Saturday, January 12, 2008

Mark Lipski


Our Empire Quilters Guild meeting today was a very, very full house, at least a couple hundred people - including several guests from a Connectuicutt guild. A very, very long meeting because the speaker was Mark Lipski the publisher/editor/quilt maker of Quilter's Home, a new-ish magazine. Mark brought a ton of quilts and talked for over an hour -- at lesat 15 minutes too long but he loves an audience and the audience loved him. (I thought a woman behind me might hyperventlate from laughing sohard.) He's a common sense iconoclast with a style punctuated with the language we hear every day but which isn't "polite" but seemed to offend no one for people kept asking for him to continue on when he [mock] threatened to stop. The laughter was loud and frequent He was fun although I think I'm somewhat more jaded than the average listener -- the ego was clear and so was the insecurity under such an ego. But it's refreshing to be told; use your quilts, they're not heirlooms, they're not going to last into history. Forget the white gloves and archival paper to store them in. Use them, wash them, give them away, have fun making them, they are NOT priceless.

He showed a wonderful huge collecion of quilts of his construction [or design - he's reached a level of success where he can hire sewers] It was fun I have never bought Quilter's Home and this doesn't make me want to go out and buy it. Otherwise the meeting was fairly usual - I got rid of more of my ridiculous collection of saved quilt magazines, I didn't win anything in the raffle, and I did find a nice handful of fabrics and threads at the share/scrap table which always makes me very happy. A fun afternoon.

2 comments :

Marie said...

I've been following Mark and his magazine since the first issue--and many of the same issues you mentioned about him have become evident through his blog, his magazine, and his design career. One great bit that I had not heard, that you repeated from Mark, is to use these quilts we make--they are NOT going to be heirlooms. Unless you are a popular designer/artist/educator then the quilts most of us make are made to be used and enjoyed! That is one of the best ideas I have heard from Mark--Go Mark!

Carol said...

Hi!
I'm not one of your regular bloggers yet, but thought I would help you and let you know that Mark's last name is Lipinski (not Lipski), just in case you wish to Google him or look him up in the future.
Your guild was very fortunate to have him as a guest speaker. He's a very talented, passionate guy and as the woman sitting near you will attest to he's funnier than heck!
He's always sure to let the powers that be know that his presentations are R rated and not for the faint of heart.
I beg to differ with your assumption that he has an ego and that there are insecurities that lay beneath.
I have known Mark for many years and you couldn't be further off the mark (so to speak).

He absolutely loves what he does and believes that life is for the living! He enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for creative quilting and does it exceptionally well.
Finally, I would like to suggest that without having earned a degree in Psychology, we should not attempt to analyze someone's personality. It's unnecessary, callus and only shows ignorance and insecurity on the part of the author.
I do have a degree in Psych. so, my statement is not without merit.

Thank you for posting my opinion,

Warmly,
Carol