...where explorations of the oft over-looked and neglected selvedges of creativity are mended into existence.
I am a mixed media artist, currently working predominantly in salvaged and hand-dyed fabrics to create both art and utilitarian cloth objects. I believe that like in life, there is beauty in constant evolution. Though, sometimes, one must look sideways to perceive the true beauty of a thing. To let go. Breathe. Then simply allow it to be beautiful all on its own.
Finding traditional quilting methods and commercially produced quilt-shop fabrics to be cold and unsympathetic to my tactile nature, I turned to salvaging fabrics from discarded clothing, household linens, and worn cloths in order to take advantage of their gift of history and their varied textures which enhances my work with interesting flashes of time-shaded colors and story-infused threads.
The excitement and fascination of salvaging fabrics to create my cloth resides in the joy of the unpredictable mark of time and the warmth of unexpected pairings. The beauty of which is not an accidental result of traditional methods, but derives from the skill and aesthetic sense of the artist.
The direct relationship between the dye-pot, the hand-stitched threads, and the final surface is very important. The unpredictable nature of experimental dye-methods itself, the random and spontaneous patterns produced, the simplicity of the process and its inherent risks, are all factors which have drawn me to this way of working. Marking one's own cloth is a more direct way of working, producing a natural integration between form and surface. It is this unexpected quality of life that I seek to embody in my cloth.
