The Art of DIY Felting and Contemporary Art

I love to articulate things that exist but that I've never seen before and will probably never see in my life, and then like if you love to do felting, maybe you could make something out of those things. I mean it's like DIY, everybody that watches the videos can interpret it however they want to, and usually they do. They put their own spin on it and that's what I love. I love seeing when they do that well, cuz we always set up rules and sort of guidelines but people always break them.

um and at first I was a little mythed, I was like what are you doing, like this is the assignment but now I like it and I think that's something for people who maybe don't consider themselves great artists. We're giving you all the guidelines we're giving you a lot of rules and within rules comes creativity right sometimes you have to do something again and again to get better at it and sometimes accidents can be beautiful too right happy accidents yeah your background how did you get started in this um I started out as an artist making art, and then I just like really didn't like what I was making and I couldn't really justify it anymore but I loved to talk about art so um I worked at an art gallery for a while and then I studied art history um and then I did internships and museums and then I became a museum curator um so I worked in a museum as a curator for six years and then I decided that I really wanted to try this online video thing, and to see see how art and Contemporary Art would play in this format.

so I've taken a bit of a roundabout here but uh but for me it's really fun because I love I love showing ideas about contemporary art that a lot of people um are kind of afraid of or intimidated by and show that like contemporary artists are really relaxed unpretentious people who are trying new things and playing around with material, and they aren't necessarily extremely highly trained accomplished painters and they don't they didn't necessarily go to school and learn an indepth um uh approach to materials and they're just kind of winging it and um thinking about things and seeing seeing what it might lead them to.

well I'm going to put you on the spot a little here okay um are there any current contemporary artists you could recommend for people to check out that are kind of similar to the crafting DIY that we do well um what we're doing at VidCon right now is an exercise um based on an assignment from an artist Fritz hag he thinks a lot about um uh the domestic space and about how how like the art space is considered totally separate from your home.

and he did this exercise um called make a rug where he invited you to take old textiles and t-shirts from around your house, cut them in the strips and then hand crochet them into this rug that's sort of a document of your past and your history and the refuse of your family I saw that video before I came to Von and I already packed and I'm like oh I wish I brought some T-shirts CU you have a we have a booth and we're inviting people to come and bring a T-shirt and help us make it but we also went to Goodwill and and found some discarded shirts from the people anim yeah they did it's a portrait of the people of Anaheim through their discarded t-shirts um but he thinks a lot about um he he finds a lot of importance in the space of the home and how how you make a home and um the rug is kind of part of that so he shows rugs like these in the space of the museum which is usually kind of cold and uncomfortable it's not a welcoming space but he sets these up and he asks people to come and help make them there um and I think it it it takes on a new meaning when you think about it that way.

I will say after seeing that video of the artist you just mentioned it made me really want to try to make a run yeah I've never done anything really with textiles or I haven't done explored that area and it really did make me want to make a rug, it's fun I mean I was a little nervous cuz I wasn't sure I could do it. Don't tell uh but uh so when we were decided to do this exercise I was honestly a little nervous cuz I wasn't sure I could do it did you do it yeah oh yeah I did it for hours yesterday the rug has gotten pretty large you should come by I def I'll show you how well thank you Sarah for being here. Sure it's so much fun to be here U make sure that you like this video subscribe uh comment and I'm also going to link to the videos we talked about from the art assignment down in the description if you want to check them out bye bye

