Breaking the Blocks
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Thanks for stopping by! Life is tough, and I think this podcast might offer you some relief. My aim? To inspire you to overcome some of your own blocks through the inspirational, honest, and at times, downright raw conversations with some wonderful guests, not huge celebrities, regular people like you and I. Let’s see how they have overcome the difficulties in their lives and offer you some advice and more importantly hope.
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Breaking the Blocks
Sustainable Quilting and Emotional Healing: Sherri Lynn Wood's Creative Journey
Join us for an inspiring kick-off to season two of "Breaking the Blocks" with your host, Rachel Pierman. This episode features a heartfelt conversation with seasoned quilter Sherri Lynn Wood, who shares her journey from traditional quilting to sustainable practices. Sherri Lynn's dedication to using second-hand fabrics is not just an ecological choice but also a deeply personal one, driven by the desire to create meaningful connections through fabric and personal stories. We also touch on Sherri Lynn's resilience in overcoming life blocks, like the loss of her mother at a young age, reminding listeners that they are not alone in their struggles.
Rachel and Sherri Lynn delve into the profound impact of grief on creativity, discussing how the death of a parent can shape an artist's path. She recounts her experience of losing her mother during her MFA program, which empowered her to pursue her artistic vision with renewed determination. They explore how emotions, even painful ones, can fuel intense creativity and a sense of purpose. Quilting, as they discuss, is more than just a craft; it's a therapeutic practice that can lead to significant emotional and artistic breakthroughs.
Finally, the episode emphasizes the importance of focusing on the positives in life and how this mindset can enhance creativity and personal growth. Sherri Lynn shares her life motto, "May your creativity lead you to more truth and love," and discusses her focus on creating enriching experiences through workshops. From exploring the interconnectedness of creativity, healing, and community, to encouraging listeners to embrace their creative journeys, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical advice. Tune in to connect with Sherri lynn's inspiring work and gain insights that could transform your own creative practice.
Well, hello there. Welcome back to season two of Breaking the Blocks. It is so good to be back. I'm your host, rachel Pearman, and thank you so much for joining us for this season of the podcast. So, for this season two, opener, where do we begin?
Speaker 1:Well, as always, we're going to be delving into a creative mind to find out how creativity can really help us in our quest to, perhaps, better mental health. But also, we are talking about breaking the blocks. What challenges have we had to face in our lives? What do we have to overcome? And so many of us do have issues in our life. That is the game of life that we all play. That is the game of life that we all play, and it's always great when you can listen to other people who have been through similar things or been through things that you've never experienced. But perhaps you realize that other people are struggling at times in their lives because it can be so easy to sit there and feel like you are the only person on this planet who is going through something at the moment that you are going through. We are here to say, on this channel, on this podcast, you are not alone. Lots of us have very dark times. But if we work through our issues, if we feel our feelings, if we talk about things, we can realize that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, there is healing to be done and you can get through some of the darkest times in your life. I've had my issues, a lot of my guests have had problems, and I'm sure that you have as well.
Speaker 1:So let's have a listen now to Sherilyn Wood. She's a fantastic quilter, very much into sustainability, using second-hand fabrics. But it's not just about trying to save the planet, which, of course, is a great thing. There is a lot of new fabric out there that is discarded and wasted. But actually for Sherilyn, it's more about how the fabric resonates with her from within. It's about the memories, it's about the stories, it's about that connection, that human connection, and that's what Sherilyn was talking about in this interview. But also she talked about how she had overcome some blocks in her life, like losing her mother at a fairly young age. So let's delve into Sherilyn's life a little deeper and, at the very least, let's just give ourselves 50 minutes to listen to this podcast and to relax and to do something for ourselves, because it's so important that we do that. Enjoy the episode, because it's so important that we do that Enjoy the episode.
Speaker 2:Hello, lovely Sherilyn Wood. Hello, rachel, it's good to be here.
Speaker 1:It's lovely to have you here and we've only just started working together, but of course I've known about you for a long time because you have been in the quilting world for many, many years. Not that I want to make you sound really old or like a dinosaur, I don't think that at all. I think you've always been a bit of a leading light, particularly when it comes to sustainability. So we'll talk about all that in just a second. But obviously today what I'd like to get to know is kind of behind what we see with Sherilyn Wood. So I want to talk to you about some of the blocks and the challenges that you faced and how you overcome them. And the idea is that for people listening, they might, you know, find it inspirational what you say and it could help them in their lives. So it's not always related to creativity, because of course we all have blocks, sherilyn.
