Featured Artist: Kristina Woodall

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Kristina Woodall.

"Felt Brain Map Embroidery"

Ever since I was a little kid I knew that I wanted to be an artist. It all started with a crayon and coloring book. This eventually transformed into using a needle and thread, coloring in the lines that I stitched. Over time, I found that art was not just fun but a great way to express myself and voice my opinions. My work is usually lighthearted. I try not to take things to seriously and that can be seen through my imagery.  The messages and stories that I share are usually about my life experiences or thoughts. I also tend to relate many ideas to those experienced with my family and friends. 

College gave me the chance to explore many different mediums. Very quickly my interest in Fibers became clear.  I was first introduced to embroidery. I learned the simplest of stitches and from there I knew it was something I wanted to pursue. I was fascinated by  the way I could  create various textures by using the same types of material. I loved the transformation that a piece of thread goes through from an ordinary object into a work of art. Fiber Arts brings a whole new aspect and detail to my work. It comes alive with every stitch!

"Felt Brain Map Embroidery" Detail 

Featured Artist: Andy Vasquez

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Andy Vasquez.

"Tee Chair"

It is said that furniture creates the set for the on-going play we live out. I believe as a furniture maker it is important to be constantly experimenting with different forms and materials to adjust to the “play” as the plot changes.

"Tee Chair" Detail 1

With Tee Chair, I set out to go about upholstery in a way that used recycled materials, as well as related more closely to the potential users of the chair. Tee shirts seemed like a sensible material to use with this chair being that they are often discarded, easily available, and have a character of their own. Using the graphics of the shirt became important as a way to show the tee shirts’ past stories beyond just their color.  Tee Chair is a functional chair, that provides comfort through the fabric’s softness, and visual interest through their arrangement.

"Tee Chair" Detail 2

Featured Artist: Lindsay Ketter-Gates

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Lindsay Ketter-Gates.

"Renewal"

I combine my love of textile techniques, fashion design and everyday materials to create works of texture and grace. Necklines, fasteners, ruffles, pleats and decoration of traditional costumes as well as textile patterns from around the globe inspire me. My obsessive nature draws me to the repetitive looping of knotless netting. One piece informs the next and the cycle repeats. I aim for the viewer to find the finished works both elegant and curious.

*Lindsay is a studio artist working out of Milford, PA. She was awarded a 2005 Individual Creative Artists Fellowship by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, administered by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. Her work resides in the permanent collections of several museums including the Museum of Art & Design, NYC and Racine Art Museum, WI. Lindsay’s work has been featured on the cover of Metalsmith Magazine and on the pages of American Craft Magazine, FiberArts and Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot Magazine, Surface Design Journal, FIBERARTS Design Book 7 and 500 Baskets. 

To learn more about Lindsay and her work, please visit www.lindsaykgates.com

Featured Artist: Nicole Jones

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Nicole Jones.

"Corpus" 

"Corpus" Detail

My current work has transpired from an attraction to exquisite materials and sophisticated processes. I am drawn to nontraditional materials to function within textiles. I enjoy challenging an object’s expected function to provoke a greater investigation, revealing a deeper connotation within the work.

"Flightless"

I use nontraditional materials with intent to expose the hidden beauty within. Utilizing a variety of materials such as window screen, paper, and nails allows me to enhance and connect the context within the piece. Stylistically, the work exudes a prevailing delicate and feminine driven character even with the use of these unusual surfaces.

"Flightless" Detail 1

Currently I have been exploring couture fashion in a sculptural approach that deals significantly with conceptual purpose. Each design addresses complex states of mind in which a woman can feel or be confronted with at certain moments or stages in life. I have been using “the dress” as a symbolic and relatable symbol that could be utilized to be interpreted beyond its expected function.

"Flightless" Detail 2

Featured Artist: Sarah Jefferis

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Sarah Jefferis.

"Oil Rig"

Growing up in a military family had many ups and downs.  Moving to different environments has made me very aware of my surroundings. It created the feeling of being an outsider to the U.S. civilian culture. 

I use embroidery to complete the mental picture of the world I see around me and its contents. I consciously combine traditional and experimental techniques.

The piece I am entering into the 'Daily Fiber Intake' exhibit is a large embroidery on handwoven fabric. My intention with this piece was to voice my critical view of an environmental issue: oil extraction off the coasts of continents.

This piece shows two different scenarios. It is either showing the viewer a visual example of what the artificial oil islands are damaging or it shows that the population of sea life greatly outnumbers anything we have put in their environment. They could ultimately ban together to destroy what humans have created.

