Today we meet Annie Crane, from Fort Collins, Colorado, on her birthday. It’s a milestone birthday and Annie is marking it as a new beginning. After years of putting everyone else first, Annie is stepping out into the creative world. She is excited about (finally) giving herself permission to develop her art and to create with whimsical abandon.
Annie shares her story. She started making and painting things in tin, and has always loved embellishing clothes, shoes, and many other things. But what made her switch to using textile art as her medium of choice? As she has navigated life and caring for others, she has made some brave steps towards calling herself an artist, and now feels ‘ready’. She has realised the personal importance of working on what gives you joy, rather than working on only what sells! Emotions are also key drivers for Annie. So she creates places for others to share their stories, through her delightful textile art journals. Are they too nice to write in? They certainly look beautiful and are a fabulous place to write thoughts, feelings, or sketch.
Collecting ‘treasure’ has been a lifelong activity, and we had a great chat about what Annie has collected! And what does she do with it?
Susan Weeks chats with Annie Crane about:
- Creating with whimsical abandon
- marking her 60th birthday
- taking and making more time for her textile art
- why she started making quiet bracelets
- it’s OK to leave holes in clothes
- or embellish the repair with embroidery
- growing up hunting for treasure!
- the importance of how Annie feels about something
- the inspiration that comes from emotions
- creating a place for people to share their stories
- her strangest collection of stuff in her stash
- the excitement of burning holes in her work
- developing new friendships to share her love of textile art
- being a determined ‘go-getter’
- the stress of commissions
- being ready, acknowledging it, and being excited about it
Follow Annie here:
Look: https://www.instagram.com/coffeefishco/
Like: https://www.facebook.com/coffeefish/
View: https://www.coffeefish.co
Related Stitchery Stories episodes you might like:
https://stitcherystories.com/alexhall/
https://stitcherystories.com/janesanders/
https://stitcherystories.com/annekelly
