We have homework and assigned projects every week in “Off the Wall,” the class I’m currently offering at Silvermine School of Art. Not your ordinary homework though, since this is a course on “creative process”. One recent assignment: make a piece of art to Accessorize Yourself. The result: zany knitted hats decorated with ear buds, paper lace collars, intricate necklaces, puppet wands, and a used paint tube tool belt. I wish everyone would dress like this all the time!

I’ll be featuring some of the students and their “homework  accessories” in subsequent blogs. Here’s Nina Birnbaum, wearing her pieces, and talking about her process:

“At the Westchester Craft show, I always walk around and talk to the artists. One woman makes/sells fabulous felted items. The artists are almost always glad to talk about process. In this case, she had “saved” un-felted areas where you could see loose stiches popping up, giving an interesting texture. When she told me she tied hazelnuts into her knitted items to prevent certain areas from being felted, I was delighted and ran home to try it.

I decided to use that experimental scarf to make my accessory for “Off the Wall.” I cut off a piece of the scarf and began sewing it together to make a hat that would accommodate ear buds for an iPod in winter. I poked the ear buds through the loose un-felted areas and sewed up the hat. I spent the whole weekend sewing and unsewing and starting over. I was not satisfied with the end result. The hat didn’t stay on my head was uncomfortable.

A bit later, I found a quick and easy way to make a better accessory. Since my cataract surgery corrected my astigmatisms I no longer need glasses, except for reading. Suddenly, instead of constantly wearing glasses, I was now a woman who regularly lost reading glasses! I decided to make a holder for my reading glasses by taking a length of silk I had tie-dyed and needle felted. I inserted the glasses into a loose knot. I made in the scarf and VOILA! It was pretty and functional. Success!

My art involves problem solving. I get an idea and have to figure out how to make it come together. My brain gets plenty of exercise.

Mixed media artists are collectors and rarely throw anything away because some day, it could be just the thing to complete a piece. Adding to the chaos of storing too much stuff, friends bring me “gifts.”

The doll on a stick in this photo illustrates my process:

1. Some months ago, my art buddy offered me a little head on a stick. I got very excited and took it, knowing that it would soon find its way into my art.

2.  Recently, I was given a fingerless glove that did not please the knitter. “Make art with it,” she instructed as she handed it to me.

3.  A college friend lives in Kentucky, raises sheep and weaves tapestries. She sent me the colorfully hand-dyed snipped ends of her weaving rows.

As you look at this photo, you can see how each part was used. But please note that some of this process is magical and cannot be explained! ” ~ Nina Birnbaum