Laura Wennstrom
The ART of IMPROV
I am excited to welcome artist Laura Wennstrom to share with us about her work and process with The Art of Improv. Laura is a multimedia artist, working in two and three dimensional formats using quilting, found materials, color, and installation techniques. Her work has been exhibited in numerous group and solos exhibitions across the country. She received her BA in Studio Art from North Park University in Chicago and an MFA in New Media from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Laura has a robust teaching practice and has taught classes to children and adults through the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Bethel University, Parkland College, Urban Arts Academy, and the Minnesota Textile Center. Laura lives and works in Minneapolis with her husband and two young children.
House Hunting Laura Wennstrom
What does working improvisationally mean to you? How would you define the ‘Art of Improv’?
Working improvisationally means making the art as it happens in the moment. Trusting my intuition. Working with color and shape and pattern is a process that comes out when I turn off my analytical, logical brain. "I am making it (up) as I go".
Have you always worked improvisationally?
Yes!
Do you work improvisationally, consciously, intentionally? If so, how do you begin? If not, how do you find yourself getting there?
I think I have always unconsciously worked improvisationally. I do pretty much all life things in life by jumping in and then figuring it out as I go. This sounds really morbid, but in most situations, (especially as a parent) I think through the worst case scenario and set that as the basement or metric for possible failure. As an artist, the worst case scenario usually is that I waste time or some materials, and I'm generally working with salvaged materials anyway, so that mindset is pretty freeing.
How often do you work with improvisation?
All the time. I find myself needing to completely start over, edit, and add constraints on a regular basis. However, I strongly believe that I am always learning from my decisions and I am getting better at trusting my intuition all of the time.
Rage Laura Wennstrom
Please share a bit about your process. Do you have methods to getting started? Do you have tricks for getting unstuck? Do you have motivators to finishing up?
I generally work with textile based projects, and for most of the work I do I start with a set of materials that I have been collecting. Sometimes I "make material" and then use the objects or quilted pieces I have made as a larger installation. Recently, I have been working with smaller found textile objects to make tabletop sized compositions that are collage-like in nature. I have bins and piles and scraps all over and I generally just dig and play around until I find materials or compositions that are happy together. Sometimes this comes really quickly, sometimes a composition takes a few weeks. If I get stuck I move onto something else and am also okay with letting an idea die in the studio.
I work on a few things at a time or batch them together and like to separate the "thinking work" from the "labor" part of making. So one day I'll compose and plan out in the studio, and then I'll take the work back into the house to hand sew the pieces while I'm watching TV or hanging out with my kids. Sewing while watching TV is one of my favorite activities ever so I am always motivated to get some pieces going so I can have an excuse to sit on my ass later.
Where do you find inspiration? How do you use it?
I love thrift stores, garage sales, the backs of other people's closets, stuff left in the alley, weird excess materials destined for trash. For whatever mystical reason, I am drawn to certain colors, textiles, and materials. For a long time I ignored this part of my practice as a personal quirk, but now I understand that the collecting is where the intuitive part of the process begins. I am constantly mining the world for materials, fabric, and the materials I select that make it back to my studio have already been curated. In that way, what I am making is directly linked to what I have been scavenging.
What advice would you give to someone interested in trying to work improvisationally. Can you share some good advice that you received that helped you become more comfortable this way?
My sculpture professor in undergrad always said, "let the materials speak", don't force the materials into doing something they are not naturally doing. In this way, I have found a way to work WITH the materials and let the ideas emerge as I manipulate objects in space.
I recently read Sherri Lynn Wood's book "The Improv Handbook For Modern Quilters" and I love how she talked about beginner's intuition. I've been trying to lean into my own instinct. I always imagine a group of 3 church ladies/ quilting ladies looking over their reading glasses 'tsk'-ing the choices I make, accepting advice on how to make them going away. Why is my inner critic a group of church ladies? ew.
I've been thinking about a conversation a friend relayed to me via her sewing machine repairman, John, who said, "just because you can piece technically perfect quilt blocks doesn't make you an artist."
How would you finish the sentence, ‘What if, . . .?’ My kids just left me alone for just a few minutes? Parenting young children in a pandemic with no childcare is.... nuts. I am writing this to the sound of crying. However, when I have the chance for uninterrupted studio time, it is magic, parenting has pushed my intuitive nature to new extremes and it's refreshing to not overthink. THERE IS NO TIME TO THINK JUST MAKE!
Ansister Prairie Queens Laura Wennstrom