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Post by jufergu on Jun 16, 2013 19:24:55 GMT
I have been really busy these last few months preparing for upcoming classes that I will be teaching. Don't know how I suddenly have become known as someone to teaches fiber art, it really was never my intention. But one thing leads to another, and pretty soon you are committed to all these teaching sessions.
So, I have been asked to teach a class on Color to a large group of quilters. Now, I am not really a quilter, but do make something that is categorized as "Art Quilts." I do the same thing with fabric, that I used to do with paint.
However, quilters are not artist (for the most part) They are artistic, but do not know how to work without other peoples patterns. I guess, they either want me to help them understand what they already do or they want to be able to choose more contemporary fabrics for modern quilting patterns. I consented to do this, but already know that this will be a time consuming challenge.
I would appreciate your help, no matter what your talent or training may be. Here are my questions.
1. If you signed up for this class, what would you want me to teach you? 2. How much of the technical side of color theory would you want to hear about? 3. How much hands on experience, as opposed to just lecture would you expect. 50%, 30%, 20%. 4. If I gave hand outs to each person, what would you want me to include? Books to read? Websites to look at? 5. How important is it to understand the color wheel?
I have 6 months to get this class constructed. The sign up sheets will be available in January, and the class will take place the first week in May. So, I should have plenty of time to prepare for an all day class.
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Post by lyn on Jun 16, 2013 21:14:04 GMT
Hello Judy 1. I would want to learn how to put colours together for the best effect i.e. how to choose the colours 2. I would want to hear as much as you could cram into 5 minutes 3. I would want 50% hands on 4. I would want handouts to sum up everything you talk about, and to include diagrams/photos, and I'd like a list of websites to look at 5. It's very important to understand the colour wheel.
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Post by jufergu on Jun 16, 2013 22:24:39 GMT
Wow, Lyn, you are a tough audience. lol. I do cram a lot into 5 minutes, but have wondered if I moved too fast and they did not understand. This group have no art experience and everything must be very basic. I have to guard against "Artspeak." They don't get it. I figured that it would be good to have a lot of hands one projects. However, they can eat up all the time if they are too complicated, so again, I have to keep it simple. In my last big Landscape class I had everything step by step with photos. They didn't read the directions or look at them before they came. I even sent them in attachments on emails, but they forgot to print them. We had them at the sign up desk at the guild meeting and they lost them. It was frustrating. So, I will probably only tell them to bring a sketchbook to work in and give the handouts at the end. But, I will do the photos, diagrams and outline the whole course with references and websites. I will have to be creative on the color wheel and use the one that is made for quilters. They will not be mixing paint, like painters do. I think that most of them will be there for the question #1. How to put colors together for the best effect and how to choose your fabrics. Thanks for the input. I am writing all these down.
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Post by Shepherdess on Jun 16, 2013 22:43:17 GMT
One thing you could ask them to do that people seem to like to do is to bring paint colour cards. They get to go look at in the paint store and take all there colours they can. They are great for showing how putting deferent colours together changes the way they look. and how sometimes you have to pick different colours to end up looking the same because of the colours they are beside. I hope that made sense to you. I agree with Lyn on the hand outs. If they can follow along and add there own notes as you go it helps. although sometimes it can be distracting if they start reading ahead and not listening. I like hands on too we did most of ours with the paint chips. Stops them trying to do anything to complicated. When I took a colour theory class they showed us what all the lines in the middle of the colour wheel were for that was really helpful no one had ever told any of us that before( we were weavers and spinners
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Post by lyn on Jun 17, 2013 7:19:42 GMT
Hello Judy I would prefer a printed handout at the end because the notes only make sense after the class. Unfortunately it adds cost for you.
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Post by zed on Jun 17, 2013 10:39:22 GMT
1. A lot of visuals, and less art 'lingo' 2. I have no idea what that even means 3. What is the 'hands on' part? Is it demonstrating what you've taught about colour, but using fabrics/patterns? 4. A summing up of what you've mentioned in class. If it's cheaper and easier could you put the visuals on your website, and give a link to that, so they are maybe seeing the same things again when they get home? 5. Understand the positions of the colours and how they are made up? Very.
I don't quilt and have no real art training (5 years at school certainly doesn't count, I was 'useless' and had 'no grasp of art whatsoever' according to my reports) so I hope my answers help.