"Oil Rig" Detail

Featured Artist: Stephanie Hassler

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Stephanie Hassler.

"For A Good Time Call..."

I am a designer and artist living in Berks County, PA.  This coming fall, I will be attending Misericorida University to pursue my master’s degree in occupational therapy.

"For A Good Time Call..." Detail 1

"For A Good Time Call..." Detail 2

In “For a good time call…”, I wanted to exploit the mundane and draw special attention to the layering of patterns and textures.  The first layer consists of fabric with imagery transferred from a local phone book.  Next, I plaited the strips to add a twill pattern.  Finally, the embroidery on the surface ties everything together and adds another dimension to the entire piece.  To best view this piece, look at it both up close and from afar to see each layer and how they affect each other.

Featured Artist: Liz Hamilton

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Liz Hamilton.

"Scorned," "Centered," "Reluctant Contrition"

As a contemporary fiber artist, I strive to tempt traditional aesthetic to achieve imagery that has not been seen before but is familiar.  I work predominantly with the female figure, which is readily accessible and suggest ideal preconceptions.  Despite these derived connotations, I tend to use the female form as a vessel.  Layers of suggestion are built into the form.  To achieve the breakdown of these concepts, I begin with a very broad category and recall all of the associated emotions.  These words take on their own life in a dynamic and intrinsic struggle within the piece.

"Scorned"

In my final product, both emotional aspects can be seen and felt.  The familiar female vessel acts as a vehicle to dismember overwrought dichotomies in our culture.  I feel as if these figurative forms offer a subtle view into the delicate conceptual dichotomies of being a human.  During the process, by using the human form to directly apply both painful and beautiful techniques, it greatly maximizes the intensity inherent within human emotion.  Generating and capitalizing on the viewer’s emotions is the ultimate goal of my work.

"Centered"

"Centered" Detail

"Reluctant Contrition"

Featured Artist: Keith Gustafson

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Keith Gustafson.

"Under the Scope I and II"

As an artist I am influenced by what is happening around me and in my current life. Because of this my work’s subject matter and style is always changing. It allows me to experience new endeavors, and not get stuck into one idea or concept. My artistic philosophy is to have a very basic sketch of how I want a final project to look like. This idea is merely just an image I keep in my head, as my art is beginning to be produced it is evolving and changing. This allows me to not to feel restricted. In my current work, I’ve been interested in bacteria and how it affects the human body.

"Under the Scope I" Detail

"Under the Scope II" Detail

Featured Artist: Elizabeth Germann

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Elizabeth Germann.

"Sunrays"

"Sunrays"

Elizabeth Germann graduated from Kutztown University with a degree in Fine Art: Crafts and a degree in Art Education in May 2010.  She chose textiles as a concentration within her crafts degree.   While studying at KU she took studio level weaving and structural fiber courses with Barbara Schulman and Rachel Chambers. With these courses focusing on weaving, dying, and felt making Elizabeth quickly became very passionate for textiles.  

The processes involved in creating her artwork are extensive, but it is the dying process where she feels most expressive.  Color is a very important aspect in her artwork.  Elizabeth enjoys painting the dyes on her warp threads and woven fabric to blend color transitions and allow for a more fluid appearance. 

She is currently teaching art in Harrisburg, PA at an after school program for inner-city students in grades kindergarten up to high school called The Center for Champions.  When she is not teaching her time is spent weaving and dying at her home near Hershey, PA. 

www.luckywalnut.com

"Sunrays" Detail

Featured Artist: Joseph Geiger

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Joseph Geiger.

"Untitled 1"

"Untitled 1" Detail

Featured Artist: Rachel Chambers

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Rachel Chambers.

"3229"

 "3229" Detail

I work in patterns, using repetitive processes, to transform ordinary materials into something more.  Through obsessively mark making, cutting and tying, dividing and gathering, I am deciding what I find most important and what needs a stronger voice.

"3231"

"3231" Detail

With every piece, I reevaluate my idea of repetition.  Beginning with the idea of a repeated motion I find great satisfaction in watching what was once a utilitarian everyday object transform into something that can be incorporated into a greater space.  I also enjoy the dialogue between what I have intended for myself through the piece, with the viewer’s interpretation.  

"One For Each"

"One For Each" Detail

Control is the backbone for pattern.  I feel that I have a better grasp on the concept if I have complete control of my materials and the pattern I am forming.

Featured Artist: Sarah Bucke

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Sarah Bucke.

