Patchwork Underground

Today’s spotlight is on awesome Oregonian beader and fiber artist, Bobbi Kirk (a.k.a Beadbabe).

I have been a fan of Bobbi’s work for ages and I was so excited when Bobbi graciously agreed to answer a few questions about her art and her creative process to share with ya’ll.  I invite you to check out more of Bobbi’s work at her etsy shop, her flikr site,  her website and read more about her creative adventures at her blog, Beading at the Beach.   I think you’ll agree that she is one seriously prolific crafter!

<Pause and Drum Roll>

….And now, without further ado, let’s get to the interview!!

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So, what do you create?
I make bead embroidered jewelry and bead and fiber wall pieces mostly, with occasional side trips into 3-D baskets and vessels.

I was doing beadwork nights and weekends while working as a graphic artist during the day, and when I got laid off, I just started doing the beadwork (and later bead and fiber) full time. I eventually had about 9 galleries carrying my work, which meant I could focus on making the work and leave selling it to them.

In the early days (early 90’s) I used business cards with the name, KirkWorks,  but sold my work in the galleries under my own name, Bobbi Kirk. My etsy shop has the same name as my blog, Beading at the Beach (I live at the central coast of Oregon) and I go by my online name of beadbabe49, since beads have been my major focus for almost 20 years.

I work from a small studio in my home (formerly known as the guest room) and I usually get up fairly early and check my emails while having my coffee there. Then I usually take about an hour to check on updated blogs and my etsy shop.

After that I’m ready to start working on any unfinished pieces from the day before or start working on a new piece. I have lunch around noon and then I either take a walk outside if it’s not too cold or wet or I go to our rec center and walk there…I try to do from 1-5 miles each day.
Then I do whatever household chores I have (grocery shopping, etc.) which gets me home around 3. I go back to the studio for a couple of hours and do some more work on my morning pieces. Or if the weather permits, I take the tray I work on out to the sun porch and bead or sew out there. And if I’m feeling restless, I’ll bag up whatever I’m working on and drive out to one of our ocean side parks and work in my van while enjoying the sun and the sound of the waves.

Then it’s time to fix dinner and spend some time with my husband before going back to the studio to check update my blog and decide what I have to finish and what I can save for the next day. This is also the time I do my research, if I need to, for any special series I’m working on, like my Basho Series I finished last year, which you can see at my flickr site.

For me it was learning that I’m not able to sell my own work. I simply don’t have the gift of being able to talk about my work in a way that makes people interested in buying it. I have friends who make their living at art and craft fairs and saturday markets and I admire them tremendously, but it’s not a skill I have.

What inspires you most?
Water…in all it’s various forms…from a tiny creek to the ocean, it all draws me. I love it’s fluidity, it’s many colors and especially how it breaks sunlight up into millions of tiny points of light. Sitting or walking next to water encourages a meditative state in me that allows me to be in that still, quiet center that I create from. And although I’m not always portraying water in my work, I do try to put some of it’s qualities, the flow and peace of it, into each piece I make.

Right now I’d have to say my favorite technique is a combination of improvisational bead embroidery and fabric manipulation using hand sewing. I feel I’m a part of the art cloth movement, a sort of sub-category of the slow cloth movement I first heard about on Elaine Lipson’s blog, Red Thread Studio, which honors the process of art/craft making as much as the finished product.

I have a photo of me at 4-years old sewing doll clothes with my 25-year old cousin helping me out…and I can actually remember that day.

Learning the difference between perfectionism and excellence. Striving for personal excellence is a goal I embrace…striving for perfection has kept me from enjoying the process of  making art/craft for many years, and from learning the many lessons of “mistakes”. As I’ve gotten older I’ve often seen that what I initially considered a flaw in a piece is what actually gives it soul and presence.

I’d love to have the time to learn how to sculpt my own original faces in polymer clay.

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Thanks for sitting in the hot seat, Bobbi!!  =)