Please click here to see the full design of the work. |
Sea to Sky and Back Again Fabric, hand printed and hand dyed, stitching |
Artist Statement: Sometimes the most important journeys are the ones you did know you needed
to go on. Awhile back my husband and I were struggling with some hard
decisions. Decisions about making a big uprooting change that would not just
affect us but our demi adult son and my aging mother living with us as well. We
had a great deal of angst and lack of clarity that seemed to be affecting all layers
of our lives. We didn’t set out on this hike as a balm for our worries but somehow
clarity came in our exhaustion. Bio: As an artist I am an explorer and observer first. I like to wander and wonder, let things percolate while I ponder. I have numerous sketchbooks full of chicken scratch drawings and cryptic thoughts. Over time (and often during a long hot shower) an idea will keep rising to the surface, I might even push that thought bubble below the surface, telling it I don’t have time for you, but the best ideas won’t pop and so I move on from thought to action. I have used many mediums over the years from fabric to painting to printing and collage but the unifying thread through all these mediums is a love of the puzzle. I like to problem solve, to piece and play with an idea until it can take shape as a visual idea. I love words and word play so words are often woven in the work and the work is woven in words. Throughout, no matter the medium, I play with the verbal and the visual. In that vein I have and artist journey blog. The blog pushes me to try new things, to play and produce and articulate both visually and in prose my ideas and inspirations. It has been a significant experiment, rewarding and daunting all at once. To create something and then share it with world almost immediately is both thrilling and terrifying. But what is art for if not to share, if not to pique and poke? So that is my goal, my quest my passion, to share art, to have conversations, to both reflect on and reflect back the wonders of the world I navigate. I have been fortunate to be published in both technique magazines such as Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors and in art journals such as Cold Mountain Review and About Place. |
~ STORIES FROM THE ROAD ~ |
Julie Christian Bender 1 |
Frank Logue 1 |