Judy Kirpch
The ART of IMPROV
I am so excited to introduce our newest guest, Judy Kirpich. Judy is an award winning artist whose work I have admired from afar for some time, first discovering her work in a Quilt National catalog that I coveted from my local library. Her work is deep, sometimes dark, and powerful with meaning. She explores the complexities of being human and I cannot look away. Before committing full time to art Judy ran Grafik an award winning design firm outside of Washington D.C. She had regularly sewed but, her passion for quilt making was born from her discovery of the work of and study with the renowned Nancy Crow. I was lucky to meet Judy at last years Quilt National for which she was a juror and a previous Japan Prize winner, she was open, welcoming and kind and although it was not the first time I had seen her work in person, I was blown away. I am honored Judy has agreed to share with us here. Let’s learn more how improvisation inspires Judy’s process.
Indigo Composition #8 Judy Kirpich
What does working improvisationally mean to you? How would you define the ‘Art of Improv’?
For me, improvisation is the juxtaposition of precision and spontaneity. It is where chaos meets control. Every creation has twists and turns. Improvisation means dealing with these twists and turns and in fact inviting them in! Improvisation involves understanding how to harness a “mistake” and knowing when an accident actually makes a piece of work better than what you initially intended.
Personally, I love the element of surprise. I love the challenge of designing something that I do not know how to put together. I like the fact that quilters can stare at my work and are not able to figure out how I constructed it.
I’m not sure if working improvisationally is in and of itself an art. It seems to me that working improvisationally is more of a process. It is definitely a mind set…
“Improvisation” has become such a buzz word. Would one ask any other artist if they work improvisationally? I think not. All art- whether it is painting, sculpture, performance art or even jazz, starts with an idea unless it is paint by numbers or produced by a kit. I know I would not refer to Picasso or Calder as an improvisational artist…. just an artist. I would refer to Miles Davis as a great jazz artist who works improvisationally. I guess that I would prefer the title “artist” over “improvisational quilter”.
Have you always worked improvisationally?
I started out my journey sewing and tailoring clothes. I worked on very complicated patterns by Issey Miyake. Tailoring clothes taught me technique so when I turned towards improvisational quilting I had a set of construction skills that allowed me to understand how to sew pieces together. Without that knowledge I would have been relegated to using patterns.
At the time I actually thought that quilting was for mindless dummies- which shows you how clueless I was. I felt bored and stilted every time I did a piece with predetermined sizes and shapes. I was essentially oblivious to anything other than the world of traditional quilting.
Thumbing through an old copy of Threads- Issue 35 to be exact, I came upon the work of Nancy Crow. That article changed everything. For the first time I understood that quilting did not have to be templated and that one could experiment. I actually googled Nancy Crow and immediately signed up for one of her courses; life changing in every sense of the word.
From that time on I have only worked improvisationally except for a few baby quilts here and there.
Do you work improvisationally, consciously, intentionally? If so, how do you begin? If not, how do you find yourself getting there?
I do not intentionally work improvisationally- it is the only way that I know how to work. I do not start with a technique- I start with an idea which is usually an emotion. I am really not able to start a piece unless I have a strong feeling about what I want to convey.
Anxiety No. 11 Judy Kirpich
How often do you work with improvisation?
Every day. The techniques that I work with demand improvisation since I am often cutting into my fabric over and over again. That takes intuition and a bit of daring since one false cut can destroy weeks of work. Within each project there are a myriad number of decisions that have to be made, and since I have no pre-determined idea of what the final outcome is, I am constantly reacting and pivoting. Every step of the process demands decision making- from construction all the way through quilting.
Please share a bit about your process.
I start with my brain. I often have an idea or emotion that I need to release. Stress, anxiety, panic, sadness, all have informed by work. From the war in Syria to memory loss to self examination have all been fodder for my work.
An idea will percolate in my head for days or weeks before I go to my design wall. It is not unusual for me to think about my next piece while I am working on another one. I generally work on 2-3 pieces at a time, each one in a different series. I am currently quilting a piece in my Anxiety Series, binding a large piece in my Indigo Composition series, and starting ideas for a new work in the Memory Loss series.
I rarely, if ever sketch. I don’t have a notebook full of ideas. I almost never use a computer until the last stage of my work when I want to look at different croppings before trimming out my finished piece.
During the warm summer months I spend time painting with dye, mostly creating large pieces of material that may or may not find their way into one of my pieces. I will often start by sorting through piles of fabric to see if anything grabs me. Sometimes a fabric is created specifically for an idea that I want to try, but ironically I rarely end up using the painted pieces for what I originally intended.
