More Than Just Fabric

I recently was accepted to East Carolina University’s Textile Art program. As my first article here, I want to celebrate this overlooked medium. It’s more than just your grandma’s quilts. In fact, a lot more. There are a lot of processes and a lot of chemicals and dyes and techniques that go into making textile art. I haven’t learned that many in my short time at ECU, but I’ve had a taste and I’m sure hungry for more.

My art deals with the memory of both people and the objects which recall our memories. So, when I was working on my latest piece entitled Forgotten Memories, I found this artist which was a great inspiration. Rayna Gillman works mostly with batik and deconstructive screen printing. Like me, she also enjoys working in a spontaneous fashion which leads to quite lovely “happy accidents”. She also has a series that is based on memories and it is, of course, my favorite of her work.

Have you ever tried any textile art? Even just tie-dying? Maybe you should.