Spotlight: Lynn Krawczyk, Textile Artist

Facing a blank canvas strikes terror in the hearts of many. You seem to take it on with an “Oh, yeah? Take that!” attitude. Did you have to learn that? Is it teachable?

Hahahaha! Yeah I guess I do! I’ve always felt that I learn just as much from my mistakes as I do from my successes so that means that nothing is a waste of time or material. So much of making art is experience so it all contributes.

I adopted the attitude because aiming for perfection in my artwork sucks all the joy out of it. It’s something I do to find my center so applying pressure to it takes away the benefits of it. That’s not to say I abandon craftsmanship and strive to make sloppy work. It just means that I don’t stress about my work being archival for a thousand years or if the back of my embroidery pieces aren’t as pretty as the front.

It is something that I want to teach because in the classes I have taught in the past I always find a student agonizing over every choice instead of trusting her gut. I’m developing a class right now called Ten Minute Textile Collages that I hope will break that barrier. I’m hoping to start teaching it in 2019.

How would you say your work has evolved over the years? What triggered the evolution to new mediums?

I’d say that my work has become braver. By that I mean that I don’t worry anymore if people will like it or if it could be published. I just have at it and sometimes it’s great and sometimes it’s so horrible I want to bury it in the backyard. But that kind of acceptance of the process is so comfortable and lovely.

A friend always tells me that it seems like my brain always needs to be busy. And it’s true. So new mediums help fill that need. Some of them I just play in but I need that creative space to just work without expectation. Plus it’s FUN. And who doesn’t like having FUN??

Tell us about taking your small collages and exploding them into large format prints on fabric via Spoonflower. What’s next for those designs?

Oh those are so fun! I really loved making those paper/drawn collages. They are so much fun and I wanted to expand them a bit. So I was thrilled when my experiment to make them really huge and have them printed at Spoonflower worked. (The originals are only 4” wide x 6” high.)

They will be made into art quilts. I want to heavily stitch them and possibly do some surface design on them. I’ve been sketching some designs to make into silk screens. For right now they are just hanging out in my studio and I pet them every time I walk by them.

What is the most important takeaway you want readers to gain from your book(s), especially your new title, Hand Sewing Magic?

My goal with all of my books, especially Hand Sewing Magic, is to drive home the point that perfection in art is a myth and that I hope the reader embraces the joy that making gives them.
Hand Sewing Magic is heavy on stitch instruction and fewer projects. It was fun to curate the stitches that went into it – there are SO many out there! It pretty much became a game of my favorites.
Hand stitching is special to me because it has such a long tradition and history. It’s something that spans generations and it’s an art form that is very accessible to everyone. I really hope that my books make that point.

As an artist, are you a planner or an improviser? Much of your work relies on layers. When you start a piece, do you know where it’s going? Or does each layer speak to the next?

I’m a 10% planner and a 90% improviser. I usually start working with a general idea of what part of the project will be but for the most part I wing it.

I don’t mind backing myself into a corner or getting stuck. It forces me to find a creative solution and I think it makes the pieces stronger in a way. The energy of the maker goes into every piece so if I can strut around the studio in a triumphant march that I solved a problem, I think it shows.

You’ll hear almost every artist say that they wait for the art to tell them what to do next. There’s a lot of that in the way I work. I love the surprises.

What do you learn about who you are through your creative endeavors?

I think this question is so much easier for me to answer after my experiences during 2018. In the spring I was diagnosed with stage 3 non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The diagnosis was completely unexpected and I immediately went into “How do we kill this stuff off?” mode. After completing the first round of chemo, I found myself reaching for my art.

I wasn’t in any condition to stand in my studio printing fabric or designing new pieces. So I switched gears and hauled various art supplies down to the sofa so I could rest while I worked. I began making tons of paper collages from magazines. I also hand stitched and started crocheting again. More than anything I wanted the peace that came from creating.

The entire experience of having cancer (and beating it!) has thrown into sharp focus how important art is in my life. It’s my rock, my foundation. It’s always there when I need it. And it helped to reflect the strength that I didn’t know I had.

Do you create sequentially, or do you work actively on more than one project at a time? How many pieces are Works In Progress at the moment?

I’m definitely a multiple-projects-going-at-once girl. No matter what the medium. (Don’t ask me how many crochet projects I have going right now.)

It’s not unusual for me to have between five to ten projects going at one time. It’s taken me a while to accept but Art Brain is happiest when she can jump from one thing to another.

What does your studio look like? Where does the magic happen?

My studio is a constant work in progress. I’m getting ready to do yet another rearrange of the layout and I’m hoping my fickle self will be happy with it and leave it alone for a while.

I’m fortunate to have a spare bedroom dedicated to creating. I have work tables from IKEA and loads of bins overflowing with STUFF. (I love my stuff.) Recently, I took the doors off the closet in the room and made it an open organization space for my fabric and surface design supplies. I’m one of those people that if I don’t see what I have, I forget it exists.