm x 18 cm) each week.  This can be in any media.  I recommend trying to incorporate specific design principles into each piece or play with things you haven’t focused on previously.
  2. Post your photos to  http://www.flickr.com/groups/5x7_artist_challenge/ I may even add these photos on the blog as examples as we progress.
  3. Post a comment that you’re participating in the challenge at: http://fiberartistjourney.blogspot.com/p/2013-5-x-7-challenge.html  This will help you by having you state your intention publically and be accountable to the group.
  4. Do your best!  Nobody’s perfect and we all have things come up… but the more you participate, the more successful you will be in your personal artistic journey.
Christina at the National Quilt Museum  with the Museum
Curator, Judy Schwender and Christina’s Quilt
“Friesian Dream Come True”
Here’s proof of how making a focused commitment can work… I saw a call to artists for Equestrian Art Quilts for a special exhibit at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY.  They planned this show to coincide with the World Equestrian Games (WEG), which was being held in Lexington, KY (for the first time ever on American soil.)  As both a horsewoman and quilter, I couldn’t let this opportunity by, even though I’d never attempted to show on a national level before.  Not only did I get accepted to the show, I was able to go visit (as well as go to the WEG), meet the curator, and see all the amazing Paducah show winners that that museum has in their permanent display.  
I hope you’ll join me in the challenge… whether starting this week or anytime later in the year.  It’s going to be a fabulous journey!

You might also be interested in:
52 Weeks of Art- A Personal Challenge
Fiber Funsters 10 x 16 Group Challenge

/4 Comments/by