Sometimes I do figure ground compositions with white and black construction paper, doing many small 9x12 compositions before I go further. After I have an idea of a general direction I will “audition” fabric. That process can take several days where I am cutting small swatches of color and pinning them up on my design wall and looking at them close up and far away. I can spend days pinning up painted backgrounds in different configurations as I try to establish a background, foreground and mid ground. Seeing how the colors interact is critical at this point since I am concerned with depth of field. Since I work with predominantly solid hand dyed cotton, small differences in shades are important. At this point my design table and design wall is a total mess as I might have several dozen pieces of fabric out.
Then cutting begins. Pieces of fabric get pinned up on my design wall so I know how my massing is working. If I am working in my Memory Loss or Anxiety series I will work from the background out- cutting and insetting lines and circles over and over again. By this time I have a good sense about what color values should recede or come forward. Then it is just a laborious process of composing every time I add a line or circle. I do not fuse fabrics or applique, instead I slash through a base fabric over and over insetting lines and circles.
Throughout the construction process I am open to changing direction. If something doesn’t work it gets ripped out and I start anew. I often add or subtract pieces up until the very end. And it is not unusual for me to totally change the composition at the final step by how I crop it.
Do you have methods to getting started?
I really don’t have a problem starting… I have so many ideas swirling around my head that it is more of a problem deciding which avenue I want to go down. There is rarely any time between finishing one piece and starting on another.
Do you have tricks to getting unstuck?
I am pretty disciplined about forging through even when I am uncertain if a piece is actually working. If I get stuck I will leave it up on the design wall and keep coming back to take a look. It is relatively rare that I will end up with a piece that looks exactly how I initially envisioned it. Part of the process is to embrace change and understand that a piece will morph and develop as you work on it. The size may change, the cropping will certainly change, the overall composition will change. One has to be ready to pivot if something is not working. One has to willing to tear down and build again to get a piece right. My seam ripper (actually rippers- I have 5 of them) is my best friend and I use it often. In fact I have just spent a few hours ripping out some quilting lines that just did not feel right.
The “trick” is not to give up and to silence your inner critic when it is too bossy and loud.
Do you have motivators to finishing up?
I am a Type A person and feel uncomfortable not finishing a piece that deserves to be finished. Not every piece should be finished: there are constructions that I have spent weeks and weeks on and have thrown out since they simply did not work. And when that happens I try not to mourn the time I have spent on work that ends up getting wadded up and thrown away. I am past the point where I feel bad and compelled to turn the fabric into potholders, placemats or table runners…. it is a waste of my time and my time is more important than the cost of materials.
If I am working on a deadline for a particular show, even if it is a few years off, I feel compelled to create pieces and work in an almost manic fashion. Shows are great motivators.
Where do you find inspiration? How do you use it?
I try not to look at contemporary quilters as I really do not want to be inspired or influenced by other textile artists. It is vitally important to me that I have my own voice. I do look at fine artists like Pierre Soulanges, Cy Twombly, Richard Serra, Franz Kline, and Louise Nevelson. I look at the way these artists mass shapes, how they use lines, how they use color. I like going to museums, and I often will thumb through my pinterest boards if I feel stuck.
Memory Loss #4 Judy Kirpich
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?
Start with an idea. Work in a series. Understand composition inside and out. Understand that there will be plenty of failures along the way… just keep pushing through and do not give up.
How would you finish the sentence, ‘What if, . . .?’
What if our work was considered to be as important and relevant as fine artists working with paint, metal or clay…. wouldn’t that be a game changer!
What are reading, listening to, watching, or any other inspirational obsessions you would like to share?
I never work without listening to either music, books or Podcasts. I love Flamenco, Brazilian jazz, and DC gogo to name just a few styles of music I enjoy. Right now I am enjoying the music of Stay Homas, a group of musicians in Barcelona.
I belong to a coed book club that has been meeting for 30+ years. We are currently reading The Master and Margarita by Russian author, Mikhail Bulgakov, I am also listening to Deacon King Kong by James McBride. I often listen to non fiction- everything from books on worms, on shad fishing, or the periodic table. I listen to about 20 audible books every year and my current favorite Podcasts are How I Built This, The Moth, and 99%.
Thank you Judy for sharing all of this with us, I love gaining insight and learning how other artists go about their work. I agree with you about improvisation being a buzzword especially in the quilt world. It is actually what gave me the idea to start these interviews, because I felt all artists use improvisation, but was unable to find much about how visual artists specifically used and worked with it. With all the people I have talked to about it I have had only one person fight to admit that they improvise as they create, and ultimately I think this is because they could not get away from what improvisation the ‘buzzword’ has become in the quilt world. Improvisation is a part of life and thus a part of art making and what you are making is some of the finest art I have seen, and I have stared at it long a hard and in fact wondered, ‘how the heck does she do that?!’. I hope your ‘what if’ response is coming, it is what I am working toward everyday and I thank you for leading the way.
To learn more about Judy and her work visit her website.