All Creativelike: An Interview with Fiber Artist Lynn Krawczyk

I've never had the pleasure of meeting Lynn Krawczyk in person, but I follow her on Facebook where she delights me to no end. She's not only a talented artist who freely shares her process and art making experiences, she's also a witty wordsmith. Since I know very little about fiber arts, I'm thrilled I got to interview Lynn about what it's like to stamp, stitch, dye and create art with fabric.

How do you define creativity? Great question! It’s such a personal thing, that definition. For me, creativity is about the willingness to constantly question what I do and be willing to reinvent when needed. Living a creative life takes a lot of guts because we constantly expose our inner thoughts on fabric, canvas, photos – whatever your chosen medium is. It’s the ultimate connection of spirit and mind so sharing it with others is a brave thing to do. To me, that’s at the crux of being creative.

You got interested in working with fibers and fabrics after a back injury. Can you tell us about that moment, and how it lead to finding your passion? It was one of those, “Wow, how did I not know about this??” moments. I’m the kind of person that has trouble sitting still, I’m always doing something. So when I had back surgery and was forced to really slow down, I was constantly searching for ways to fill my time and TV turned out to be one of them. One afternoon “Simply Quilts” with Alex Anderson was on.

It was the first time I’d really taken a moment to listen to anyone discussing quilt making. It was a thunderbolt moment, instant connection, instant love. I did a lot of reading about quilts, because I was still recovering from surgery, and became hooked on crazy quilts. I liked all the options it offered for creativity – embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery, beading, lace making, etc.

I moved on after a couple of years to art quilts and then to surface design, but there is still a strong influence of crazy quilts in my work. My collages are a celebration of pattern and print, and I can’t tear myself away from wanting to hand stitch everything. I'm fascinated by the layering and mixed media processes you employ in making your work. Can you describe your various art making processes for those who may not know about fiber art? Absolutely! As a surface design artist I draw a lot of inspiration from traditional printmaking techniques – for example screen printing and monoprinting. My work always starts with fabric I’ve printed with these techniques. I use these fabrics to create a collage, cutting pieces and fitting them together. It’s a work-as-you-go process. I don’t work to patterns. The last thing is to add stitching and additional printing over the top. I love artwork that you can just sit and study and always find teeny details. That’s what I work to create in my pieces.

Color and pattern play a big part of your work. Where do you find the inspiration? Absolutely everywhere! Since I’m an abstract artist, it’s so easy to find inspiration in the close up details of little things around me. But, I have to be honest, I get most of my ideas for work or projects when I just daydream. I know it sounds sort of cheesy, but I’ll put my headphones on and just zone out.

I think our day-to-day lives just cause too much static in our heads. Sitting still – which isn’t always easy to find time to do during the day, and which explains why my art brain goes into high gear right when I want to fall asleep! – just lets all that nonsense fall away. I’m not talking about any kind of formal meditation. Just put on your favorite music and close your eyes. It’s amazing what will shake loose when you just chill!

You have a new book coming out. Congrats! Please tell us more. Thanks! It’s my first book and I’m so excited about it! It’s called Intentional Printing and its focus is on learning to print fabric tailored to the project you are working on. That way you are sure to be satisfied with your surface design efforts. There are several surface design techniques and projects to get you started on your printing journey. It’s a really accessible book for anyone looking to start working with paint and fabric.

It’s also about having the confidence to use your artistic voice and trust yourself. I think that’s the first step – letting go of the idea that we have to be perfect. Instead just make stuff. Some will be good, some will be bad and each one will be worthwhile.

On your website you say that when you print fabric it's "the most honest part of your day." Tell us about that. What's honest about it? I guess I call it honest because there is never any other agenda when I’m printing fabric. There’s no goal to impress, no pressure to perform. Even when I’m working on a project that has a deadline and I really, really want it to come out well, the fabric printing is always stress free.