Speaker 1:Let's just talk a little bit about your work. First of all, most of the people I've talked about most quilters. They start off by making a traditional block. That's what I found. This may not be, in your case, how it started. I'm intrigued as to how it started, but there aren't many. I don't think that really make that full leap into sustainable quilting. You know, a lot of people might use a little bit of fabric here and there that they've picked up, maybe if they're making a memory quilt or a memory cushion or something. But it really is completely inherent within you, it's your thing, it's your passion, it's your drive. So what happened to make you switch if you did switch, or did you always start with sustainable fabrics?
Speaker 2:No, I didn't. I mean I was like everyone else. I started with like a simple quilt block. In fact, I remember a Christmas way long ago, like when I was in my 20s, that my parents gave me like a little bundle of fat quarters with a pattern and I made this. It was like a star point thing. It was my first quilt but I had a lot of sewing skills and then I just, you know, got really interested in quilting and I mean nowadays there's way more choices when you go to the fabric store than there was that long ago in the early 90s.
Speaker 2:And I remember working through as I was a beginning quilter through different types of fabrics. They were like the novelty prints that had like dogs or something on them, and then the solids. There were some solids but there wasn't as much of a range, mainly because I got bored with them. Like you know, after a while I got bored of the sunflower novelty prints and after a while I got bored with the batiks, as I discovered quilting, art, quilting was the big thing. The modern quilting didn't really exist at that point and if you go through some old threads magazines you'll see a whole thing about where I did a whole different way of making a quilt, where I stitched the quilt together as I was piecing it and quilting it and building it on the sewing machine with layers and cutting through layers. All of that was exciting.
Speaker 2:But then one day this woman, you know, she just came and I sold at the farmer's market and she just came and said, you know, brought her materials. She's like, my grandmother died and I'd like to have a quilt made out of these materials of my grandmother's. And I was just like wow, and that was so exciting and so meaningful to me. And I guess that was my first experience with thinking about sustainability and secondhand materials, although they were materials of meaning really specific to one person. I just was like it shifted away from a sense of consumerism to a sense of service. That my practice was a sense of service. Now, rather than here, let me buy more materials, buy, buy, buy, because you end up buying so much to create and craft all these leftovers. This is meaningful, these materials are interesting. She had the lining of an old sleeping bag and different clothing from her grandmother and that really got me excited and kept me engaged.
Speaker 2:So working with secondhand materials became more engaging creatively and I still, you know, have printers, cottons, and I still use them and I, you know, I mix in my other materials with those. So I did the bereavement work, the memorial quilting I call it passage quilting for a long, long time and I'm still doing that work occasionally. But I did an artist residency at the San Francisco Dump in 2016. And that was a whole nother level of sustainability and reuse. And, you know, finding materials and making quilts out of afghans and aprons and all kinds of things that carry meaning, it's just very, very exciting. So that's that's kind of how I shifted into it and I I think, yeah, it's, it's just more interesting and it's more meaningful to reclaim those materials and make them into something new.
Speaker 1:I was really interested when you took the class with me, sherilyn, how you talked about really feeling from your heart about fabrics that you use. You said to people when you pick up a bit of lace, if it's not, if you don't have that feeling in your gut, then it's not right for you. And that really intrigued me because, yeah, I wasn't expecting it to come from such a personal place. I thought it was. I know it's obviously about saving the planet, but there's very much a kind of a resonance with you and about your sustainability, isn't there? Let's talk a little bit about that. What do you feel about that?
Speaker 2:Well, that's always been a part of my thought about quilting and my experience with quilting is that, you know, especially because I'm an improviser, so I don't work with fixed patterns. I'm always, you know, creating the patterns as I go, and there is a head aspect to us that likes to figure things out and think. But I think the best work comes from a more embodied experience, where we are improvising from the heart. In fact, my newsletter is called Improv from the Heart, or from our gut. You know that we pay attention to what's on the inside, what resonates with us, as a way to give us light and guidance for what we really want to make and what's important to us. It has to come from well, it doesn't have to, but I mean, that's another mode of coming from a heart-centered place, a place of meaning, a place of resonance, and there's more than one way to get at that. It's not just an activity in the head, it's an activity in our hands, it's an activity in our entire body, especially with craft.
Speaker 1:I kind of feel like it's your soul's purpose. You know that you are working with these fabrics because you were really passionate about it and the way you spoke about it as I say, about feeling it in the gut, feeling it in the heart you know, it's interesting that that person that came along and just offered those fabrics to you and said, could you make something, you know, out of these grandmother's fabrics? I do feel like sometimes we are put on the right path, aren't we? And do you think that was one, didn't? That was a kind of turning point really for you and it was such an important moment.
Speaker 2:Just this person who found you yeah, it definitely was a real turning point. It helped me define my path as an artist and and I think there's always these turning points too that come up, that continue to refine it and shift and reinforce your sense of why you're here and what you're doing I will say quilting has always been, from the very beginning, a source of personal healing for me. A source of personal healing for me. Her coming to me just fit into that trajectory. It just amplified it and brought more awareness.
Speaker 2:To wait a minute, am I just consuming? Am I just making product? Or am I, you know, acting and being a servant in some way to serve others for their, in whatever ways? And that's including my teaching, making those quilts with people, all of that kind of fits. And you know, when I finally went to art school, many years later, you know, once you go to art school it just kind of blows up. It's like there's so many directions to go in, it's it's just overwhelming, because you know our interests, our minds, you know, but there's only so much you can do. So it's like you've got to define, you've got to refine, and so I would always go back to those roots and to that trajectory of you know this was in the beginning a healing process for myself, before it ever became a professional activity, and this woman who brought these clothes to me was one point on that trajectory, that kind of aligned right.
Speaker 2:And so you know we're already talking about a lot of different things that create blocks or things that create flow right, of different things that create blocks or things that create flow.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, exactly, exactly, it's the flow of life. I firmly believe that we're all on paths and sometimes we stray from both those paths and then things come along to put us onto the right path. So you've mentioned there that your quilting for you has helped you in so many personal areas when it comes to healing, and I want to ask you about some of those times when you've needed that healing. One club that you're a member of which is the same as me, is the loss of a parent. You know I lost my father last year, so I'm very early on in that process of grieving and how it affects your everyday life. I know you lost your mum quite some time ago now. Was that a major sort of one of the first major blocks for you? Do you think one of the first difficult times, or were there times before that?
Speaker 2:Me becoming an artist started way before that and actually my mum dying was a real sacred time and she had cancer. So she there was like a six month period while she was dying and I spent that time at home with her and my father and I mean, yes, it was excruciating in some ways, but it was also a moment in time where I felt totally exactly where I needed to be, like I was right on my path and you know that those times of feeling that are very rare, for me at least, and I do. I did a summer program at Bard College, an MFA program. I did a summer program at Bard College, an MFA program, so we only met in the summertime and so I was between my second summer and my third summer, which would have been my last summer, was when my mom died. So when I came back to school for my third summer my mom had died and it was I don't know, it was incredibly fruitful time period for me creatively because the feelings that I had, I think the emotional connection to that experience, fueled me and gave me strength, strength, and you know art school can be a difficult place but, boy, when I came back to art school after my second year and my third year my mom had died.
Speaker 2:I was like I'm not putting up with any crap from anyone. You know, like you can try to, you know, because everybody's like vying for their definition of what art is, and it's like you can know, you can try to smack me down as much as you want, but it's not going to work. You know, I've got my vision, I know what I'm doing and I'm going to do it no matter what. So I was really emboldened and intensely creative, you know, through that period after my mom died, and that's just how it worked for me.
Speaker 2:I think you know that kind of loss, it affects people in so many different ways and so, but I think you know, I think that I think that emotion is a big driving factor for me in creating and if I am cut off from my emotional life for whatever reasons which might have nothing to do with my creativity, that has to do with other elements, other things going on in my life then that affects my ability to create. So that particularly period of time, I felt a lot of freedom. I felt a lot of emotion and love and connection and it was a great time to be creative for me.
Speaker 1:It's interesting that you say that there are some songwriters who need to really feel quite depressed or have heartbreak in order to write their love songs or write their best songs. And I've read that some songwriters say if everything is going right in their life, they kind of have songwriting block because they don't do happy songs and then they need to, you know, feel something bad. So it's interesting that you said emotion drives you. So do you feel that your work is any different when you're coming at it, from you know, a kind of an emotionally driven place which has come from a loss or a sadness or something not quite been right in your life? Is there a difference, or can you see it in your work?
Speaker 2:I don't know, let's see. I don't think that I have to be in a dreary place to create. I think that depression, though is, for me, is definitely a a block if I am depressed, it really keeps me from, you know, creating if I am feeling depressed and sometimes I do struggle with depression, and you know, when I first started quilting, though, you know I I was coming out of a depression and the stitching and everything really helped and I had a big shift. I had a big identity shift and I had to get to know who I was again. And so, yeah, I think it triggers more. When there's a little bit, it's, it's a great thing, like that's what's so wonderful about stitching. Just a little bit it's, it's a great thing, like that's what's so wonderful about stitching. Just a little bit of stitching can often begin to build. It's a little step, and sometimes that little step will help you take another step and another step, and so you know that's the thing you want to get out of that. You know downward spiral, but when I'm deep down in it, it can be difficult to do anything but quilting, mending.
Speaker 2:I did a lot of mending in my blog. My early blog was called Dainty Time I started in 2010. You know I did a lot of mending, a lot of visual mending then, and that was a really good time of healing. You know those little repairs that we make and I think that can build as we're engaging in creative acts and embodied acts, where we're working with our hands and that sort of thing. So for me, you know, quilt making and making patterns has always been a life practice and it has to do with the way we make relationships. So also, I just feel really engaged when I'm like learning about myself.
Speaker 2:When I'm making quilts and making decisions, I'm learning something about myself. I'm learning where my boundaries and where my limits are, where my boundaries and where my limits are and you know whether I want to stay within those limits or I want to push them further or push past them. You know I facilitate an online community. It's really a creative mentoring space and it's a community mentoring space. So Brave Patches is you know more of. You know focused, intentional space, I guess is what I'm saying can be a way to overcome that kind of block where you're creating an isolation and you're really sharing.
Speaker 2:Anyways, in the last Brave Patch group I did an I Ching reading and I talked about that. It's the I Ching small exceeding and what that just means is that you just take little steps, you cross a line. When you exceed, you cross a line. But this isn't talking about crossing a big line, it's the idea of the small connections one step at a time. You commit one step at a time and then those small steps, those small crossing the lines, a small exceeding. If you keep that flowing, if you keep that going, it brings great good success.
Speaker 1:You know, sherilyn, I did some hypnotherapy quite some time ago now because I went through a period of it just hit me, it was like panic attacks and insomnia and I'd never had any of this stuff and it just came out of nowhere. I think it was hormonal, as I was coming to the end of this hypnotherapy which is brilliant and I said to Tony so I want to start this business. And I said, tony, so I want to start this business. And I said I feel like I've got all these ideas swirling around my head and I can't grab at them. I feel like I'm in some movie and I'm going like this I can't grab at these ideas. What do I do? And he said okay, what would you like to do in your life? That's a journey of some nature. And I very quickly said well, I would really like to drive from San Francisco down to LA. I want to go on that coastal road. That's one thing I really want to do. And he said brilliant, that's brilliant.
Speaker 1:He said, now, if you were to say, okay, I'm going to set off and I'm going to get there and I'm going to be there, by this time it would start panicking you because you'd be like, well, where do I turn on the way? And he said so what you have to imagine is you're going to set off and you're going to get to LA, but you don't know how long it's going to take you. You don't know when you're going to get there, but what you are going to do is just take lots of pit stops on the way so you might pull over and have a picnic and the next day you might take a turn down here and if the turn is wrong, doesn't matter. You saw the village didn't like it. Turn around, come back, get back on that road.
Speaker 1:He said you just literally plan little tiny stops. So today I'm going to drive for an hour and I'm going to see where it takes me. Don't think about what it's going to be like in LA and how are you going to get there and where are you going to stay when you get there. He said think about the first bit of the drive and how exciting, because you don't know what the drive is going to bring you. So and it's the same as what you're saying, that it's about taking those small steps, and it's absolutely worked for me, if ever. I just think of the end product. It's too big. It's too big, so you just have to take a small step at a time that's exactly and I call it with quilting.
Speaker 2:when we're doing quilting together was like it's. You know, you commit one step at a time, which means to sew yeah, you sew that. If you like that, you sew it. Then there's a lot of different approaches to how you can improvise a piece, and some people will like to make all the blocks and then move them around, and that can be great.
Speaker 2:I use a combination, but sometimes, if I do that too much, I get what I call it's like online dating, you know, where you can't make a decision because it's like it starts to look like you've got so many options and you're keeping all your options open and you're never going to get anywhere.
Speaker 2:And like stop online dating your quilt, you know.
Speaker 2:Just like make a commitment to something you like, one little thing that you like, so those pieces together and then take a look and find the next thing that you want to sew and as you go and you know that takes a little bit of paying attention to your internal prompts, what you resonate with in your gut, your heart and your brain, but it takes some listening as well as some responding to get there and to have that, because there's nobody saying you know this is the right way to do it, this is the right way to take your trip, this is the turn you're supposed to take. I mean, you can follow GPS if you want, but GPS doesn't even get it right all the time. You know you want to go when you're going on an explorative trip, yeah, you're going to see this little town and you'll say, hey, let me check that out. And then you pay attention to how it impacts you. You liked it. You want to keep going down this country road or do I want to get on the freeway?
