The name Chimeras pays homage to the legendary fire-breathing monster from Greek mythology, known for its composite features of a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail. My works explore themes of hybridization, transformation, and interconnectedness. To make these sculptural quilts, I source inspiration from the botanical chimeras—plants or plant parts that are …
Read More »
I have a naturally tight craft hand, but this neatness is betrayed with one glance at the back of one of my pieces. I begin my embroideries with as little planning as possible—inviting colors to build and shapes to form as I stitch—leaving long floats in my wake. These floats look like brushstrokes, deliberate marks …
Read More »
My current project, 3 Dykes Walk into a Bar…, involves tapestries, embroidered work, and textile sculpture that reveal three characters who are young dykes—coming of age between the 1990s and now. This work unfolds in a non-linear way, reflecting on the chaos and instability of the characters’ experiences. The tapestries resemble film stills—acting as excerpts …
Read More »
Sitting on a blanket under the African sun, Zandile Ntobela, holds the impossibly thin needle and threads it with black beading cotton. She pulls the black fabric onto her lap and gives the beads a haughty glance. They are minute, tiny little jewels glittering and shimmering in the sun, soon to be painstakingly stitched onto …
Read More »
Surface Design Association is excited to announce From Confrontation to Catharsis: SDA International Exhibition in Print, our Summer 2021 edition of Surface Design Journal. Our sixth annual EIP has both a subtlety and a boldness in its award winners and featured artists, who address the theme of “Confrontation through Catharsis.” This year we had the …
Read More »
When we think of weaving or plaiting as an art form, our initial response is to consider it in relation to traditions associated with women. However, there has been a shift in Aotearoa New Zealand over recent decades. A growing network of kairaranga tāne (Māori male weavers) has been working within their whānau (families) and …
Read More »
Surface Design Association is excited to announce “Marigolds & Unicorns,” our Winter 2019 edition of Surface Design Journal! This Journal features imagery and articles all focusing on plants and animals represented in textile art. “Humans, out of necessity and desire, have cultivated a (mostly) symbiotic relationship with the flora and fauna that cohabitate this planet. …
Read More »
Surface Design Association is excited to announce “Soft Borders” our Fall 2019 International Exhibition in Print. Juried by Monika Auch and Elizabeth Kozlowski, this exciting edition features seven award winners as well as twenty featured artists from all over the world. As Elizabeth states in her Editorial, “Interpretations ranged from the use of maps and …
Read More »
I am a felt artist currently living in Perth, Western Australia. I was born in The Netherlands in a region well below sea-level and, for better or worse, I learned at an early age to keep my head above water and stand tall. In 1985, at the age of 23 I moved to Australia and …
Read More »
The Innerweave lace paper series is part of a collaborative project between papermaker Bridget O’Malley and printmaker Amy Sands of Minneapolis, MN, which their art explores the interplay of print, paper and image. Their work was featured in Surface Design Association’s Winter 2018 Journal “Family Matters: SDA International Exhibition in Print.” Below Amy and Bridget …
Read More »