That’s because when I really embraced surface design, I promised myself that I would not assign the need for perfection to it. Because that whole business just strangles the joy of it. So when I put paint to fabric, I completely enjoy every part of it and it’s so great! Favorite artists? I honestly can’t say that I have favorites because there’s so much art to enjoy out there, I seem to bounce around with what is new and exciting to me. Of course, there’s Frida Kahlo, Lee Krasner, many of the Abstract Expressionists.

Daily habits? I have a full-time, non-art day job so I’m not able to say that I spend all day in the studio. But, I do make sure that I incorporate art into every day. Whether it’s working through the details of an idea in the notebook I keep with me, reading the blogs of artists I admire, writing a little bit, or stitching in the evenings, there is always something. One of the habits I have is to do prep work for projects on the weekends when I work in my studio. I split up the elements of a project into what needs to be done in my studio and what I can work on when I’m hanging out on the sofa in the evenings with Carter (my doggie) unwinding with a TV show. There are so many elements to the art we make, managing them so that they fit into our schedules is a great habit to develop.

Any advice for aspiring fiber artists? Don’t be afraid of making bad art. I’ve learned just as much from the stuff that doesn’t work as I have from the stuff that did.

You give failure too much power if you become afraid of it. It just means you try again.

And, be persistent. Everything takes time. I’m not so good at being patient when it’s something I really want, so I understand the desire to go quick and be successful immediately. But it rarely works that way. Instead just be yourself, do the work, and over time, things will fall into place.

Lastly, I couldn't let an opportunity pass for you to talk about your second passion - coffee! What makes the perfect cup? Oh yes! Love my coffee! I bet you could ask a hundred different people and get a hundred different answers. But, I will tell you how I like to make my favorite cup. I use an electric percolator. I have this weird belief that non-plastic coffee makers make the best tasting coffee. I like to mix unflavored coffee and flavored ones. My absolute favorite flavored is Northern Michigan Cherry from Paramount Coffee here in Michigan. I like sugar and sometimes creamer. But more often than not I drink it black. There’s just nothing better than a good cup of coffee!

Lynn Krawczyk is a surface design artist and writer living in Southeast Michigan. Her textile work consists of collage, hand stitching, and multiple paint printing methods. She believes art will heal the world. You can contact Lynn, see more of her work, or read her insightful blog at her website, Smudged Textiles Studio.

All Creativelike: An Interview with Printmaker Jenni Freidman

Jenni Freidman is one of those artists I've always admired for her consistent dedication. I was super fortunate to be able to attend art school with Jenni in the - cough - 1990's at Hartford Art School in Connecticut, where she now teaches. (Lucky kids!) And, she was as steadfast and committed then as she is now. While her work has changed over the years, she never fails to bring poetry to the process. And, damn, if this gal doesn't know how to rock a party dress. (See Exhibit A above.)

Jenni, how would you define creativity? Wow! Isn’t that the question! Right now I would say being able to solve problems of all kinds in non-traditional ways. Thinking in an abstract way, finding your voice and having the courage to stand by it. I am sure I would have answered differently 10 years ago, and if you ask me in 10 years I will have another answer.

Tell me about your journey to becoming a printmaker. What is it about printmaking that called you to it? I had no idea what printmaking really was when I went to school. I took a class with Jim Lee as a freshman and just decided that what ever he was teaching the next year, that’s what I would take! It turned out to be an introduction to etching course and I fell instantly in love. There is something really wonderful about taking particular steps to reach a goal that is very satisfying to me. It sounds so cliché, but the process was really exciting! There is a magic in the making that I don’t find with anything else. There is part that you can control and part where you have to let go. That balance is really good for me in making my work, and in my life.

When do you feel at your creative peak, or most inspired? Inspiration comes in lots of different ways and in different sizes. My daughter Nona is a huge inspiration, she acts with CRAZY confidence in almost everything she does and it has given me more courage to take risks in my work. Also, I work best always with LONG stretches of time, where I can really immerse myself in what I am doing. Those times are sacred and special, I don’t find them very often. My creative juices flow more like fits and spurts now.

I find, however, that work creates work, so the more time I can spend making, the more time seems to open up, and more ideas start coming.

