Jill Becker

JILL BECKER

Jill Becker is a dedicated educator in the field of textiles.  Joining the U.S. Peace Corps in 1974 at the age of 22, she established a batik workshop for the Jamaica Council for the Handicapped.  At the same time she began teaching at the Jamaica School of Art, where she established the textile department.  The school relocated to a new facility and eventually was renamed the Edna Manley College for the Visual & Performing Arts.  At this same time Becker began a screen-printing business producing products for the tourist industry.  She returned to teaching in 1997 and continues to teach at the University of Technology, Jamaica.  After years of assisting students to organize their final exhibitions and participating in school exhibitions, Becker has determined that it is past time to start exhibiting her artwork in major show internationally.

ARTIST STATEMENT

The present body of work is one of three collections revolving around the image of feathers.  Throughout the series the feather was interpreted as a symbol for the passage of time; the plume was seen as a symbol for the writing down of thoughts and events; a recorded history.  At its most basic presentation the feather was seen as a decorative element in body adornment.  The images are interwoven through over-printing with multiple concepts being presented in layers.

The art wear was heavily influenced by my involvement in the teaching of apparel and textile design.  In this body of work, the feathers were examined for their wealth of patterning; the textiles were designed to reflect the variety of patterns while varying the scale, color, and stylization of their designs.

The fluidity of the feathers (they can be stirred by the slightest of air currents) influenced the choice of fabrics with the selection of sheers for their transparency, velvets and satins for their ability to be draped.  Through cutting and stitching techniques, fabrics were manipulated to mimic feathers.  In the creation of these pieces of art wear it is hoped that they will be seen as an aesthetic collection of "fine feathers" for the human body.

Laurie Brainerd

LAURIE BRAINERD

Laurie Brainerd is a full-time studio artist.  She began creating art in 2005 after careers in corporate accounting and life coaching.  She has studied art at the Southwest School of Art and with Jane Dunnewold in her Art Cloth Mastery Program.

Brainerd's process begins with white cloth.  She dyes the cloth in a painterly fashion and then stitches on it to create work rich in color, texture, and emotion.  Brainerd has exhibited nationally; her work has been published in several books; and recently she completed a commission for the Baptist Health System.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My current bodies of work, the Happiness Block series and Source series, are simultaneously created and directly relate to my spiritual journey.  It is my intention to work with uncomplicated methods that produce interesting and beautiful results.  I want the process to be narrow enough to allow me to work deeply, but broad enough to allow for endless variety.

My intention to work happily is fulfilled in the Happiness Block series.  I apply dye as a paint directly onto silk/cotton fabric.  The quilt blocks represent any blocks of our lives that we learn to align, occasionally eliminate, and integrate on the path of choosing and finding happiness.

Through the Happiness Block pieces I am discovering that there is an even deeper quest - a quest for an integrated life with Source energy.  In the Source series, I capture excess dye left from creating the circles that become Happiness Blocks.  Ethereal secondary images are created through this indirect painting process.  I can direct it, but not control it.

Symbolism is important in both series of works.  Circles represent source energy, being enclosed, inclusiveness and boundaries, and when connected - safety.  But my circles are also about adding and revealing layers; building on knowledge and growth.

Squares, blocks and grids are my attempt to understand, seek safety, and stay attached to what I can see with my eyes.  But this organization also allows my brain to compartmentalize, process, and be present.

Allison Brown-Cestero

ALLISON BROWN-CESTERO


Allison Brown-Cestero's work has been exhibited both online and in gallery settings, and a number of her pieces are now in private collections.  In addition to membership in Studio Art Quilt Associates, the International Association of Professional Quilters and the Southwest School of Art, Brown-Cestero is currently president of Fiber Artists of San Antonio, serves as a committee chair for the annual Susan G. Komen San Antonio Race for the Cure, and is actively involved in organizing the 2013 Conference of the Surface Design Association.  Support materials are available upon request.


ARTIST STATEMENT


My work is inspired by an early introduction to stitchery and hand embroidery.  Recently I've focused on surface design as a foundation for multi-layered surfaces that often include stitching.  I am interested in using the creative process to resolve inner conflicts and emotions raised by events in the outside world, especially those events where natural forces overtake and overwhelm humans.


I prefer to work in series, and am currently focusing on the topic of wildfires that devastated Bastrop County, Texas in the late summer of 2011.


For several years I've chaired Quilt for the Cure activities for the San Antonio affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure.  In this role, I created the Tribute Quilts project, which celebrates and memorializes breast cancer patients.  The quilts are displayed each year at the Komen San Antonio Race for the Cure and at other venues.


A number of my pieces have been exhibited online and in gallery settings: many are now in private collections.

