Timna Tarr
The ART of IMPROV
Please help me welcome artist and quilter Timna Tarr. Timna was born into a family of quilters, but she herself did not start quilting until after studying art history in college. Like so many do, she quickly fell in love with the process and was soon the owner of a longarm qulting machine and was quilting for friends and client’s. Meanwhile she designed and created award winning quilts that currently reside in private and corporate collections. Timna has exhibited nationally and her quilts have been published in numerous publications (magazines and books) and she and her quilts have appreared on television, The Quilt Show and Quilting Arts TV to name a few. She currently travels across the nation teaching and spreading the love of all things art and quilting. She currently lives in South Hadley Massachusetts and works out of her studio in Holyoke. In her own words, her work, “is about color and small compositions. Each block in a quilt is made as its own element, independent of the other blocks. After all of the blocks are constructed, my goal is to arrange the small compositions to play off each other and work together to create a larger whole. What keeps me engaged is watching how the project changes and transforms with the addition of each color and texture.
The resulting quilts are contemporary works, set in this time and place, which reference the rich tradition of quilt making.”
Let’s learn more about how improvisation plays a role.
(Un)Comfortable Timna Tarr
What does working improvisationally mean to you? How would you define the ‘Art of Improv’?
For me working improvisationally means starting with a “rule” and working from there. It’s not exactly a plan but it is an idea, or a constraint, to give me something to focus on and to push up against while I work.
Have you always worked improvisationally?
Yes. I don’t really know how else to work. My first quilt was made without a pattern – I made a pile of half-square triangles and arranged them into different blocks. Then it needed to be bigger so I added in sashing. It still needed to be bigger so then I added a border. I think this comes naturally as I come from a long line of quilters that “made do” with whatever they had. They didn’t go to the store if they ran out of a fabric, they substituted in something that they had on hand.
Do you work improvisationally, consciously, intentionally? If so, how do you begin? If not, how do you find yourself getting there?
I consciously work improvisationally, but I always put it within some sort of structure within the traditional quilting world. For example, I often make block based quilts. My improvisation occurs within each block, but then the blocks are easy to sew together in a standard way.
Fall in the Falls Timna Tarr
How often do you work with improvisation?
Almost all of the time. Even if I have a grand plan for a quilt, each step of the process has improvisational elements to it. And honestly, the quilts I plan out before I make them are not that great. There’s something about the improvisational process that allows unexpected sparkly things to happy.
Please share a bit about your process. Do you have methods to getting started? Do you have tricks to getting unstuck? Do you have motivators to finishing up?
When I’m stuck I make string quilt blocks. During the Coronavirus pandemic, I have been making string blocks. It’s my version of quilting comfort food - I find them soothing and not mentally taxing. I don’t measure my pieces ahead of time, I pull out my scrap bins and start sewing pieces of fabric onto muslin. I trim the string pieces with scissors to random sizes. It’s a great way to play with new color combinations and it’s “low-stakes” sewing. There’s no way the project won’t work out. Worst case, I make a quilt to donate. Often after I make “low-stakes” quilt, a much more interesting quilt comes out of me because I am ready for a bigger mental challenge.
I used to be a one-quilt-at-a-time kind of gal. I wouldn’t let myself start something new until the old piece was finished and labeled. Apparently, I’m over that as I have two quilts sitting next to me that just need to have a handful of threads buried and labels sewn on. I think that change occurred after I moved into a studio after working from my house for many years. I just didn’t have room in the house to work on more than once project at a time. In the studio, I have loads of room to spread out. And to not finish projects.
Where do you find inspiration? How do you use it?
Who knows where inspiration comes from? When I feel like I need a little infusion I look at old maps, documents, and photographs. I visit flea markets and antique stores. Sometimes the best ideas come when I’m cleaning up my studio. I find fabrics I had forgotten about or I see combinations of fabrics that speak to me.
Mother Clucker Timna Tarr
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?
I can’t take credit for this idea, but someone described traditional quilt making methods as the quilter makes all of the decisions on the front end of the project. Improvisers make tiny decisions with every little step in the process. I find tiny decisions easier than big ones. It’s easier to correct a small error than to make a big blunder with a whole quilt. So start small. Make one decision – to sew two pieces of fabric together. Then the second decision is how long should these pieces be? Then, should I add on a third fabric? Etc.
How would you finish the sentence, ‘What if, . . .?’
Every one of my quilts starts that way. What if…I try to turn this map into a quilt? What if…I applique a whole bunch of circles onto squares? What if…I make a quilt using all of my red fabrics? ‘What if’ is the curiosity that feeds creativity.
What are reading, listening to, watching, or any other inspirational obsessions you would like to share?
I am always listening to podcasts – news, comedy, and interview shows are my favorites. Comedians have a lot to say about the art of improv. I always enjoy reading and hearing what writers have to say about the creative process, probably because they know how to phrase their thought eloquently I also read a lot of non-fiction. Right now I’m in the middle of Elton John’s autobiography which is entertaining. He definitely lives an improvisational life!
Thank you Timna, for sharing with us all your perspective on improvisation. I truly believe we all use it everyday and have loved getting to learn from artists how it gets incorporated into their pieces and their practice. I relate to the ideas in your advice response, that improvisers make few decisions when they start a project or performance, but they make a million little decisions along the way! This is very much how I like to create, and although I never had the discipline to work on just one piece I find it so interesting that you used to do that but don’t so much anymore. You improvised your process by changing your mind, no? This to me is the beauty of the process, and having that permission up front is so freeing for me. Thank you for helping me to see this in a new light, this is what I love about and why I am reaching out. . . trying to learn more about how you and others work with The Art of Improv! Thank you again for sharing with me and , I CAN NOT wait to see what you make next!
To learn more about Timna, visit her website here, and check her out on Instagram here.