"Who Says?"
Last night I went to the Tuesday night "World Music" concert – part of the summer Colorado Music Festival here in Boulder. I saw a band named Ljova and the Kontraband, which is described as "Eastern-European and Gypsy melodies, Latin rhythms, Jazz-inspired improvisations, and deeply rooted Classical forms given new meanings in original compositions that fearlessly forge a new direction, with a nostalgic gaze towards the past."
http://www.ljova.com/kontraband
Wow! What a MIX! I loved the Klezmer melody over a Cuban beat… the gypsy rhythm with the Russian lyrics… the accordian played by a young guy who looked like Danial Day Lewis in a Trilby hat… Ljova's colorful printed shirt and his wife's large scale printed dress. The songs were in assymetrical 7/8, 13/8 and 15/16 time signatures. At the end of each song, the woman behind me came up with new breathless superlatives, which made the whole thing that much more entertaining.
One of my favorite ways to get my creative juices running, is to play world music CDs in my studio, or to hear live music. In this case it was an indescribable mix of international influences that broke all the rules but at the same time allowed the audience to release all expectations of genre and enjoy the music for what it was… without a label or rules… or without a beat to which you could tap your foot… but it worked!
We quilters often need permission to break the rules, make something that can't be labeled, and invent a new genre of creative quiltmaking that doesn't have a name yet…
Who says we have to make quilts from only cotton?
Who says a patchwork has to be pieced?
Who says florals can't be mixed with plaids?
Who says quilts have to be symmetrical and perfect?
Write down 5 rules that you follow in quilting, then scratch them out one by one, and write down a different approach or perspective for each rule. Then go and brainstorm on each broken rule in your journal, and choose one to inspire a small piece to test out your idea. Don't make it to go in a show, or to please anyone but yourself. Take some time to play… be curious…. allow yourself to be present in the process and not attached to the outcome. You'll be amazed at what happens!
"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought."
? Albert von Szent-Gyorgy
