In the community
I enjoy making art with diverse populations outside of conventional art studio settings. Dyeing cloth in a library lobby, printing patterns in a church basement kitchen with parishioners, converting a corner of an art museum into a sewing center populated by teens, beading cloth with youth in a shelter—this is the terrain of the pop-up studio. With a dash of improvisation, I have been able to adapt my studio practices to build pop-up books, picture book illustrations, sculptural fiber installations, large textile collages and reach hidden communities with art.
Fantastical Forest at ArtQuest | GreenHill Center for NC Art, Greensboro
Inspired!
Greta Thunberg was on the radio. She was being interviewed by a NPR host, Mary Louise Kelly. Hearing this bright determined voice speaking about urgent climate issues from the hallways of her Swedish High School was a welcomed jolt to my day. It was funneled into my car radio as I drove along I-40 to home in mid-February, 2023. Who else is listening? Has been listening? Alot of young people. Who else needs to listen? These thoughts edged into my dreams that night. I woke up inspired. Having just been reunited with the creative leaders at GreenHill and learning that there is genuine interest in building back Art Quest into a vibrant interactive art gallery for children, I saw a starting point for that idea: make a Forest. A Forest that climate activists would approve, that art educators could teach from; and where children could have a hand in its making. It simply required repurposed, recycled bits & bobs. I began by visiting my own attic that hosts a medley of cloth, papers, mailing tubes and wire that have fed my teaching artist practice for the past 30 years. These I hauled to GreenHill and began to see how they might fit together with the aid of a bit of glue, staples and paint. Visits to GreenHill basement storage area yielded wood, fabrics, and yarn all yearning to be utilized. A trip to Reconsidered Goods resulted in the discovery of retired brushes, papers, vintage records and more tubes to build out the Forest. The Forest is spawning new art curriculum that invites its visitors to think about the natural world, at exotic habitats near and far; ancient and fragile. Look around. Invent. Dream. Make.
Ingredients: wide & narrow cardboard tubes, sheet music, akua ink, monofilament, paper thread, crayon, Carhart jeans, vintage linen tablecloths, old 45 records, retired cotton crochet work, metal plumbing pipes, assorted screws, staples, children’s drawings, dictionary pages, acrylic paint, artist scroll from Penland workshop summer 2017, India ink, mat board, tree poems written by 6th graders, retired fat & skinny paintbrushes, foam core scraps, simplicity sewing patterns, tree branches from Jaymie’s yard, hardware cloth, textile ink, assorted knitting yarns, an artificial Christmas tree, fancy twine, mono-printed tissue paper, silk organza, cotton threads, reclaimed plywood, wonder under, bluegrass cd’s, mismatched linen napkins, faux suede scraps, wire, woven & non-woven fabric samples, duct tape, tempera paint, magic marker, tiny nails, jacquard silk, Velcro, old 78 vinyl records, gesso, cotton quilt batting, assorted colors of sewing thread, wooden discs, Elmer’s glue, surveyors maps on vellum, masking tape, leftover house paint.
El Regalo de Lenna / Lenna’s Gift | A Collaborative Picture Book Project
Over the course of 2019-20, I joined Susie Wilde, writer, Steve Godwin, Book Designer, and Andrea Carson Tanner, Development to form a creative team: For Kids By Kids. Together we worked with the Mariposas community to create a bilingual picture book.
The Mariposas community was founded Chapel Hill, NC in 2013 by Barbie Garaya-Tudryn and Jose Nambo with the mission of facilitating a space for Latinx students, their parents and Latinx educators to exchange experiences and pursue personal growth as a collective. The Mariposas community is focused on celebrating Latinx culture and traditions and examining issues of gender, race, ethnicity through weekly meetings. The Mariposas are bound together by an active pursuit of personal liberation, civic activism and democratic engagement. These themes run through the picture book project.
My work with the Mariposas was focused in textile collage. Together we painted, printed and dyed materials, creating distinctive fabrics that became landscapes and the characters of their allegorical tale. As the story line developed key word were selected in both Spanish and English that the girls screenprinted into silk and cotton. Throughout the textile illustration residency the Mariposas collaborated in rotating small and large groups to define and build River, Moon, Lenna and the land itself.
