Topologies by Anne Wilson
It’s been a while since I have posted on a Fiber Artist. It’s been a while since I have even looked up a Fiber Artist. I have a few favorites but life gets busy sometimes and the act of finding someone or something to inspire what I do unfortunately gets hidden under the piles of to-do lists and empty containers of dye powder.
This morning I sat down while rinsing out tie dye and started searching for fiber artists. I noticed while rummaging through page after page of internet searches that a lot of fiber art searches are directed towards knitting, crochet, and quilting. What about the artist who use fibers to create art and not craft, where are they in this tangle of search links? I finally found the right combination of search words and up popped Anne Wilson. I had completely forgotten about her through the years. I have read about her in various publications but haven’t checked in with her in years.
I really like her work. Using the combination of media Wilson uses to create installation work is quite tedious and time consuming. I remember the first time-consuming fibers experience I encountered. My third year in college a jewelry student was taking a screen-printing class with me. At the end of the quarter during the final printing project she put down her tools, told everyone in the room we were all crazy, and then left. The project consisted of a two-color registered print on three yards of fabric. Oh, and the print had to be from an exposed screen. During that project I had to re-expose my screen three times, twisted my ankle walking down stairs, cut the protective pad on the table b/c another student pinned on top of it (it can easily take 2 -3 hours to get the fabric pinned down), and was finally told to go home with a six-pack and come back in the next day. Yes, Fiber Artist usually are a little crazy ,but I like to think of it as patience. Who else would spend 60+ hours sewing 1000′s of french knots into paper to create the perfect pillow for Mother Nature? A person with a lot of patience would.
Anne Wilson spends countless hours carefully stitching her vision to share with viewers. She uses the media in ways that stretch the boundaries of what the average person probably would not have thought of when using a needle and thread. To me, this is an important aspect of being an artist. Thinking outside of the box. The artist may say, “I have these materials to work with, now what can I do with it to capture the viewer’s attention?” Anne Wilson may have said, ” I have all this thread, and a needle, and I want to express this so I’m going to spend months stitching to achieve it.” Okay, so she may have not said that but I do love her patience and vision all the same.
Needless to say, this post is a tribute to all the crazy…I mean patient and creative fiber artists out there. You know who you are ; )
Topologies detail by Anne Wilson
Another piece by Anne Wilson
Maybe one of these days I’ll finish Mother Nature’s Perfect Pillow.
