TWELVE VOICES FROM ONE: Poetry: Fine Feathers

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Poetry: Fine Feathers

Fine Feathers

a poem written by Lois Heger

in response to the lovely jacket,

Fine Feathered Friends,

created by artist Jill Becker.

How outrageous that art could hug a woman

Patterns that dance around her shoulders

Embrace her torso with pulsing vibes

Guinea feathers that flirt with her cleavage

As if Icarus' feathers

Fallen from their

Man made wings

Floated down

To land in a silken shrug

Around the shoulders of a lovely girl

Fine Feathered Friends, modeled by Annalisa Jose

with artist and creator Jill Becker at right.

photo courtesy of Alfredo Rego

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This exhibition represents nearly three years of intense and dedicated study on the part of the participants. The Art Cloth Mastery Program 2010, in which they were enrolled, required five week long sessions in the San Antonio studio, in addition to demanding assignments which were addressed during the interim periods.

Artists interested in surface design processes are at a disadvantage in this country. Most opportunities for study require either enrollment on site at a university or college, or are offered as week-long workshops through adult education summer programming. The inability to relocate to a program venue inhibits artistic mastery, as does the limited experience of a week’s class without a systematic follow-up.

The Art Cloth Mastery Program was designed to address this reality. The selected participants study surface design processes on cloth, and also color, design and the articulation of a personal visual language. Each artist is required to complete a research project related to the dyes, chemicals or paints used as part of the patterning palette. When assembled, these projects will become a catalogue of research worthy of contributing to the surface design field at large.

Professional behavior is also a topic of discourse. Artists prepared a resume, visual documentation, an artist’s statement and a biography as part of the requirement for completion of the program.

This exhibition is a sampling of the finest work being presented by serious students of surface design today. Each of these artists will continue to generate studio work for exhibition after the program is completed. A few may choose to extend their circle of influence by teaching. Others may decide to write a book or produce some other lasting contribution to the field. The future is rich with possibility. It has been my great pleasure to accompany them on this exciting path. I congratulate each on the efforts of the past two and a half years.

Jane Dunnewold