Available for sale at Flyleaf Books
(100% of the proceeds from the sales of Lenna’s Gift will go to Mariposas College Scholarship Fund that serves 1st generation Latinx students)
Planting Hope | picture Book Project
This picture book project, inspired by PORCH (People Offering Relief for Chapel Hill- Carrboro Homes), an all volunteer, nonprofit food relief organization in North Carolina stands for community and for collaboration. Planting Hope, written and illustrated with kids for kids tells a story of community nourishment. The project began when writer, Susie Wilde led a writing residency with ESL students at Smith Middle School and After-school youth at Rogers Road Community Center. Together they wrote the story of Terra and a magical seed and how they brought unity to a divided garden.
Words met pictures when I introduced the writers to fabric, dye, ink and scissors. Together we transformed cloth into sky, dirt, blossoms, and butterflies. We built a watering can and collaborated on sneakers, dreams and worms. During the illustration phase of the project, kids aged 5- 12 helped fuel the creative process of making a garden grow.
A picture book requires sharing the page with words and pictures. Book designer, Steve Godwin worked closely with Wilde and myself during our consecutive residencies with the children- mapping and merging text with textile.
The suite of original textile illustrations will hang permanently at Rogers Road Community Center following exhibition of the project at the Frank Gallery, Chapel Hill. December 2016/ January 2017.
Bending Color
Bending Color (2005-2006), a kinetic fiber sculpture installation created with youth, families, and seniors during a textile arts residency is installed in the Orange County Senior Center, Hillsborough, NC. The residency was sponsored by The pARTnership program of the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Orange County Arts Commission and the Central Orange County Senior Center.
Between the Lines
Between the Lines (2011) combines text with textile. The residency included collaborating with Sacrificial Poets and Orange County youth poets. Sponsored by Orange County Arts Commission and Chapel Hill Cultural Arts. Poems performed at Fly Leaf Books and the Frank Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC. Work installed in Chapel Hill Public Library.
Community Cloth
Community Cloth (2010) was created with immigrant and refugee children at the Doris Henderson Newcomer School, Greensboro, NC during a textile arts residency. The Community Cloth project was made possible by a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council and educational support from Green Hill Center for NC Art. Read more...
WALL WORDs
Wall Words (2004-2005) is a collaborative poem in cloth created with youth at the Raleigh Rescue Mission during a textile arts residency (with Harriet Hoover, assistant). The art work is comprised of two panels: 120 inches x 108 inches each. Materials include hand dyed cotton, linen, textile inks, stitching, and beads. Sponsored by Artspace Outreach Educational Program, Raleigh, NC.
Sew Many Circles
Sew Many Circles (2007) was created with students from the Raleigh Girls Club, Raleigh, NC during a textile arts residency. Materials include hand dyed cotton, silk and linen printed with textile inks, fused beads, and stitched circles into circles. Sponsored by Artspace Outreach Education Program, Raleigh, NC.
Picture Book Projects
Kids are marvelous at picturing. Hand them cloth, paper and scissors and watch inventive landscapes and characters arrive on the page. Invite them to write and edit a story and marry those pictures to words. They will. I have enjoyed collaborating with writer, Susie Wilde and book designer, Julie Hill Gignoux, on several multi-disciplinary arts residencies that have yielded published picture books created with kids for kids. Below are a few pages from What Can A Small Bird Be?
What Can a Small Bird Be?
Teaching Artists, Susie Wilde (writer) and I collaborated to facilitate a dual residency with NC teens to write and illustrate a picture book promoting character education for K-8 students. North Carolina Museum of Art hosted the 3 day intensive residency. Book design by Julia Hill Gignoux. Books routed to all NC K-8 public school libraries. Project sponsored by Department of Public Instruction via funding from the NC General Assembly.
Tell Me a Patch
Tell Me a Patch is both a picture book and a story quilt created with families at Hemphill Public Library, Greensboro, NC in 2005- 2006. Story written with library patrons under the direction of Susie Wilde. A subsequent textile arts residency with Hemphill families produced fabric illustrations for quilt and book. Project sponsored by Greensboro Public Library.
Learn more about all my projects in the community.
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