A Statement From the Textile Artist

As a mixed media textile artist, I challenge the practical ideas we have about cloth and do the improbable to it. I paint on it. I cut and tear it. I burn it. And I add gel medium and markings on it. I do this so I can highlight what is unique about cloth. It is absorbent, flexible and malleable and has a kind of memory. It can hold a pleat, maintain a shape and retain a shadow of what went before. Think of the patterns and textures created using Japanese stitch resist traditions, for example. Or the stain left from releasing a seam or a hem. Consider the life story we absorb when we gaze upon a vintage kimono cloth.

My work is a celebration of what happens when a two-yard length of silk broadcloth or linen is transformed from a useful cloth to something new, unexpected and beautiful. Accomplished with dye, paint and stitch, some wall hangings are narrow panels made with the grid as the primary motif. Others explore ideas using the kimono as the substrate. The negative and positive spaces created by the imagery on the cloth are explored with color, embroidery and appliqué to create an elegant whole. Including vintage kimono remnants adds a sense of history and dimension to the work.