Speaker 1:You pay attention to that inner urge right, exactly, it's listening to your instincts, isn't it? Which I would imagine is the same for you. As you've just said there, when you're quilting, you have to listen to your instincts. So how do you shut off? I mean, I know we've got to use our brains, but I think you know we have to listen to our hearts and our gut instinct more than we do our brains, because our brains can. It's all about the ego, ego. The ego wants to keep us in check. Don't try this. We want to be safe, we don't want to make a mess, we don't want to be embarrassed. So, you know, let's stay inside the lines. So let's not listen to the ego. Ego is good, a little bit, but we need to be listening to our souls. So how do you close down that kind of, those kinds of voices in your head, as it were? How do you feel this instinct? Where is it coming from?
Speaker 2:yeah, there's so many. Oh, there's so many things I could say to that. Let's see. The first thing I would say is we get centered and we connect with our center. You got to first have the intention to listen.
Speaker 2:When you hear those voices, you're exactly right when you say the ego gets in and all of that. You listen to them, and it's important, though, to accept them and just say I hear you, I hear you're scared about doing this. I know you're protecting me, I know you're. You know and, kind of like, invite them in to sit and watch you sew. It's like you can be there, but I'm going to do this. So you know, having a gentle attitude towards those kind of internal voices that might try to shut you down is helpful, because you can't really cut them off. They're going to be there, but recognizing them and acknowledging how they might have served you in the past can be helpful. We are crossing a boundary. When we're exceeding a line, our negative impulses come in because it's unfamiliar, and often we are. I think it might be an instinctual, biological thing. If we're on the edge of the unknown, we feel a little fear. We want to think about all the solutions, how to get out of it. We think about all the bad things that could happen.
Speaker 1:There's so many things that you said there that you can absolutely relate to people who are not quilters, I mean people who they may be watercolor artists, but people who don't craft. There are so many life lessons in there, because three things First of all, you mentioned about listening to that voice. That is, the fearful voice, the ego voice, and I remember when I did my hypnotherapy that my therapist said to me you know, when you're having these panic attacks, the worst thing to do is to try and shut that voice out, because what that voice is doing is trying to warn you. There is danger, and that's why it gets louder and louder and you have a panic attack. So what you have to do is say I'm listening to you, I understand you're trying to warn me, which is what you just said, and we're okay, we're safe. And then that voice will go oh, oh well, oh, you're listening to me. Oh well, I can start being quiet again. Then now, Now, I know you're listening, which is exactly what you're talking about in the creative process. Okay, I'm listening to you, I'm listening to you, but we're just going with the flow here. Everything is fine.
Speaker 1:The second thing is I was reminded of Alan Rickman, sadly departed. Alan Rickman, the actor who someone said to him what advice would you give to actors? And he said listen. And I think this interviewer said I'm sorry, I am listening to you. He said no, no, no, I'm saying you have to listen. As an actor, If you're constantly thinking about what your next line is, you're not going to react to what the person is doing in front of you. So true again with quilting Listen to yourself, listen to what you want to do, go with that flow. You know listen and then just keep working.
Speaker 1:Then the next thing you said was about looking at the positives, which is what we have to do in our lives, Because if we focus on the negatives, they will increase. We will get more negative things in our lives. So let's try and focus on the positives, because then the positives grow and then you can forget the little negative bits, because they're always going to be there. We're always going to have pain, we're always going to have heartache, there's always going to be something that's going to upset us, but you have to focus on the positive.
Speaker 1:And the final thing was I was reminded of David Bowie and a quote that he said which was very similar to what you said, when you are on the edge, when you're creating and you're on the edge and you are starting to get into unknown territory and that fear steps in, that is when you start creating the best stuff. That's when the good stuff comes. When you're scared a little bit, leap for it, go into it. So you know, all those things you said can be absolutely related to regular life to help us get through any block that we have.
Speaker 2:That's true, and you know, I think of that many other things that popped up that edge, the David Bowie edge, is that you know, shifting that negative, like anxiety, to curiosity and recognizing that those negative predictions are just predictions. So you're just saying, well, I wonder what will happen if I just leave that yellow there, or if I put more yellow in, or you know, and you start to come up with this. You know, you shift it like anxiety and curiosity. They're very, can be very similar in the body experience and there's just a little bit of a shift that you make into curiosity. And that's where you go into, you know, that creative space and this is another thing that I think really helps me get over blocks is it's not all about me, especially when I'm improvising, it's you collaborating with the patchwork itself. So it begins to have its own voice. And this is why I love working with secondhand materials too. It's not just about what I want to do with them, about the pattern I want to create with them. It's not all about me. It's about the materials themselves and the shapes, the colors, what they want to do.