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Post by MTRuth on Jun 17, 2013 17:53:14 GMT
I think it would be good if they brought small swatches of all the colors they have in their stash. Then these could be sorted according to light, medium and dark values. That would show them which colors they are lacking and what they might need to buy for future quilts. Most people have lots of medium value fabric but little dark or light. These samples could also be used to show how different colors change in perception when placed next to other colors.
If each quilter marked their samples, you could then mix everyone's samples together and then have them sort them in various ways, such as warm colors vs cool colors; look at all the reds and see which reds lean towards blue and which reds lean towards yellow; sort by complimentary colors; make various color schemes etc.
I would explain the color wheel but not delve too far into color theory. I think they would learn more from hands on applications. You could give them resources for further study on your hand outs at the end of class.
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Post by jufergu on Jun 18, 2013 2:44:40 GMT
These are all really good suggestions. I was kind of put off when I looked at the paint chips. I could find no primary colors. They were all mixed with complementary or were secondary colors. This sort of defeats the purpose of talking about how to get from primary to values. I think that Ruth has my plan already figured out. This is exactly how I was thinking about teaching color choices from your stash. The biggest problem with working from quilters cottons is that everything is in medium tone. But when I do go to a quilt shop, that is just about all they have on the shelf. I also have trouble with finding any lights and darks. I think that too much color theory could get very boring, especially if you are not an artist. Ruth you just re-inforced my own thoughts on this class and I have copied down everything that everyone suggested. It does no good to put things on line. I have tried this already and almost no one looked at it. Quilters get very lazy about moving out of their comfort zone. I do think that I need to teach a little on the quilter's color wheel. It is quite complicated. Different from the artists wheel.
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Post by zed on Jun 18, 2013 9:44:16 GMT
I completely forgot to say that I liked Ann's idea.
Maybe you're not giving people enough credit, Judy, it sounds interesting to me, but you use words I haven't been taught relating to colour which makes it difficult to follow. I'm not stupid and I've been an artist for as long as I can remember, but it all goes over my head. Maybe you need to think in words and terms which people already understand and forget the 'proper' terms for now until they're following a bit more.
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Post by jufergu on Jun 18, 2013 12:55:58 GMT
Zed, you are completely right. I am struggling to change my "artspeak." I have lived in the world of teaching the elements of art and design to those who have art backgrounds. The problem is with me. I don't want to keep making the same mistakes. I really did not volunteer to teach this class, as I don't really consider myself good enough to be called a quilter. I am unable to create the kinds of things that quilter's create. The only thing I have to offer the quilters is my design experience. They are coming to me and have no one else who can teach these things. The most asked for class in our guild is one on color. So, they asked me to do this. They had already asked me to teach a landscape class, and I found that I had a terrible time communicating. Although they loved my illustrations and explanations, They were unable to translate this into what they do. So, that is what I want to avoid this time around. I am more of a fiber artist than quilter, but I find myself living in two worlds.
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Post by Shepherdess on Jun 19, 2013 1:31:00 GMT
It is the words that make it hard. When I took my class she explained what value, hues, tone etc mean so we would understand better. I kept the definitions in front of me so I could keep referring to them. Do you have a link to the quilters wheel? I am curios to know what it looks like and a google search didn't help much. There was one very different wheel but I could get a good enough look at it because the picture was to small.
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Post by Karen on Jun 19, 2013 3:40:33 GMT
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Post by zed on Jun 19, 2013 9:25:00 GMT
I agree it is hard to find the right words, trying to do tutorials which explain everything to someone who has no previous experience or might be foreign and at the same time not be patronising to those with experience is really hard. That's a good idea from Ann, if you can explain the basics like that, and they have something to refer to you won't have to watch what you say quite so much-meet half way. They must see that you have skills they could really use, for them to keep asking, Judy
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Post by Shepherdess on Jun 19, 2013 17:11:41 GMT
The third colour wheel on the top row is a regular colour wheel. The 2 on the far right in the 3rd row look different. When I goggled last knight they didn't show up. Google can be very frustrating when it finds what it thinks you ware looking for instead of finding what you ask for.
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Post by jufergu on Jun 19, 2013 23:35:39 GMT
The most common color wheel that you find for quilters is the small one that is 15th from the top. I have the artists color wheels, but this one has openings to lay on top of a piece of fabric and then it will show through as you look at the different values and hues that you might choose. So it is made just for this purpose. I am trying to reprogram myself to the quilt world now. I have just as much problem explaining what I do to painters. When I tell them that I make fiber art or art quilts, They have no clue what that is. I have to get my camera out and show them my pictures. Then they figure it out. Same way when you tell them you do felting. You do what???
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