"Skinbroidery I"

Somewhere between the act of play and the digestion of my surroundings is where I prefer my thoughts to be located. I approach each day with this in mind, and in doing so it becomes an integral part of my work. The materials I chose to work with have their limits, but they can become items of wonder when manipulated by the human hand.  For me, this is the essence of creativity.  I love to see what things can do and how they can appear to an audience, much like the technique of trompe l’oeil where art can “deceive the eye”. Taking this and applying it with cotton, wool, and thread has allowed me to play and respond in ways that I would not otherwise be able to do.

"Skinbroidery II"

My work as a whole is a reaction to the environment, with particular focus on the man-made world. Whatever objects are in my sight become the subject, which I must then translate into fiber materials.  Power lines turn into embroidery floss, gift wrap turns into chain stitches, road signs turn into twill patterns, and suspension bridges turn into sheep’s wool. I tend to work with a large color palette filled with bright, saturated hues. There are some instances, though where I will refrain from it and use a minimal amount of color because sometimes that is all what is needed.  The structures and images I create are not necessarily made to resemble any of the things that I draw inspiration from, but rather they are made to be explored and considered so that others may feel compelled to be makers themselves.

"Skinbroidery III"

Featured Artist: Jennifer Biggs

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Jennifer Biggs.

Untitled

As a child I was heavily influenced by comic books and animation, and I still find myself very drawn to strong graphics. The imagery I use in my work is generally a mash up of literary influences, illustration, science fiction, self-portraits and random doodles. None of these images really carry any meaning for me until I begin to work with them as textile pieces. Then they start to create their own meaning and their own story. Each piece has started to become a part of a story I wasn’t intending to tell.

Untitled, detail

Featured Artist: Tristyn Albright

During the seven weeks of 'Daily Fiber Intake' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, several artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Tristyn Albright.

Ode to Missoni

Art is me.  It is everything I am and everything I am not.  It is where I am going and where I have been.  As a fibers artist I prefer working in the area of non-loom: using fiber arts techniques that are not executed on a loom.  In my work I am most enthusiastic about utilizing non-traditional materials like wire for its sculptural quality and beads for the overall texture they provide.  With an obsessive compulsive love for detail in all facets of my art, I get a sense of accomplishment when I finish a vessel knowing how much time was consumed stringing the beads by hand.  In the body of work I am currently working on I have begun to push the technique, spoke-wrapping also referred to as tinkering, in different directions and have begun to incorporate found objects.  In the future I hope to continue experimenting to see how far I can push myself and my work toward larger forms and further incorporation of found objects.

Vagabond

Daily Fiber Intake Opens

Sunday, March 13, 2011 began in a flurry of activity.  Last minute details for the reception crowded our every thought, and dictated our every move: Sandwich board, check. Flowers, check. Name tags, Check. Food and Drink, Check. 

Gallery One: (Before the Reception)

From L-R: Flightless, N. Jones; Untitled, J. Biggs; Spring! M. Ritter-Mitchell; For A Good Time Call...,S.Hassler

Before long, the clock struck noon, and  the first of the musicians arrived from the Angelica Consort. We began our ritual of fretting about whether anyone would show up for the reception.  And like usual, we shouldn't have even worried.  Artists, friends, families, co-workers, trickled in a steady stream through our front doors, packing the Gallery, and making us wish for warmer weather so we could show off our new patio in the courtyard.  Music wafted down from the second door, sweet melodious tune after tune, while guests mingled and exclaimed over the work hanging on our walls and sitting on pedestals.

The Angelica Consort.

 Two hours passed almost too quickly, and our guests began to slowly make their way out the door. We were a little sad to see it end, a little glad the reception was a success, and a little hopeful that the artists involved were pleased.  Daily Fiber Intake will continue to hang in our space until April 17th, showcasing current students and alumni from Kutztown University's Fiber Arts department, under the head of Barbara Schulman. Please come, visit our Gallery, and see the brilliant works of these talented artists.

Gallery One (Before the Reception)

From L-R: Renewal, L. Ketter-Gates; Sunrays, E. Germaan; Skinbroidery, S. Bucke

Daily Fiber Intake

Providing a venue to showcase the next generation of fiber artists, ‘some things looming’ invites you to enjoy the innovative work of Kutztown University fiber art students and recent alumni.  

Our curator, Barbara Schulman, as the head of the Fiber Department at Kutztown University, has had the  pleasure of working with hundreds of gifted students over the last eighteen years. As contemporary artists,  students dye, stitch, weave, felt, knot, net, manipulate materials and invent new techniques with enthusiasm,  energy, and ideas that never stop.

join us for the opening reception:
sunday, march 13th from 1-3pm.

rennaisance music provided by angelica consort.
(http://www.angelicaconsort.org)