Speaker 2:So when I begin to make patchwork, as soon as I make something or piece something together. It has a life of its own that's separate from me. And then I begin to listen so to it, not to just what's going on in my head or my heart or my gut. You know, I'm listening to the patchwork itself. So it takes some of the burden off of me as the creator, thinking that it's all my show. It's not.
Speaker 2:I can be more of a facilitator to allow the voice of this patchwork to come through. You know, if you're in a conversation with a group of people, you know half a dozen things might be mentioned, but which one do you pick up on? And then you build on the conversation and somebody else builds on the conversation. So you're not in charge of all of the outcome, you're just in charge of listening and responding and interacting and collaborating with that moment, and I think that can take a lot of the pressure of the blank slate away. That can often freeze people. I think that collaboration and listening to the Patrick itself and being more of a facilitator can help with a sense of flow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and once again, once again, Sherilyn, that's a lesson for life Go with the flow. If you try and you know, go against the flow of life you're just going to be going up a stream the wrong way and that's going to be really hard work so you have to go with the flow.
Speaker 1:So if something goes wrong, you have to go with it. You have to feel it. You have to feel the emotions when you're going through that thing. If you try and close those emotions down, they're going to come back and bite you in the bum. So you have got to that's what we say over here. So you've got to go through it. You've got to listen and listen and feel and heal and learn and absolutely go with it. So I would say, listening to you, sherilyn, that one of your biggest inspirations, I think, is people. I think people inspire you to keep going and doing what you're doing. Would you say that's true, and are there any other inspirations for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do. I think people and interactions and relationships are I mean, relationships are really at the core of everything. The relationships, you know, with my creative work are the relationships that I make between color or pattern, how I piece, and that informs me on the way I make relationships in life with other people within the communities that I'm engaged with. That does inspire me and that is kind of the focus of my work and that's what I've always tried to share with others. And you know, I've had that sense of quilting and stitching because it was so healing for me. I've always had a sense that that is the gift that I have to give back to others and that's made a big difference. It's funny I I went to this thing last week here in Cincinnati. It's about collective, collective action and interchange and collective change and things like that, and then we were all sitting around casually talking and it just. There's a lot of talk these days and you see it in the craft community too about trauma and healing. That happened after 9-11 too, but not to the same degree as it did with COVID, because COVID was worldwide. There's been this awareness with racial inequities that came out during covid and all of the things, all the new awareness. It's always been there environmental problems that we've created. It's been there for a long time. We all knew it kind of. But then it really hit and we realized, oh, we're in the midst of system collapse right now. It's not going to happen in the future. I think different people have acknowledged system collapse for a long time, but COVID made everybody acknowledge it all at the same time, at least for a moment. Maybe we're forgetting it now or we're going to start to forget it again, but it's still there in a more present way than it ever has been before. And I do believe that you know the creative actions that we take are part of the mending and the healing that we can make. And then there's outer change. There can't be outer change without inner change, and with outer change there's no change matters. That's a famous saying, and I think that the little actions that we take by being creative can make a big impact on our agency to interact in the world and to continue to engage in the world.
Speaker 2:And so back in the 2008 or 2009,. I remember teaching at Penland School of Craft and it was a specific session on social practice and I was doing the passage quilting class then and I remember making a comment that I saw myself as a healer. And oh my God, I mean there was some board member there or I can't remember who it was, but someone with a little bit of authority, and he just kind of ridiculed me like you call yourself a healer, isn't that a little bit of authority? And he just like kind of ridiculed me like you call yourself a healer, isn't that a little weird? You know, like you could call yourself an activist, but can you call yourself a healer? You know that's just not an art or craft term.
Speaker 2:And I was kind of surprised. I mean I didn't think of that it was. I mean, clearly I was doing healing with the memorial bereavement work, you know, it was like pretty as plain as day. But the thing is, is that people didn't really acknowledge that as a, as a valid definition of art, maybe? And now that's what we're all talking about. We're all talking about healing and how craft and how art and how making are acts of healing and how we can retell our stories connecting with the idea that our making allows us to heal ourselves and to help heal our communities to help heal our communities.
Speaker 1:I totally agree with you. I feel the same thing. I mean, when you say it, you sound quite egotistical. I'm here to be a healer, which is not at all what you mean. And I totally get what you mean and in a way I feel the same in that one of my biggest inspirations is bringing people together and I love it when you see the joy in people, when you see the change in people and, as you said, it starts with one small change. It's like a ripple. It's like you put the pebble in the water and it ripples out.
