We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Liberty Worth a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Liberty, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

These days taking a risk looks like a new business venture for me. I’ve long loved being an artist and sharing my skills with others, teaching them how to be creative. I’ve had my own businesses making and selling my work for over 20 years, I have also been a teacher and a mentor in many capacities… but when I had a studio mate move out from the space next to mine this year, I figured there was “no time like the present” to try something I have long said someone should do. So now, next door to my own Los Angeles art studio is a new business that I own called Stitch Salon (@stitchsalonla) where people who are curious about sewing and want space to try it can come and learn, spread out and even stake a claim on some creative space for themselves. I envision it as the studio I wish existed when I was first starting out. It gives me a way to mentor, encourage, teach and hold space for others’ creativity and I am really hoping it gathers a community of like-minded creatives.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

It can be hard to describe my work as an artist, sometimes.

The shortest version that I have come up with is “I stitch pieces of fabric and textile waste together to create sustainable art that celebrates nature and memory.”

What that looks like when really hashed out is that my work involves combining many of my passions. I have loved textiles and sewing for decades, but about 10 years ago I really began to find my groove when I began to take the traditional art of quilting and combined it with my love of collage, travel, recycled materials and nature.
The work I make can sometimes end up as bed quilts, but more often these days, I am combining collected materials to make wall art that resembles paintings made by fabric.
I believe that textiles have a remarkable ability to hold memory – just think of some of the fabrics that are in your own life, and all the memories that become associated with them…. it’s remarkable. This incredible concept is what motivates me to create – I make patchworks that are unexpectedly flowing and freeform – a lot like memory itself.

In addition to creating bodies of artwork from my own imagination that use discarded fabrics and materials from the interior design industry, people hire me to make these patchworks from the textiles of their own memories – often I am hired to make memorial works for people from the textiles of their lives – and I love to be the vessel of that work.
I am inspired by nature, by the colors that I have seen in my travels, by the stories of people, by the swirling shapes of water, clouds, unfurling leaves and the way the wind moves over mountains.

I never really would have imagined in my first job as a textile designer that the waste I saw in that industry would lead me to become an artist using that waste to create new beauty – but I am really motivated by a desire to undo the ugly that I see in the world. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and I see daily the way humans and waste impact our beautiful planet. It’s a combination of a love for nature and a love for stories that sent me on this path in my creative journey.

I am most definitely a collector – I collect stories and fragments, memories and yes – lots of fabric. The fun part is when all of those come together to create something that I can share with others.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Something I think “non-creatives” will struggle to understand about my journey is that this didn’t come naturally to me. I hear all the time, “I can’t even draw a straight line, I don’t know how you do it” – well – I can’t draw a straight line either. I’m just willing to try.

I believe everyone is inherently creative. Some of us are naturally gifted at running, or keeping numbers straight, or seeing the way colors go together – but all of us can benefit from being willing to try and fail and try again.

I didn’t take my first art class until I was 2 years into college. I tell this to my high school students all the time, they are so much farther ahead than I was at their age! I didn’t even know that I liked art until I loved my Art History courses in college. What led me to becoming an artist was a willingness to be curious – and a lack of worry about failing at something I wasn’t good at. I have no problem asking a million questions when I don’t understand things and that curiosity and willingness to learn about new things has led me into so many incredible spaces in my life – related to creativity – but also not related to creativity.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

To me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the chance that it gets me to feel fully present – in my work and in my connections with others. I love the entire process – from building a new skill, to finding inspiration, practicing, to completion – I never know exactly how a project will turn out – every moment I have to think on my feet and be willing to work with the journey. It keeps my brain active and the connection that I find between my hands and brain is one that makes me feel like a whole person.

To be honest, this is why I also love working with customers and being a teacher. Bringing this connection that I feel – between materials, creative thought, heart and mind – is something that translates to the work that I do with others. It is something that I love to make accessible for those that I work with and for. To bring intangible ideas and concepts and to make them into something that people can touch, feel, and experience is an absolute delight.
I teach lots of people to sew at Stitch Salon, and I am also a part time high school art teacher… when I see that things are “clicking” for someone – the skill meeting the idea – that is a pure endorphin rush for me.      

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.libertyworthart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/libertyworthart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/libertyworthart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/libertyworth/
• Other: https://thestitchsalon.com/

Image Credits
some images from Sam Anderson, some from BJ Johnson