Hey I built a new website!!! check it out! Brave Hand Textiles
A Meaningful Life
As someone in my early 20’s in 2013 it’s easy to feel under-valued and taken advantage of, as the opportunities of our American landscape slowly fade.
minimum Wage Machine by Blake Fall-Conroy.
Our options seem to be the service industry, unpaid internships, or the military – and if you want to roll the dice, go to college —- just be damn sure you’ve got a marketable degree!
Our generation is looked down on for our low test scores and our failing to become financially independent, traits that are attributed to us being lazy and spoiled.
Photo by john hanson.
But every generation has gifts, and as the infrastructure of the American Dream crumbles, we have the opportunity to rethink what truly makes a meaningful life.
“It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power”
~Alan Cohen
With DIY culture and the trends of new-domesticity like urban gardening, crafting, home-brewing, fermenting, homeschooling – etc., we are building our meaningful lives from scratch. We are not trying to go back in time – but rather learn what we need to nurture ourselves and our community.
Art by lizzy stewart.
I want a meaningful life — and I don’t know what that looks like yet, but I think it has more to do with freedom than power.
Quilt Progress
Photo by Pearl Beerhorst.
I finished my quilt top! All Hand- Sewn! I completely love it – but am a little nervous about the next steps…
A couple days ago, my sister Pearl came over and took some photos of me in my room.
Photo by Pearl Beerhorst.
I had a studio space for a while last year, but it made me realize I honestly really like working out of my bedroom.
Photo by Pearl Beerhorst.
I’ve been messing around with other quilt motifs – like log cabin.
To see more photos checkout Pearl’s Flickr.
Also visit Pearl’s Etsy: pearlsroom.etsy.com. She has been making some beautiful pins that I am crazy about!
Brave Hand Textiles FaceBook Page!
Brave Hand Textiles is now on Facebook! Please like and share with your friends.
May Quilting
I have been obsessed with quilts for a while now… But I recently started my first patchwork quilt, sewing it all by hand, which might have been an odd choice – but it allows me to watch movies/TV shows at the same time so….
During my time working on my 2011 ArtPrize Project “PatchWork” — a curated mending as art collection, I was doing a lot of research on the history of mending and patchwork, and some of the best and most intriguing documentation I found was on Quilting.
Here are a couple of books I recommend on the subject.
Quilt by Ella Mae Irby, 1923-2001.
The tradition of quilting is uniquely important among needle crafts. We are born in quilts and we die in quilts, they provide warmth, comfort, and safety thoughout our lives.
I was invited to be a part of the Shared Space Studio summer artist residency by the contemporary quilt and textile artist is Eliza Fernand. Checkout her work in her current Kickstarter project.
I am really looking forward to collaborating with her!
Another quilter I am really into right now is Maura Grace Ambrose and her brand Folk Fibers. Each of her quilts is stitched by hand and she dyes a lot of her fabric herself, using homegrown and foraged plants.
Quilt by Maura Grace Ambrose.
For MUCH more quilt inspiration checkout my Pinterest board Quiltz.
My New Shop Name And Logo
I’ve been using SockMonster as my logo/brand for 9 years (since I was 12) it served me well but as my work changed it no longer fit.. I chose Brave Hand Textiles as my new name! Changing my etsy to bravehandtextiles.etsy.com.
It took me a long time to think of a name that felt right, I wanted to use the word brave because it’s one of my favorite words and bravery is something I want my work to be associated with, Hand because my work is all hand-made, and Textiles because I am a textile artist. My Dad Rick Beerhorst created my new logo which I really love!
This marks a new beginning for me please let me know what you think.
April Quilting
It’s been raining for like 3 straight weeks! So I’ve been forced to spend a lot of time indoors…
Yesterday I spend the evening sewing quilting squares and watching Carnivale on HBO, the costume design on that show is so beautiful!
I’m really looking forward to being able to spend more time outdoors – but there’s a certain comfort to taking your time on a slow project.
Although I’ve had a working sewing machine for a while now, I just can’t shake the habit of sewing by hand. It has remained one of my favorite pastimes.
Puppets!
Photo by me.
I was commissioned to make a set of 9 fairy-tale hand puppets! For The National Czech & Slovak Museum! It was an awesome challenge – cuz I’d never made a puppets before… After a couple failed attempts I got the hang of it.
Wolf.
Jester.
Granny/witch.
King.
Queen.
Frog.
Hedgehog.
Princess.
Red Riding Hood.
Which one is your favorite?
Pearl & Bear’s Photo Adventures
Photo by me
My sister Pearl Beerhorst is killing it lately with her amazing photography! She has taken some heart-stopping photos, and I just wanted to post some of my favorites to draw your attention to her talent.
Photo by pearlbeerhorst
Pearl is often accompanied by her friend Laura Clarke (aka Bear) who is a beautiful model & willing adventurer.
Film photo by pearlbeerhorst
She is working in both film and digital.
Film photo of Pearl taken by Bear with Pearl’s camera at pearlbeerhorst
Film photo by pearlbeerhorst
They are a great team! See more at on Pearl’s flickr pearlbeerhorst.
START
Art by doodles.
Lately it seems like almost everyone I talk to around my age, is stuck on some variation of this problem:
(Imagine “THEM” as group of 20-somethings screaming)
THEM: I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WANT TO BE WHEN I GROW UP AND IT’S STRESSING ME OUT.
ME: you don’t have to know what you want to do with the rest of your life, just start doing something you care about – and start as soon as possible.
THEM: I KNOW, BUT STARTING IS THE HARDEST PART.
These are smart, passionate, talented, people so why is this happening?
I realize that this is a symptom of being in your 20s, but it sure seems like my generation is hitting this particular brick wall again and again.
I don’t always feel inspired, in fact I literally NEVER feel like blogging, but I always feel proud after I’ve finished a post… Not because I think I wrote some sort of amazing gift to society (LOL), but because it’s something I always thought I couldn’t do, cuz of my dyslexia, and this will be 135th post! So suck on that personal bullshit!
All that being said, I still think if someone locked me in a room with a typewriter, and said I will free you once you’ve finished a novel of at least 100,000 words I would jump out the window… A blank page is one of the scariest things that exists.
Photo by me.
Starting is hard, it requires a lot of self-discipline. Hopefully once you’ve started, at some point in the process you’ll drop into your flow — and that is a beautiful thing.
(by flow mean your artist groove, not your period!)
START every day, and think of finishing – as optional… but personally I find finishing a lot easier.
“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”
~ Kurt Vonnegut
rosebeerhorst 