"Artist" redefined

Over breakfast the other morning I was reading the most recent Surface Design Association Journal. I was drawn to an article titled Affinities ~ Fiber and Wax by Joanne Mattera. Having myself explored the two mediums individually, I have been curious about the idea of combining them together within one piece and so it was a natural fit to start reading..... I didn't get very far into the article (only to the 4th paragraph)  before I had to stop and let what I just read, sink in:

....."Neither Johns or Bourgeois is identified by materials but by ideas---a good reason for all of us to eliminate the adjectives we use to define ourselves as artists.".....

The whole idea that it is the idea behind it all that could define myself as an artist, verses the materials I use to create my work, is a breath of fresh air! Not that I needed anyone's permission to do what I may, I still find her perspective quite freeing.   :)

Regardless of the mediums, the underlying thread (my desire to accurately portray the passion I feel for my sources of inspiration through texture, layer, form and color) has always been there. So onward and upward I shall continue not as an oil painter dabbling in textiles or as a textile artist who paints, but as an artist giving credit to the natural world around me through the use of different mediums....

What fun!