A Question of Time

all content © 2010 Elizabeth Ohlson

People often ask me how long it takes to create one of my kaleidoscope blocks. Paula Nadelstern says something about that question in one of her kaleidoscope books. Is the best answer that it took a lot of time, that taking a lot of time gives it more value? Or is a short amount of time better, that if I could do it in a short amount of time I was somehow more talented. But the fact of the matter is, as my old mentor told me time and again, it simply takes as long as it takes.

And then there's the matter of trying to calculate the time that goes into a piece of artwork. Today I spent five hours in my sewing room. At least an hour of that time was taking out stitches. Mustn't the time spent undoing be added right in with the time spent doing? Of course. And yet undoing isn't what comes to mind when one thinks of the creative process. Some of the time was spent looking through my stash of fabric. And some time was spent sweeping up the threads and scraps making my workspace more available to me. Some of the time was spent looking out the window at the falling snow.

And how about the time it takes to shop for fabric? If I spend a half hour shopping for fabric, purchasing a yard each of three fabrics, and then only use one in the block I'm working on, how much of that time factors in? Or what if I decide not to use any of it? What about sleep time, when my unconscious is sifting and filtering and connecting in ways I can't do when I'm awake; or time spent with friends just conversing, even when specific projects aren't in mind or discussed at all, but the mention of a color or the glimpse of an earing or who-knows=what gives me a spark or a new twist in my thinking?

Then there's the matter of chronos time versus kairos time. Chronos is the time I've been trying to measure when folks ask me how much time my artwork takes. It's the hours and days spent fabricating a piece of work. Kairos is a different sort. It has been called "flow." When I'm working I lose track of time. Sometimes time stands still. Or I'm in another world--my creative homeland.

Yesterday I read that Whole Foods is looking to display artwork having to do with healthy eating so I sent in an email expressing my interest and the photo shown above. It's a 10" X 10" wallhanging with photographs of vegetables. Perhaps in a future blog I'll describe how I made it.

And so, the blog itself takes time. I am hoping to make time (wouldn't that be grand if we could actually make some time when it seems to be running out?) and I hope to find a regular time to add my contributions.