Speaker 1:And I've got the YouTube channel where I do a weekly tutorial just a little crafty exercise for anybody to join in. And one lady last week wrote thank you so much for this video. You have filled my heart with joy today. That's all she wrote and that was just like. That's amazing. I've made one person in the world feel happier by something I've done. And then she will go off with that joy in her heart and probably say something to someone in the shop or ring a friend. I just felt like ringing you today because she's in a good place and guess what, and that friend is feeling happier, or that person in the shop is it's all about.
Speaker 1:You think that by sitting here and doing something in your studio are you affecting anybody, but actually you are, and the people you're affecting are affecting people. So I totally get what you mean. It is healing, creativity is healing, and I've had this conversation with so many amazing artists like yourself who said that if they had a penny or a dollar for every time, someone said to them oh, but I'm not creative, and it's not true. We're all born creative and then somewhere we lose it. But I do believe that we're all born creative and it doesn't have to be quilting. You know Victoria van der Laan was saying if you put on a nicely colored hat and a scarf, you're being creative with color, you're being creative with how you look, you're walking out in the world and making a statement. That's being creative. So I do think it's being creative. Be a creative thinker, you know. So I think creativity comes in many forms.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do too, and I think you know what you're doing with bringing community together is so important. I just heard on the radio how loneliness is one of the big factors right now in health as a health issue, of the big factors right now in health as a health issue, and you know they're even because our structures, our identity structures, have so broken down. One of the ways that we can repair that in new ways, where we we have identities, to find the things that we love to do and find the communities that we love to do them with, and that that's part of what you're doing with your work.
Speaker 1:And what you're doing with your work. Look at us healing the world, sherilyn. We're healing the world. What is there for you to learn, sherilyn, about yourself? I'm learning patience. What's your thing that you're learning?
Speaker 2:It's's so funny you say that people always say to me when I was younger, you know, when I'd sit at the farmer's market working on the quilt, like you're so patient, I'm like exactly opposite, I'm so impatient. I don't know why stitching a quilt I guess that's part of the way I, you know, dealt with my impatience. But but it's funny how stitching and sewing is connected with this idea of patience. I think you can learn patience from doing it.
Speaker 2:I really try to help folks with perfectionism and letting go of perfectionism, but I have such a hard time doing that with myself and it gets me stuck in so many ways. So I'm always going to be working on that. I'm always going to be working on just acceptance, self-acceptance, gentleness. Lately I've been really working on ways to be more gentle with myself and with others. I'm probably gentler with others than I am with myself and I'm really working a lot with thinking about aging and what that means, because I am at a point where I'm feeling the sense of limits like I've never felt before in terms of you know how many more years will I live?
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't know if I thought about that that much. I mean, I did occasionally think what would it be like when you're like, get this old and you only know that you might only live another year or another 10 years or another five years, and but it was still so abstract. But this last decade went so fast and and I know that the next decade will go even faster so a lot of and I'm having friends starting to die, and you know that's a whole nother level of it's just another life stage. And you know that's a whole nother level of it's just another life stage. And it's just interesting entering that and thinking about what that means and what I have to learn from this time period, have to let go of from my past or from my identity that I had in the past as a creator and as a person. And you know how do I want to envision my life going forward from here, with those limits and those differences.
Speaker 2:My energy level is different and those differences, my energy level is different. There's definitely some age's. You know, that's kind of interesting. It's kind of like, oh, that's a new thing to engage with and to explore and learn and figure out. You know what it means for me and you know what I. You know if I can be a guide in some that you know. For me it's just new territory, so I don't know if I will be, if I'll have any useful information about it, but I'm learning from others. I'm learning from other women that are older I love. One of my favorite artists is Margaret Fabrizio. I think she's in her nineties and she's a powerhouse. I love, you know, following her on Instagram and being inspired by her. She's based in San Francisco, so, anyways, that's kind of where I am with my creative life right now and it's been a big shift, it's. You know, I'm reassessing a lot of things and trying to understand. You know what my voice is like and who I am at this age.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm with you on the definitely well many things that you say, but definitely the ageism and, as you say, getting older like you just can't, you can't imagine it until you start experiencing it. As you say, it's the energy levels, it's how easily you can put your back out. You know, and it wasn't like that when you're younger. You could just do everything. And I find myself watching people on TV if they're jumping about and I think, oh, I wish I could do that, because I'm not saying I can't jump about, but I can't jump about like I used to do. But I think the ageism thing and I think being a woman who is aging, it is difficult. It is difficult because I'm not sure I mean, this is a whole other podcast but I'm not sure if it's because, as a younger woman, there is a sexual power there. There definitely is something there that we lose as we get older.
