Monday, February 2, 2015

New Resident Artists for 2015

Wil Opio Oguta

I am 58 and live in the Netherlands. Since I was young I have been attracted to fibers, I used to spin and dye my own yarn with natural dyes (smelly). I have made garments including my own wedding dress, even took classes to become a craft teacher but a broken arm  made it impossible to take the exam. Late nineties I discovered quilts and especially art quilts. I admit that I never made a traditional sampler and don't think I ever will :-). Took several c&g courses with the Kemshalls and a number of online or in person classes. This month I start with Elizabeth Barton's masterclass. Most of the fabrics I use are my own hand dyed ones. Besides dyeing, I use other surface design techniques as well. I belong to several online textile groups and the list of exhibitions I participated in keeps growing.  Below is a picture of Geese on a Lake. All the fabric I used in that one is either dyed or painted by me.
Blog   and   Website



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My name is Yvonne Watson. I refer to myself as a textile artist as my work made in response to a particular idea, almost always involving the use of fabric, yarn or thread. I enjoy using all manner of techniques and creating my own imagery from my photographs. The use of text is another important aspect of my work usually manipulating it on the computer before printing by screen or thermofax. I have always worked with fabric starting by embroidering handkerchiefs or sewing and knitting dolls clothes.

When it came to choosing a career I followed my love of sport and became a PE 
teacher. After I retired in my early 50’s I decided that I would return to University. I graduated in 2002 with a degree in Art and Design from the University of Hertfordshire UK and the rest as they say is history.




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The Yarngoddess

I blog at http://yarngoddess.wordpress.com


a weaver, a mother, a sister, a wife,
trying to live a well balanced life.
a grandma, an artist, a collector of frogs,
someone like you reading too many blogs.


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Maggi Birchenough

I began my journey with textiles through embroidery when I was very young but didn't discover quilting until 1988. After a brief foray into traditional quilting and learning the basics I realised that this wasn’t the route that I wanted to follow and, after reading many books and taking some classes, I moved into creating art quilts. 

My first art quilts were made from my own photos which were manipulated, printed directly onto fabric and then heavily quilted. The quilting is one of my favourite processes as I love the way that it completely transforms a piece. About 15  years ago I became involved with dyeing my own fabric, which I now sell on my website, and also with surface design. More recently my work has become more abstract and I am working on creating a body of work in this vein. I am currently working on
two series, one using surface design and the other with digitally manipulated and printed photos. 

I live in Derbyshire in the UK, on the edge of the Peak District National Park and within the
Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site. I am now retired, after 30 years teaching followed by 11 years with the police, which gives me more time for my art and also allows me to do a couple of days a week volunteering at a local animal rescue and re-homing centre.  I am also the co-rep for SAQA's Europe/Middle East region.


Website 

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My name is Kelly L Hendrickson. I am a self-taught artist who LOVES to dabble in all kinds of medium and fun gadgets! However, even with painting my canvases, I still have textiles as a part of it. Kinda keeping in touch with the road that brought me to this point in my life. Mainly now I stitch fabric "quiltlets" to a canvas and then "paint them in". And to think....I started out after my first two traditional quilts planning to make a quilt out of every traditional block I could find. OK....it sounded like a good plan at the time. However, I found out quickly that my inclination to avoid rules was at loggerheads with all the perfect points and matching seams. So when art quilts came across my path, I jumped in with both feet and have not looked back. Now, although I still do art quilts as themselves, more and more of them are finding their way onto my canvas!! That brings me to "what are you into now?!" Currently I have too many plans really. There are several series in the works (both in my head and/or started on the easel -- OK....mostly in my head) I seem to get bored too easily to just keep working on one project at a time so there are many ideas on my list of dreams.




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Cris Winters 

  • All of what I do and am originated in my love of the natural world. I learned to draw so I could record what I saw. I studied watercolor because I wanted to record the colors. Collage allowed me to say what I needed to say with a wider variety of materials. However, I got degrees in botany and conservation biology – not art - and I happily worked as a field biologist for many years.
  • About 7 years ago, I started my new career as a full time artist, working with watercolor and mixed media collage. Now I work primarily with fabric, and I love this world of art quilting and surface design. My current area of work is in printing on fabric, especially deconstructed screen printing.
    I love sharing my creative process on my blog “In Cris’ Niche”, and I learn so much from other artists by reading their inspiring and instructional blogs. “… And Then We Set It on Fire” has been one of my favorites since I discovered it several months ago. What an honor to be invited to join the “Fire” artists  for 2015!


2 comments:

  1. This is very nice to "meet" the artists and see a bit of their wonderful work. Thanks for posting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. How nice to meet all you ladies! :)

    ReplyDelete

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