Artist statement, Public collections, and Exhibitions of embroidered textile work.
Artist Statement
Fiber art offers me opportunities that other mediums do not. I can draw using the stitching and patterning of hand embroidery and get a variety of effects and subtleties for the images I want to make. I can use different fabrics to create a background mood or further the narrative in my different pieces.
Hand embroidery, stitch by stitch, can add drama to my drawings. A stitched encroaching fire or a flooded landscape can feel more ominous. Patterned hand stitching can trace edges on creases and folds in a fabric and mimic a topographic map, or create outline drawings of maps with towns and roads or river scenes.
The threads I use are mainly various sizes of cottons or linens. When stitched some naturally lie flat on fabric, some arch, and some slightly fray for smudgy marks. Some thread colors easily group and meld, while others are used best alone.
I sew on mostly cotton or linen fabrics: tight to loose weaves, or from paper-like stiff to a flimsy flow. The fabrics are a surface for to sew on, to pull and stretch creating lace-like holes, or group into shapes.
The process of hand embroidery and working with textiles is engrossing and exciting. Its possibilities draw me into my studio every day.
News
Exhibitions
2024
“Summer Small Works 2024,” National Association of Women Artists, Inc., (online), July 11 – August 8, 2024.
“/‘ab,strk(t)/,” Art Fluent (online art gallery, art-fluent.com), June — on going.
“String Theory,” Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth, MA, February 6 – March 2, 2024.
2023
“Autumn’s Palette,” juried by Catherine Clark (Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco), O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA, online October 17 – December 15, 2023.
“Nor’easter,” New England Museum of American Art, New Britain, CN, September 21 – October 8, 2023.
2022
“PULP: Book & Paper Arts,” Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA, July 23 – September 3, 2022.
“Boundless,” Bainbridge Island Museum Art, Bainbridge Island, WA, March 4 – June, 2022.
CODEX VII Book Fair, biannual international book fair, Craneway Pavilion, Richmond, CA, April 10-13, 2022.
2021
“Elemental: Earth, Fire, Water, Air,” Curve Gallery, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD, October – November 2021.
“Book Arts Invitational, 2nd Edition,” Jean B. King Gallery, Herrett Center for the Arts and Science, University of Southern Idaho, October 2021 – January 2022.
“Where We Live,” Focus on Book Arts 2021 biennial conference, Tia Blassingame, keynote speaker, Forest Grove, OR. Online exhibition, July 15 – Aug 2021.
“Stories From Nature,” Hudgens Center for Art and Learning, Duluth, GA, May – July 2021.
2020
“Panic,” juried by Chester Arnold, O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA, November 2020. Online Exhibition, up indefinitely.
“The Illustrated Accordion,” Online Exhibition, KBAC Gallery, Kalamazoo Book Arts Center, Kalamazoo, MI, May 1 – June 30, 2020.
2019
“All Stitched Up,” Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA, September 3rd – December 11th, 2019.
“Borders,” Hallway Gallery, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA, July 31 – Oct. 13, 2019. Selected work from the “Borders” exhibition, San Francisco School of Needlework and Design, San Francisco, CA, May 4 – June 5, 2019.
“Borders,” Hanging Threads Gallery, San Francisco School of Needlework and Design, San Francisco, CA, May 4 – June 5, 2019.
CODEX VII Book Fair, biannual international book fair, Craneway Pavilion, Richmond, CA, February 3-6, 2019.
2018
“Quiet Island Travelog,” Hanging Threads Gallery, San Francisco School of Needlework and Design, San Francisco, CA. One-person show, October, 2018.
“Small Works,” curated by Philip Linhares, former chief curator of the Oakland Art Museum, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA, June – August 2018.
“Narrative Threads,” traveling show for three galleries in Denver CO, beginning at Carbondale Arts, May 2018, with the third show ending in the fall of 2018.
2017
“MUSUBU: Book Art Tokyo – California,” Urawa Art Museum, Urawa, Japan, September 2017, and The American Bookbinder’s Museum, San Francisco, CA, April – May 2018.
CODEX VI Book Fair, biannual international book fair, Craneway Pavilion, Richmond, CA, February 2017.
2016
“Stitched in Time, a Needlework Exhibition” Filoli, Woodside, CA, invitational curated by Lucy Barter, co-founder of the San Francisco School of Needlework and Design, June – August 2016.
“In Remembrance: People, Times, & Places,” San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA, October 2016 – January 2017.
2015
“FiberSHED,” Marin Community Foundation, Marin, CA, October 2015 – January 2016.
CODEX V Book Fair, biannual international book fair, Craneway Pavilion, Richmond, CA, February 2015.
Public Collections of Artists’ Books
Ohio University, The General Rare Book Collections, Athens, OH, A Blustery Windy Day on Quiet Island, 2022, an accordion book.
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Bainbridge Island, WA, Whatever Happened to Louisa?, 2019, an accordion book.
University of Tennessee, Hodges Library Spec
University of Miami, University of Miami Library Special Collections, Artists’ Books Collection, Coral Gables, FL, Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep, 2019, an accordion book featuring the poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye.
Virginia Commonwealth University, Special Collections and Archives at James Branch Cabell Library, Richmond, VA, In Memoriam, 2015, an accordion book featuring the poem “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep” by Mary Elizabeth Frye.
For purchasing artist’s books, contact The Kelmscott Bookshop.
Private Collections of Artists’ Books
The Walker Library of the History of Human Imagination, Ridgefield, CN, How a Bandage Works, 2017, an accordion book following the progress of a healing wound.
North Beach on Quiet Island, 2018, an accordion panorama of a beach scene (for daydreaming or contemplation).