We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cat Babbie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cat below.
Cat, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
Practice!
Really, even 5 minutes of doodling helps keep my creativity active. It’s a lot like working out- the more you do it, the more it grows. Every little bit adds up, so that when I finally get into my studio at the end of a long work week, I don’t have to re-activate sleepy muscles. They’re already primed and ready to go. I also try to have a plan when I am going to be in studio for a day, so I don’t waste time wondering what I should do next.
As I’ve aged I’ve become more comfortable with the “fallow” moments in my creative practice. My creativity needs rest periods too, to dream up new ideas, solve problems and get excited about making again.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I want you to touch my art.
I create cocoon-like fiber sculptures that are vibrant and tactile, enticing you to reach out and touch them; to make a physical connection with these strange, beautiful things. As life moves faster and increasingly digital, we become more isolated, but our intrinsic need for connection never disappears. The more touch screens, the more we need to touch things. Handmade art reminds us that attraction is real, that we are not the only ones who value beauty, that we are not alone.
My work elicits a multi-sensory reaction from its viewers. A hand slowly reaching out, only to be quickly recalled as they realize they’re about to touch the art! Leaning into that reaction is an integral part of how I think about creating. My goal is for people to interact with the multitude of textures and colors of the work on multiple levels. The practice of not touching the art is deeply ingrained in art-viewing; it’s exciting to see that folks want to touch my work so much that they nearly override that cardinal rule. Whenever possible, I grant permission to touch my work, which brings out a child-like sparkle in everyone. I look forward to sharing every aspect of my work, emotional and physical, with the world every time I start a new piece.
This year I’ll be making the largest piece of art I’ve ever made; a 7-8′ tall sculpture that evokes my smaller cocoons, so people can finally be inside of my work. I’m excited to learn to weld, scale up my materials and have fabric printed using images of my dyed felt so it can go outside! The sculpture, Interlude, is part of the Blumenthal Fellow program for the Charlotte International Arts Festival (CIAF). The festival runs September 13-29 and it’s an honor to be included!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Make friends with your spreadsheets! I know they seem intimidating but being able to keep track of my work inventory, submissions, project budgets, and pricing is invaluable. Knowing when things are due, where a piece of work is being shown, etc. at any given moment is so important.
The catch is, you have to keep it up to date, so my experience as a project manager comes into play a lot in my creative career. Scheduling boring admin days is a big part of maintaining a healthy creative practice; I’ll reward myself by doing the work in a coffee shop or pulled up at a bar. Working in a ‘third space’ means there’s less distractions, making it easier to push through the updates and emails.
Creatively, maintaining my curiosity and following its lead is really important. Whenever there’s a material or technique that that looks interesting I’ll do my best to try it out! That’s lead to a lot of breakthroughs in my regular practice, lately I’ve been learning about steel brazing, welding and lamp-working glass.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I would love to do more large-scale installations. Either sculpture or highly-textured wall pieces would be so fun to build. It’s where I want my artistic career to grow the most, site-specific textile installations. I have so many ideas and just need space (and funding, let’s be real!) to execute them! I love working collaboratively with clients, it is a whole different facet to making I enjoy, figuring out each other’s likes and dislikes, holding boundaries for the work’s integrity and puzzle solving to make the piece the best it can be for the space.
If anyone is looking for an installation collaboration they can contact me through my website, www.catbabbie.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.catbabbie.com
- Instagram: /catbmakes
- Linkedin: catbabbie
Image Credits
Cat Babbie
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
