Interview with Linda Colsh
Linda Colsh
I2: Where were you born?
Colsh: I was born in New Jersey in city named after a color that you can’t rhyme. We lived on a lake near Morristown until I was 12 and then we moved to an island in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland—a very watercentric childhood.
I2: Has anyone in your life influenced your work or acted as a role model for you?
Colsh: My grandmother painted duck and shorebird decoys that my grandfather carved. I loved to hang out in their wood shop. It’s surely in my blood to be an artist, but I’m also certain the fire was lit-figuratively- out in that shop. Nature or nurture? In my case, it’s probably a combination.
I2: Is the subject important to you, or do you simply create to express yourself?
Colsh: Oh, the subject is definitely important to me. But that doesn’t rule out personal expression as a motivation too. Even though I really admire and appreciate non-representational art, my own work is very theme and subject matter dependent.
Linda Colsh, Drawing on the Mist
Colsh: No struggle, it just took time and keeping at it to achieve my “voice.” The drive to make art has been with me my entire life. I’ve always drawn and painted. I came later to printing. But, to really hit my stride, several other things had to converge: like finding quiltmaking in the early 1980s and then discovering surface design.
We lived in Korea in the late 80s. The relative isolation from the constant hum and buzz of the American quilt scene gave me time to start down the road of my own themes by spending time just thinking. Alone time and letting the mind wander are important parts of my process. My art quilts started to incorporate personally-developed symbols and items like the chair that functioned as icons.
As for a unique “look,” I have less and less need for color in my work. Such a spare and idiosyncratic palette sets my work apart, as well as unifies it visually. I found that, as I was getting deeper into working with computer images and designs for my screens, black-gray-white schemes gave greater range than I could get with color-brown has great range too.
I2: Could you talk about your latest series of artworks and what you are trying to achieve with them?
Colsh: The series that has been most active in the last few years for me is my characters. While some people think of my Berlin Omega woman when my work is mentioned, those who look more closely will find that my cast of characters is expanding all the time. I believe I’ve finished work with about 10 different characters so far and at least 6 or 7 more in various stages of design or printing. Each artwork explores some aspect of the character. It’s like writing a drama or a series of plays about characters. I find inspiration in the cities and streets of Europe where I live and travel. I look for the people others don’t see. The wisdom of the elderly is often an untapped treasure.
I2: How do you feel about spending your life as an artist? Do you ever wish you were a filmmaker or a pop star?
Colsh: I wouldn’t change anything about my life as an artist. I like working alone and having time to be with my thoughts. I will happily continue until I can no longer hold a brush or squeegee. Although some of the floor-crawling to square up the big art pieces may have to be done a bit differently. I have a background in writing and I believe that I approach my work in some ways like a writer and my notebooks are as much full of words as drawings. However, it’s making art that I’m happiest doing.
Linda Colsh working on her surface designs
Colsh: Of course! I have thought I should have a bonfire of the inanities and burn all those pieces that should be burned. I have learned from every piece but sometimes what is learned is to move on or take a different path. I’ve also thought of burying them because burning is illegal here.
I2: What inspires you to paint and how do you keep motivated when things get tough in the studio?
Colsh: It’s easy to go the sewing studio and even more desirable to head off to the wet studio. It’s paperwork and the business side of making art that I more frequently try to avoid. I do tend to spend too much time on the computer—both art-making time and general poking around. But even poking around adds to the general knowledge and artist needs to have and might spark some reason to run off to the studio. I don’t often feel like I’m blocked, but I do things like make collages and write or draw in my notebooks when I haven’t got a specific idea or reason to be in the studio.
I2: In a world saturated by images and with the speed of communications now, how is non-electronic art relevant?
Colsh: Non-electronic art is still very relevant. “Second Life” aside, people still live in the “real” environments of houses and visit real museums, work in real offices and stay in real hotels when they travel. All those places have walls. Computer screens, no matter how large, on those walls are no substitute for artwork. I also have a hunch that our fiber medium will become more significant in the greening of our environments: the warming effects – both physical and psychological – of textiles on walls will become a feature of indoor spaces. The same reasons cold stone castle walls were hung with thick tapestries will be the reason we rediscover the warming potential of wall-hung fiber art. And of course, the tactile qualities of fiber art are something totally different from electronic art and appeal in a completely different manner.
The use of electronic or digital techniques and materials in making fiber art is an “other side of the coin” aspect to this question. The relevance of the computer to fiber art is quite important in many fiber artists’ work. In my own work, digital photography and working with that in graphics software is vital to the creation of my screens. Also, I make both paper collage that I photograph and print from the computer onto cloth and also digital collage for printing on fabric. I don’t use large format printers, partly because of nonavailability, but mainly because, artistically, the scale of my imagery relative to the overall composition works with a standard desktop printer’s output. So, while my work would certainly not be considered to fall within electronic media, it clearly makes use of digital tools and techniques.
I2: What is the biggest allure of our electronic society for you?
Colsh: What I find so exciting is the doors that have been opened by our online experience. Before the internet, living overseas as I have for almost 21 years could be isolating; but with email and video communicating over the ‘net’, I can be very close to other artists, collectors and friends. Just having the chance, thanks to you and the internet, to talk to who-knows-who via this blog is rather amazing. I know that our relatively gray-haired population of fiber artists is not all as computer-enthusiastic as I am and you are. However, to not take advantage of the tools and possibilities of the virtual realm is to miss out on so much. Sometimes I realize the masses of things I’ve studied and learned just because all I had to do was turn on the computer or move the mouse. How this impacts fiber art today is, to my mind, really rather incredible – and the impact is huge!
I2: Where do you see fiber art today?
Colsh: I think two common observations are troublesome: that fiber art is “worth less” because it is viewed primarily as a woman’s art and that fiber art is one of many arts that is somehow not “fine.” I think both of these are wrong-think, but a third problem is more valid: that too few young people are choosing to pursue fiber art.
That said, recent coverage in Arts & Antiques magazine and other indications are that fiber art is on an upswing. I presume that any uptick in the status of fiber art is going to be dependent on the state of the overall economy, but I am ever hopeful that fiber art will experience a renaissance and collectors and museums will turn with enthusiasm to textiles.
You can see more of Linda’s work at www.lindacolsh.com
Linda Colsh, La Bella Figura
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work is outstanding!!! from atco nj