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi everyone welcome back to HGTV handmade today we are at VidCon and we have a very special guest Jennifer and I are here with Sarah Green do you want to tell them about their channel that you yeah hey everybody I make a show on PBS digital Studios called the art assignment where I go around the country visiting artists and I ask them to give you an art assignment and then we ask you to do it and post your responses online with #the art assignment and we do lots of crazy things it's not just like paint a painting it's like pick a friend and calculate the exact geographical midpoint between where the two of you live and then meet them there but on our show uh we think a lot about like the hugely different ways that people make art and the wide range of materials that people use and we're just trying to tap into all the crazy things that people are doing and making on the internet yeah so I thought that today we could just kind of have a cool discussion because Jennifer and I are way more on the crafting side where it's like here's a step by step here's how you make this pretty thing or as Sarah your projects or the projects that the artists you work with are more like here's the concept behind it now interpret it in a way do you want to talk about that well I think when a lot of people hear the word conceptual art it kind of makes them shut down a little bit um but in general it's about thinking about the idea before you get started so a lot of artists working today will come up with an idea um like hey I want to figure out how to represent an endangered species and then they pick their materials based on that right um so uh so I think like I'm interested in people using whatever skills and materials they have to approach a problem um like to articulate a thing that exists but that you've never seen before and will probably never see in your life and then like if you love to do felting like maybe you could make something out of Bel that responds to that I mean it's like DIY and everybody that watches the videos can interpret it however they want to and usually they do they they put their own spin on it and that's what I love I love seeing when they do that well cuz we always set up rules and sort of guidelines but people always break them um and at first I was a little mythed I was like what are you doing like this is the assignment but now I like it and I think that's something for people who maybe don't consider themselves great artists we're giving you all the guidelines we're giving you a lot of rules and within rules comes creativity right sometimes you have to do something again and again to get better at it and sometimes accidents can be beautiful too right happy accidents yeah your background how did you get started in this um I started out as an artist making art and then I just like really didn't like what I was making and I couldn't really justify it anymore but I loved to talk about art so um I worked at an art gallery for a while and then I studied art history um and then I did internships and museums and then I became a museum curator um so I worked in a museum as a curator for six years and then I decided that I really wanted to try this online video thing and to see see how art and Contemporary Art would play in this format so I've taken a bit of a roundabout here but uh but for me it's really fun because I love I love showing ideas about contemporary art that a lot of people um are kind of afraid of or intimidated by and show that like contemporary artists are really relaxed unpretentious people who are trying new things and playing around with material and they aren't necessarily extremely highly trained accomplished painters and they don't they didn't necessarily go to school and learn learn an indepth um uh approach to materials and they're just kind of winging it and um thinking about things and seeing seeing what it might lead them to yeah well I'm going to put you on the spot a little here okay um are there any current contemporary artists you could recommend for people to check out that are kind of similar to the crafting DIY that we do well um what we're doing at VidCon right now is an exercise um based on an assignment from an artist Fritz hag he thinks a lot about um uh the domestic space and about how how like the art space is considered totally separate from your home um and he did this exercise um called make a rug where he invited you to take old textiles and t-shirts from around your house cut them in the strips and then hand crochet them into this rug that's sort of a document of your past and your history and the refuse of your family I saw that video before I came to Von and I already packed and I'm like oh I wish I brought some T-shirts CU you have a we have a booth and we're inviting people to come and bring a T-shirt and help us make it but we also went to Goodwill and and found some discarded shirts from the people anim yeah they did it's a portrait of the people of Anaheim through their discarded t-shirts uh but he thinks a lot about um he he finds a lot of importance in the space of the home and how how you make a home and um the rug is kind of part of that so he shows rugs like these in the space of the museum which is usually kind of cold and uncomfortable it's not a welcoming space but he sets these up and he asks people to come and help make them there um and I think it it it takes on a new meaning when you think about it that way I will say after seeing that video of the artist you just mentioned it made me really want to try to make a run yeah I've never done anything really with textiles or I haven't done explored that area and it really did make me want to make a ride it's fun I mean I was a little nervous I I put out these assignments but I don't always do them myself secret don't tell uh but uh so when we were decided to do this exercise I was honestly a little nervous cuz I wasn't sure I could do it did you do it yeah oh yeah I did it for hours yesterday the rug has gotten pretty large you should come by I def I'll show you how well thank you Sarah for being here sure it's so much fun to be here U make sure that you like this video subscribe uh comment and I'm also going to link to the videos we talked about from the art assignment down in the description if you want