We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laura Fogg a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Laura thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
Our local Ukiah theater group was putting on a performance of Eve Ensler’s “Vagina Monologues” and an artist friend suggested that we needed to convince our quilt guild to create a series of Vagina quilts to hang in the store windows downtown, to support public awareness and discussion about the important issues raised in the play. To our amazement, a dozen of the downtown merchants agreed to display our quilts. Eve Ensler heard about this project and sent a film crew to Ukiah to see if there was a story worth filming. They were planning on stopping in for an hour or two, but ended up staying and filming for two days… they came to our quilt guild meeting, followed us downtown to film each of us talking about our respective quilts, and later attended the performance where our Sheriff and Under Sheriff showed up wearing pink boas in support of the message of prevention of violence against women. Many excerpts from those two days in Ukiah, plus the entire interview with me and my Vagina quilt, were included in their Lifetime documentary film, “Until the Violence Stops.” The film made its debut in Hollywood, and I was invited to attend as a special guest. It was extremely painful to go public with my story of childhood sexual abuse, but in the end being in the movie gave me the power I needed to move on and use my story to try to encourage other women to stand up and claim their right to a life free of abuse. Telling my story through my art has helped me heal and move forward.
Laura, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m an art quilter. I came late to the field, after spending the first 50 years of my life growing up, raising kids, maintaining an huge old farmhouse on acreage and working as a Teacher of the Visually Impaired. I’ve always wanted to do something with art, but the stress of trying to make my living in such an uncertain field prevented me from taking the dive until the kids had left home and I was financially stable. Now I do art because I want to… it relieves stress rather than causing stress, and I feel that I have all the control I want over my time.
I have found that my art gives me a voice. Even though I started out creating landscapes and pretty pictures, I’ve gravitated in the last ten or so years to focusing on big statements to do with social justice and the environment. My quilts are regularly accepted into large shows with 20-60 thousand people attending them, so this is a lot more effective than yelling at folks on a street corner or talking to small groups of people. Many of my pieces are published in art quilting books and magazines, in addition to show catalogues, where a statement is usually included. I try hard to make visually attractive pieces, so people will come closer to study them… and then figure out what they are saying.
Another fairly new development is using recycled and repurposed materials in my art. I recently learned that the textile industry is the second most polluting industry on the planet, second only to oil, and I want to do something about that. So I’ve quit buying new fabric, and use recycled T-shirts, sheets and plastic bags almost exclusively in my current work. This has been an extremely effective way to enhance my visual statement, and I feel that it sets me apart from other art quilters.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Funding is our greatest need. There aren’t too many artists who can afford to work for free, so grants, endowments and public funding are all critical Dedicated space to show the art is the other half of the equation- places where the art can be kept safe and be seen by multitudes of people.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Having my work juried into shows is super rewarding. I enter a lot of extremely competitive shows, so it’s exhilarating to be one of the few who are selected. When I go to the openings I love the opportunity to interact with the public and tell them more about what went into the piece they came to see.
Maybe the best experience was one of my social justice pieces being purchased by the Sierra Club for the lobby in their Washington DC headquarters. They wanted to round out their art collection with a few pieces about social justice, and especially women’s rights. It was a very personal piece that depicted me, my daughter and granddaughter at the first women’s rights march after Trump was elected… we are all in our pink pussy hats and holding signs. Mine says “I can’t believe I still have to protest this shit.” My daughter’s is the female sex symbol with a clenched fist inside it. My 3-year-old granddaughter’s says “Respect me… I am your future!”
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.fogwomancreations.com