After a lifetime of living all over the US and traveling all over the world, experimenting with ceramics, printmaking, collage, and mixed media, I’ve finally settled in Santa Fe, NM and returned to the world of fiber and textile art. My current focus is on needleweaving and tapestry weaving although I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m easily distracted by bright, shiny beads.
A lifelong interest in indigenous cultures and ethnic / tribal art originally led me to maskmaking and this same interest has been instrumental in my studies of ethnic textiles. Living in the Southwest provides a daily reminder of the role indigenous cultures and their artwork plays in our lives. Inspiration for new pieces is there every time I walk out the door and see the architecture, the mountains, the desert, and a sky that can only be found in the Southwest. I try to capture a little bit of this world in each of my weavings through design, color palette, and choice of focal stones and beads.
A lifelong interest in indigenous cultures and ethnic / tribal art originally led me to maskmaking and this same interest has been instrumental in my studies of ethnic textiles. Living in the Southwest provides a daily reminder of the role indigenous cultures and their artwork plays in our lives. Inspiration for new pieces is there every time I walk out the door and see the architecture, the mountains, the desert, and a sky that can only be found in the Southwest. I try to capture a little bit of this world in each of my weavings through design, color palette, and choice of focal stones and beads.
Artist's Statement: My art is an exploration of the importance of change and releasing the past, especially the people and situations that hinder personal growth, empowerment and transformation. The utilization of mythic figures, archetypes, motifs and themes allows me to explore letting go of the familiar, safe and secure in order to travel to the dark, often frightening, places of the soul. In this way, I’ve learned to trust my inner voice and honor my soul’s need for expression and challenge.
As a fiber / textile artist, printmaker and collage / mixed media artist, I use layers of digital images, ink, paint, handmade paper, ephemera, beads, textiles, fibers and glass to create pieces in which some of the images remain visible while others become fragmented, distorted, veiled or buried. The resulting piece is complex and multi-layered in the same way that life is complex and multi-layered. True understanding comes with being able to envision what is below the surface.
The imagery, taken from mythology, fairytales and the Tarot, requires a level of introspection… an inward journey and a willingness to face both the positive and negative aspects of life, human experience, personality and the world. As a result, the process of creation becomes an excavation of self. During this inward journey, questions arise regarding spirituality, aging, feminism, visibility, and aesthetics. What should remain visible and what should be hidden from view? How do society and our culture control our perceptions? How does this perception affect our view of reality and illusion? I want the viewer to question, explore and discover their own truth.
As a fiber / textile artist, printmaker and collage / mixed media artist, I use layers of digital images, ink, paint, handmade paper, ephemera, beads, textiles, fibers and glass to create pieces in which some of the images remain visible while others become fragmented, distorted, veiled or buried. The resulting piece is complex and multi-layered in the same way that life is complex and multi-layered. True understanding comes with being able to envision what is below the surface.
The imagery, taken from mythology, fairytales and the Tarot, requires a level of introspection… an inward journey and a willingness to face both the positive and negative aspects of life, human experience, personality and the world. As a result, the process of creation becomes an excavation of self. During this inward journey, questions arise regarding spirituality, aging, feminism, visibility, and aesthetics. What should remain visible and what should be hidden from view? How do society and our culture control our perceptions? How does this perception affect our view of reality and illusion? I want the viewer to question, explore and discover their own truth.
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Blogs: Dakini Dreams, Fusion Textile Arts
Social Media:
Memberships:
Surface Design Association
Handweavers Guild of America
American Print Alliance
Handweavers Guild of America
American Print Alliance
Languages spoken: English
"Bandelier", Needle Weaving by Dakini Dreams
Tags: weaving, needleweaving, fiber art, textile art, beadwork, collage, mixed media, tapestry, surface design, embroidery
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“Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction,- a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the Muse”
-Henry David Thoreau
In our case, it would be the needle or other fiber tool. Drive it home! And, we all thank you for your words, left here to these good folks. Invoke your Muse!