to check them out bye byehi everyone welcome back to HGTV handmade today we are at VidCon and we have a very special guest Jennifer and I are here with Sarah Green do you want to tell them about their channel that you yeah hey everybody I make a show on PBS digital Studios called the art assignment where I go around the country visiting artists and I ask them to give you an art assignment and then we ask you to do it and post your responses online with #the art assignment and we do lots of crazy things it's not just like paint a painting it's like pick a friend and calculate the exact geographical midpoint between where the two of you live and then meet them there but on our show uh we think a lot about like the hugely different ways that people make art and the wide range of materials that people use and we're just trying to tap into all the crazy things that people are doing and making on the internet yeah so I thought that today we could just kind of have a cool discussion because Jennifer and I are way more on the crafting side where it's like here's a step by step here's how you make this pretty thing or as Sarah your projects or the projects that the artists you work with are more like here's the concept behind it now interpret it in a way do you want to talk about that well I think when a lot of people hear the word conceptual art it kind of makes them shut down a little bit um but in general it's about thinking about the idea before you get started so a lot of artists working today will come up with an idea um like hey I want to figure out how to represent an endangered species and then they pick their materials based on that right um so uh so I think like I'm interested in people using whatever skills and materials they have to approach a problem um like to articulate a thing that exists but that you've never seen before and will probably never see in your life and then like if you love to do felting like maybe you could make something out of Bel that responds to that I mean it's like DIY and everybody that watches the videos can interpret it however they want to and usually they do they they put their own spin on it and that's what I love I love seeing when they do that well cuz we always set up rules and sort of guidelines but people always break them um and at first I was a little mythed I was like what are you doing like this is the assignment but now I like it and I think that's something for people who maybe don't consider themselves great artists we're giving you all the guidelines we're giving you a lot of rules and within rules comes creativity right sometimes you have to do something again and again to get better at it and sometimes accidents can be beautiful too right happy accidents yeah your background how did you get started in this um I started out as an artist making art and then I just like really didn't like what I was making and I couldn't really justify it anymore but I loved to talk about art so um I worked at an art gallery for a while and then I studied art history um and then I did internships and museums and then I became a museum curator um so I worked in a museum as a curator for six years and then I decided that I really wanted to try this online video thing and to see see how art and Contemporary Art would play in this format so I've taken a bit of a roundabout here but uh but for me it's really fun because I love I love showing ideas about contemporary art that a lot of people um are kind of afraid of or intimidated by and show that like contemporary artists are really relaxed unpretentious people who are trying new things and playing around with material and they aren't necessarily extremely highly trained accomplished painters and they don't they didn't necessarily go to school and learn learn an indepth um uh approach to materials and they're just kind of winging it and um thinking about things and seeing seeing what it might lead them to yeah well I'm going to put you on the spot a little here okay um are there any current contemporary artists you could recommend for people to check out that are kind of similar to the crafting DIY that we do well um what we're doing at VidCon right now is an exercise um based on an assignment from an artist Fritz hag he thinks a lot about um uh the domestic space and about how how like the art space is considered totally separate from your home um and he did this exercise um called make a rug where he invited you to take old textiles and t-shirts from around your house cut them in the strips and then hand crochet them into this rug that's sort of a document of your past and your history and the refuse of your family I saw that video before I came to Von and I already packed and I'm like oh I wish I brought some T-shirts CU you have a we have a booth and we're inviting people to come and bring a T-shirt and help us make it but we also went to Goodwill and and found some discarded shirts from the people anim yeah they did it's a portrait of the people of Anaheim through their discarded t-shirts uh but he thinks a lot about um he he finds a lot of importance in the space of the home and how how you make a home and um the rug is kind of part of that so he shows rugs like these in the space of the museum which is usually kind of cold and uncomfortable it's not a welcoming space but he sets these up and he asks people to come and help make them there um and I think it it it takes on a new meaning when you think about it that way I will say after seeing that video of the artist you just mentioned it made me really want to try to make a run yeah I've never done anything really with textiles or I haven't done explored that area and it really did make me want to make a ride it's fun I mean I was a little nervous I I put out these assignments but I don't always do them myself secret don't tell uh but uh so when we were decided to do this exercise I was honestly a little nervous cuz I wasn't sure I could do it did you do it yeah oh yeah I did it for hours yesterday the rug has gotten pretty large you should come by I def I'll show you how well thank you Sarah for being here sure it's so much fun to be here U make sure that you like this video subscribe uh comment and I'm also going to link to the videos we talked about from the art assignment down in the description if you want to check them out bye bye\n"