Speaker 1:And I've spoken to my male friends who are my age, in their 50s, and they've said to me you know, but you're kind of blooming, rachel, right now. And I've said, yeah, but I'm really having to mourn the loss of who I used to be physically 25 years ago and it's hard to lose that younger you. But, as I say, it's interesting from the male perspective that they're saying to me but you're blooming, you're probably looking better than you ever did because you've got this inner confidence. You know you're doing what you love. Now you found your soul's purpose and I get all that I do, and I certainly do feel more happy in a much more contented place than I've ever been. I feel like I know myself now, and actually that's only come in the last few months. I kind of know myself now, but I do mourn the younger me and the physical attributes and the kind of you know the way that things were. But, as I say, that's a whole other issue.
Speaker 2:I think we can bloom at any age for sure, and there's no doubt about that.
Speaker 1:It's adjustment, isn't it? It's adjustment.
Speaker 2:It's just adjustment. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So as a final note, I always ask my lovely artists this do you have a motto for your life? I mean, you've kind of given us all of your motto, shirelyn. I mean be positive, think positive, don't listen to the ego. But is there an actual phrase, a motto, anything that you would say?
Speaker 2:I guess one of the things that I've been using a lot with my own life and work is may your creativity lead you to more truth and love, and I think that you know, I think that if, if it's not, what's the point in doing it? You know it's like it's about. For me, it's like I want to have more truth in my life, more love and acceptance in my life, and it's, I guess, about acceptance, and so I would say that would be the motto that I'm, or the mantra that I'm listening to.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:I love that as a motto. Yeah, I love that, I love that as a motto. And just to go back to the being older as well, I think as you get older you begin to weed out the non-genuine relationships, the acquaintances, or you say very much to those acquaintances. You begin to realize who your real friends are, what you want out of a genuine friendship, and you seek out those genuine friendships and you value them and you realize what is not genuine in your life has to go. What is not serving you has to go. And it's a difficult transition. But I think as you get older you begin to learn that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think you can say that, not just with friends, but with your creative practices. That not just with friends, but with your creative practices Like, are you doing this for Instagram followers? Are you doing this? You know to make money. Are you doing this? You know why are you making this thing and why is it important to you to make it at this time. And you start to hone in on that and maybe you don't know what that is, and I I know a lot of people that really are stuck on a more long-term way that and I have that experience too, where you just you got to really reassess what's important about creating and why you're creating it.
Speaker 1:And where do you think that will go for you, Sherilyn? Where do you think your creativity is going to take you?
Speaker 2:I'm not sure. I mean, a lot of my creativity has been in my workshops these days, which you know. That is a really valid form of creating experiences, spaces for others to learn in, to learn creativity, and it's actually been really rewarding and a lot of fun. Stepping back a little bit from that and finding a little more um space for doing something different. Maybe quilts, maybe not quilts, but probably something in textiles for sure I shall await the future.
Speaker 1:Cheryl in wood. Uh, the next trip, the next journey, yeah, no, it's been lovely to talk to you and I, you know, I really do agree with you on so many things and even though I don't sit and make quilts and I don't sit and sew, I absolutely can apply many of the things that you've just said to my own life and that's what I'm trying to get across on this podcast, uh, through talking to amazing people like you. Uh, that, first of all, creativity can be for anyone, but also there are lessons to be learned. You know that you guys have gone through when you've had those blocks that people can learn in their regular lives. But I wish you all the best and if anybody is listening who wants to, you know, join in with you.
Speaker 1:You've always got lots going on, so all the details will be there about how to go to your website. Look at the classes. You've got an amazing season coming up at the beginning of 25 and this will be going out around then, so people should definitely check you out. But, yeah, it's been lovely, so I really appreciate your time.
Speaker 2:Thank you so so much thank you, rachel, it's been a pleasure it has. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Just before you go, lovely listener, can I ask you a favour If you have a friend who you think would enjoy listening to this podcast, would you mind please telling them about it? It helps me to spread the word and you never know, they might get a life lesson out of it or, at the very least, just have a lovely 40 minutes of relaxing time for themselves. The second thing to say is that, if you have enjoyed this, it would really help me if you would give me a little quick like or a comment, especially if you're listening on one of the podcast platforms. It just means that when anybody lands on the page, they can see that people have reviewed it. They've liked it, enjoyed it and got something out of it. So if you wouldn't mind leaving me a review, that would be amazing.
Speaker 1:And the final thing to say is that if you are a business and you're thinking how do I get my message out there, Well, you could do it on this podcast. All you have to do is reach out to me, Rachel at BreakingTheBlockscom. The details are below in the box. Thank you so much to everybody for listening and enjoying and saying the lovely things that you're saying.