Judy Carpenter

JUDY CARPENTER


Judy Carpenter has spent her life working with textiles in a variety of forms.  Both grandmothers introduced her to embroidery and garment construction when she was four.  Carpenter pursued this path into her early twenties, shifting then to knitting and smocking.  A member of the Embroiderers Guild of America, Carpenter exhibited her work in the Atlanta area for many years.  Her interest switched to quilting in the 1990s and she quickly realized that she preferred dyeing and manipulating fabric in lieu of purchasing the designs and color blends of others.  In order to more seriously pursue her passion, Carpenter enrolled in the Art Cloth Mastery Program in 2010, which she completed in 2012.  She works from a private studio in Gainesville, Georgia.  More of her work can be seen at www.silksorbet.com.


ARTIST STATEMENT


I have always had a passion for both color and fiber, inheriting this love and appreciation from a long line of Swedish seamstresses and embroiderers.  My maternal grandmother sat me on her knee while she constructed garments and quilts on her treadle sewing machine, and then helped me construct similar items from her fabric remnants.  During cold New England winters I slept under mounds of her lovingly hand-sewn quilts, waking in the morning to run my fingers over her fine stitching.  I looked for fragments of dresses and shirts she and my grandfather had once worn, now incorporated in her elaborate designs.  Later I learned Hardanger Embroidery. When visiting my great-grandmother's birthplace in Sweden, I was amazed to discover bed linens decorated using the very same technique.  While this needlework is traditionally done in white and cream, I find bold and bright even more exciting and pleasing.


While taking long morning walks with my dogs, my mind is often flooded with many visions, which I later attempt to expand by using silk, dyes, and paints.  Colors are layered upon colors and images are repeated in various sizes.  More texture is added by introducing my Zentangle doodles and hand-dyed embroidery threads.  All of this allows me to share with others just a few of the images that run through my mind as I daydream.

Jean Dahlgren

JEAN DAHLGREN


Jean Dahlgren creates art by layering dye and paint on fine cloth that allows light and shadow to add the "end" to each story.  The finished story cloths have been exhibited in galleries throughout Texas.  The love of these processes has led Dahlgren to teach both curious beginners and advanced fiber artists at the Dougherty Art Center in Austin, Texas.  One of the greatest rewards of teaching is to see students grow in their work and develop their individual voices.


ARTIST STATEMENT


Everyday events, which touch all of us, are the basis for my current work.  I start with a vague idea of what I would like to say.  Sketches are drawn and images assembled.  The joy in what I create is in the process.  The work and I begin a dialog.  As each layer of color and print is added, the piece begins to reveal itself.  When the last layer is added the story is complete.

Ann Graham

ANN GRAHAM

Ann Graham grew up in Boston, Massachusetts.  She graduated in 1971 with a BSN from Northeastern University, and in 1973 from Tufts University School of Nurse Anesthesia.  Relocating to the Washington, D.C. area inspired her interest in abstract drawing, colored pencil drawing, silk painting and quilting.  She has pursued both her professional career and artistic interests, but has devoted her time to artistic interests since 2007.  She is currently a full time studio artist and lives in Silver Springs, Maryland.  Graham teaches silkscreening, dyeing techniques, and indigo (vat) dyeing.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work is based on a series of squares.  The first, Birth of a Square, was created with a very square profile in a black and white palette.  The second piece, City Square, distorts the familiar square motif and introduces color and heavy thread textures, while the third piece, Almost Squared, shows restrained color application and a more traditional profile.

I use color as a way to communicate movement, energy and transmission of thought, from simple colored paint and dye explorations to more subtle thread play.  I found abandoning elements of traditional quilting difficult, and so kept the spirit of a whole cloth quilt in these interpretations of the visual form.

The square remains for me a robust symbol - one upon which traditional quilting is based, yet flexible enough to be transfigured into my personal image of movement.

Annalisa Jose

ANNALISA JOSE

Annalisa Jose is a mixed media artist from Walnut Creek, California.  She creates graphic compositions from hand-dyed textiles, paint and fabric manipulation.  Jose has completed the Art Cloth Mastery Program and graduated from Mills College with a Bachelor of Arts degree.  She creates art cloth through a series of printing techniques, hand-dyeing, painting and the application of different resists such as soy wax.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My unspoken goal has always been to find God (light) in my daily life.  Whether praying in a Catholic church or meditating in a temple, mandalas were present.  Mandala is the Sanskrit word for circle.  The mandalas I saw were colorful, inspirational and full of intricate details.

I use color and design imagery to create a dance of light.  I want the viewer to follow the light's path.  As I work I am compelled by intuition to seek the direction of the piece.  Throughout the process I consciously align myself with the colors and intention of the mandala.

My inspiration comes from my spiritual practice.  The process of creating mandalas becomes an active meditation, thus quieting the mind, so I can listen to my inner voice.