I am at a really exciting point in my work now. I am just at the beginning of something new. I feel tentative a bit, but mostly excited to see what happens.

For a long time nature played a big role in your work. Can you talk about that? I love natural forms and phenomena. I feel guilty a lot, because I act more as an observer than an active participant. I am not a camping girl, and I am terrified of bugs. But I love to look and to learn. I have always been able to find a metaphor or a kind of explanation for what I am feeling in my life in the forms of the natural world. It has helped me make sense of things both in times of darkness and in light.

Your recent has been more colorful and, perhaps, more about pattern. You've also started integrating other materials into your prints. Can you tell me about that shift, and what you're uncovering with the mixed media process? Yes! I mentioned before what an inspiration my daughter is for me, and in lots of ways. I would have NEVER described myself as girly before she was born. It seems though, that she changed me. Maybe it was all the adorable clothes and toys, maybe it is that she was ALL princess when she was very young, but it could be just becoming a mother, but I am all pink and sparkle now.

I took up baking, scoured stores for adorable aprons and started looking at things I would have never thought to look at, much less be inspired by before. I would go into candy stores, just to look. I started obsessing over fabric designers, color, texture and pattern. It got to the point where I found that what I was inspired by had nothing to do with the work I was making. I decided I had to make a radical shift and teach myself how to find PLAY and JOY in the work and in my life.

It is the first time in my life I went after something like that. The melancholy in the work was inherent in me, it was easy after a while, which is part of the reason I needed to stop. It wasn’t where I wanted to be anymore.

The manipulating of the prints really came from spending time with you in Rhode Island. I had been fascinated with cut paper and embroidery for a while, but felt like I wouldn’t let myself do it. You gave me permission, and the rest is history! THANK YOU!!!* It is just starting and I have a long way to go, but I love the object”ness” that the sewing and cutting create. It allows me to layer in a very physical way. (*Interviewers Note: She's giving me WAY too much credit here. She's nice like that.)

You are also a professor at University of Hartford's Hartford Art School. How does teaching inform your art making, and vice versa? I love my job, and it’s like a dream come true to be able to teach at the Hartford Art School. The students challenge me all the time to learn new things, both technically and conceptually so I can be a good resource for them. They open my mind and help me to examine and re-examine what art is all about. I don’t think I would ask those questions on my own and I LOVE being part of the community. It’s like a second family.

I mostly try to keep my art making separate from my teaching. I want students to find their own way. I, of course, have my biases, as we all do, but I try to keep them in check so I can help them explore their own subject matter.

You recently had a solo show in NYC - Congrats! What was the like for you? So many artists hold that experience as a pinnacle of career. Was it everything it's cracked up to be? It was and wasn’t. The best metaphor I can make is to my wedding. We planned for a year, had all the details attended to, and made sure everything would go off without a hitch. It was expensive and over in an instant. What I learned about the wedding was that it was a blip in the span of our relationship. That what happens before and after that one day is far more important. It is important to do it, because it’s a marker, but it is only a moment in a big line of moments.

If you are worth your salt, you make love and art last for more than just a moment.

What are your influences or favorite artists? My favorite artists change all the time, depending on what I am trying to deal with in my work. Right now I am hugely inspired and humbled byLeslie Dill. She speaks in poetry and her work is weightless and heavy all at once. I cry every time I hear her speak, it goes straight to my bones. I love Agnes Martin and Vija Celmins. There are countless friends whose work I have in my home that light me up on a daily basis. I drink and eat from pieces made from artists' hands and sit now typing surrounded by work of my students and friends. Feeling pretty blessed, actually.

Any advice to aspiring printmakers? Do it because you love it. Make the best most honest work you can. Don't be too hard on yourself. Take lots of risks. Share your work with others.

Jenni Freidman makes prints and drawings, as well as limited edition books. Her work has been shown in exhibitions across the United States and abroad. She teaches at the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford, and lives in West Hartford with her husband Brian, daughter Nona, and their dog Vinnie. More info about her and her work can be found on her website HERE.