Fiber Art

Artists Describing Their Art:

Hye Shin - The fiber art pieces I create are not traditional images of landscape as seen from the external environment. They are atmospheric, abstract images mainly focused on expressing a sense of place, or a mood or feeling. My works also involve many dilemmas such as life and death, sorrow becoming pleasure, and adoration versus loathing. When creating, I often take a moment to juggle the values and anticipate the consequences. When I struggle with my life, I am drawn toward Nature, which does not deceive me. It is always genuine, sincere, and tranquil, yet solid; that inspires me with an unabashedly beautiful and poignant dialogue. Thus I combine abstractions, geometrical constructions and transformations in the composition and design of my artwork. To begin, I weave a web and create a grid, and then push the limitations of that grid by adapting and resurfacing with fiber and non-fiber material. On this base, I create the image in contrasts: transparency and opacity, defined edges and amorphous shapes, hairy textures and smooth surfaces, matte and shiny, intense color and subtle hue, light and shadow. In the recent works, I have tried to disclose the process of transformation from an original source of design ...

Carol Brown - My love of art and passion for life has driven me to express myself artistically ever since I was a small child. I love the beauty around me. I see objects that create designs, lines that continually flow from one object to the next, textures, colors, contrasting shades and interesting shapes. Fabric has so many of these qualities that the idea of seeking out and working with fabric has become a full time adventure. For each picture the fabrics is chosen based on how well it fits my vision and mood of the picture. This process of overlaying, cutting, and placing the fabric is known as free style applique or fabric collage. Using these techniques and machine stitching, I am able to create a picture that has the feeling of a painting....

Sharron Parker - As a child I chased butterflies, scrambled over rocks, and read romantic tales of faraway places. Years later, I've studied butterflies and rocks, and traveled to many of the places--the Amazon rainforest, craggy cliffs with castle ruins, remote island beaches--and I've never lost the wonder of them. Yet exotic beauty can be found everywhere. I use the ancient technique of feltmaking not to capture what I've seen directly, but to create something new. The simplicity of the technique--combing, layering, and working dyed unspun wool in hot water until the fibers lock--allows me to work spontaneously, and often experimentally. The shape of a piece might come from a bird's wing, the color from crystals under a microscope, a line from the sinuous edge of a pond meeting the shore, and the texture from the bark of a birch tree. I wish to celebrate nature, not to mirror it. ...

Sandra Golbert - My work is in Fiber, mostly hand-made paper, wood, or hand-dyed silk with surface design. I began working in fibers more than 50 years ago as a child, when I designed and made dolls' clothes! Then I went on to design costumes and clothing for "real people", and my designs appeared in Vogue magazine. When I no longer lived in the US, I could not work as a "seamstress/designer" since I was considered an alien, so I began to put my fibers on the wall instead of the body, making intricately embroidered wall hangings and sculptures. Urged by my friends, I entered juried exhibits and to my surprise, was accepted in a great many of them. Since then, I have worked steadily on my art, "supporting my habit" by working as a free-lance costumer, jewelry maker, designer, office clerk, theatre producer, computer-er, puppet-dresser, photo stylist, baby-sitter and anything else available to me. Through the years, I have received many grants, two residencies and much help from my children so that I might continue my work. Two of my pieces were chosen to be in an exhibit called "9x9x3" at the American Craft Museum ...

Kattalina M Kazunas - A simple definition of alchemy is "the transmutation of base metal into gold." This is the definition most people would recognize. Another definition of alchemy, and the one that I prefer is, "the Royal Art of living consciously." My fascination with alchemy parallels my fascination with the mysteries of the natural world. The world of alchemy, like life, is filled with secret languages, symbols, and magical substances, that only begin to make sense when we give them focused attention. I am equally fascinated by the transformative effect on consciousness that happens through the creation, use, and study of symbols. Symbols become keys that unlock the mysteries of a soul's inner architecture, as well as the secrets of alchemical processes and transformations. This series of eight broadsides is my interpretation of ancient alchemical maxims written hundreds of years ago by Hermes Trismegistus, Paracelsus, and other alchemists, that still hold true today. A combination of vintage techniques was used in their creation: letterpress printing, indigo vat dying, iron oxide, and gold pigment....

Laura Schoonover - I am an artist because I have always been driven to work with my hands - driven to create objects of art, utility, culinary delight or botanical beauty. I am happiest when I am creating and embellishing life. My artwork is an exploration of themes in history, symbolism, music, dance, spirituality, feminism and self. Each piece becomes a fusion of what I feel, think, read and experience transformed into the tangible. ...

Laura Schoonover - Evie Tirado - My journey as an artist began with my first crayon. I have always been in love with color. Over the years I've developed a passion for lines, forms, space, and the spaces between . Be it paint, inks, dyes, or watercolors, each media excites me. I experiment in diverse styles, allowing the subject, materials, and concepts, to influence the final outcome. My work is often a fusion of opposites -- chance and deliberation; remnants of the past link to the present; fluid pools of color, allowed to drip and layer and develop alongside the thick, structural impasto effects. For me, art is a necessity; a surrendering, a discovery, and a celebration. It transforms thoughts and ideals into dimensional realities beyond the flat surface. The interior process of abstraction suspends me from isolation, and connects me with my most authentic self,as well as the rest of humanity. ...

Terri Higgins - The deep ache that replaced the pleasure you used to have, the words someone said that you keep turning over and over in your head, the void inside that nothing seems to fill; these are some of the subjects I paint about. Location: Washington, DC Check out my website and blog: