browngrotta arts

http://www.browngrotta.com/

Tom Grotta and Rhonda Brown

For more nearly 25 years, browngrotta arts has promoted museum-quality, international, contemporary art textiles and fiber sculpture through exhibitions, at art fairs, online and in print through catalogs that we publish in-house.  

Our catalogs are sold at Amazon and Selvedge.

We have an exhibit in our home every two years.

Mission:  Our aim is bring art textiles and fiber sculpture to the attention of a wider audience and to expand the collector base.

Location:  Connecticut, USA

Online shop:  browngrotta 

Blog:  arttextstyle

Languages spoken:  English

 browngrotta arts

Clockwise: Tapestry by Sara Brennan and Sue Lawty, 
willow sculpture by Christine Joy

and bamboo basket by Dona Anderson

Tags:  tapestry; textile; basketry; fiber sculpture; Japanese art; Scandinavian art; weaving; willow; museums; art consultants

Las Rancheritas

 

http://www.charlottebell.com/rugs/

Las Rancheritas is a rug hooking cooperative in a rural village high in the mountains of central Mexico.  Their folk art designs are of the life around them: chickens, pigs, mountains, cactus, farming and whatever their imagination creates. The wool used to make their rugs is donated from rug hooking groups throughout the USA and Canada. Sales from the rugs are contributing to a higher standard of living in this subsistence farming community.

Las Rancheritas, a rug-hooking cooperative from Central Mexico.

Mission:  To provide funds to a financially disadvantaged community and promote self esteem through development of a craft.



Location:  Agustin Gonzales, Guanajuato, Mexico
Online shop:  Las Rancheritas
Blog:  http://lasrancheritas.posterous.com/
Memberships: Association of Traditional Hooking Artists
Languages spoken:  English, Spanish 

Hooked Rug by Las Rancheritas
"The Mending is Very Heavy"

Tags:  hooked rugs, primitive hooked rugs, rural Mexican craft cooperative, folk art, economic development, fair trade, recycled, eco

Denise Labadie - Labadie Fiber Art

"Poulnabrone Dolmen", Art Quilt by Denise Labadie

The Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland

32" High x 63" Wide

www.LabadieFiberArt.com

I am a contemporary fiber artist, art quilter, and teacher. My art emphasizes  “Irish Stonescapes” – both the country's landscapes and many ancient stones and ruins. I discovered the stones in 1994 and I can't get enough of them, and visit every few years and look for new sites as well as visit some of my favorite ones as often as I can. I love commissions of other people's sacred sites.

My work is available at Shaw Cramer Gallery.

Artist's statement:  I have always been drawn to Ireland. My great grandmother came to the U.S. from Ireland in 1888, and my initial visit in 1991 affirmed a deep connection.

It was while planning a second visit that I first saw a picture of the Piper Stones, a stone circle in Co. Wicklow, that sent shivers through me. I sought them out immediately upon my return. These stones – and later, many others – “talk to me”, and I’ve focused ever since on finding new stones and using my art to convey the essence of these continuing communications. I have since come to similarly revere the country’s more recent monastic ruins.Whenever I work on a new piece, I research its “documented” story only after the work has been completed. The stones themselves – even their photographs – tell me how they want to be portrayed. I’ve met numerous similarly afflicted people.

I use a wide variety of colors, fabrics, threads, and yarns in my work. I hand paint my own fabric and then – for all my quilts other than my stone megaliths – work the same way as a stone mason works, individually cutting out, piecing, and appliquéing each stone, one by one, working from the bottom up.

The realistic appearance and textures of my stone fabric is achieved through the application of multiple layers of sun-reactive transparent Seta color paints, along with the aggressive use of sand, salt, sugar, dirt, etc., during drying cycles.

In contrast to the realism of the stones, any skies and landscapes – which are central to the context of Irish place and timelessness – are far more abstract. I use a relatively unique stripping technique for my landscapes, integrating thin horizontal pieces of fabric, trims, and yarns into a story-telling abstract of colors and textures.

Completed fabric tops are then heavily machine stitched to add even more texture and shadowing.

Location:  Longmont, Colorado,  USA

Memberships: 

   Studio Art Quilt Association
   Front Range Contemporary Quilters
   TheQuiltShow.com - Quest Artist #106

Languages spoken:  English

Monastic Ruin at Glendalough

Inspired by one of seven churches at St. Kevin's Monastery City, Co. Wicklow

Art Quilt by Denise Labadie

78" High x 60"Wide

Tags:  Megalithic, Ruins, Celtic, Dolmens, fiber artist, portals, Dun Aengus, Inishmore

Thistle and Rose Handweaving

www.etsy.com/shop/TandRHandweaving

 I am interested in weaving traditional heirloom quality linens for use in the home.  I weave primarily towels, table runners and table linens using traditional weaving patterns and yarns.  I opened my etsy shop in August 2010 and have been selling at a fairly steady rate in that venue.  As a new business I am interested in not only learning the ropes of small business ownership but learning how to promote my traditional craft so that handweaving skills are brought forward for the upcoming generations to learn and enjoy.

Artist's statement:  My weaving life began in 1997 when I decided that time was growing short and I really needed to get down to the business of learning how to weave on a floor loom. Without access to formal weaving programs in my area, I jumped into weaving with one book and a huge desire to weave a rag rug. From the first completed rug to the latest projects on my looms I am always learning something new and exciting. The field of weaving is so rich and varied; there are always new things to try as well as old friends to return to thus making weaving a perfect medium for my creative endeavors.

My studio is called Thistle and Rose Handweaving - an off-hand way of proclaiming my affection for the historical figures Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth I. I enjoy the fact that I can in some small way combine two of my interests, renaissance history and weaving. Here at Thistle and Rose Handweaving I delight in weaving both functional and decorative table linens, clothing items and rugs. I try to use primarily natural fibers in all my work along with a dash of inspiration from the nature that surrounds my country home.

Location:  Centerville, Utah, USA
Online shop:  TandRHandweaving
Blog:  tandrhandweaving
Memberships:
   Mary Meigs Atwater Weaving Guild, Salt Lake City, Utah
   Tromp as Writ Weaving Guild, Monmouth, IL
   Mid West Weavers Guild
Languages spoken:  English

Thistle and Rose Handweaving

Tags:  Handwoven, weaving, woven, fiber artist, fiber arts, hand made, traditional crafts, heritage crafts, weaving loom,  home decor

DreamWoven

http://dreamwoven.com

DreamWoven provides an uncommon space for your head.

I am a designer with a penchant for hats. My items have been sold to every type of person imaginable. From Divas to Drag Queens, Fashionistas to Home Grown Dread Wearers, to women of Pristine Condition and men of Worldly Charm. Runways to Festivals, from next door to 7000 miles away.

We all need a special place for our head.

My work can be found at Fine Craft Studio, Paso Robles, California.

Location:  Paso Robles, California, USA

Online shops:

   DreamWoven.com
   DreamWoven on Etsy
   DreamWoven on Facebook

Blog:  DreamWoven

Other Social Media:  LinkedIn

Memberships:   

   Studios on the Park
   Paso Robles Art Assocation
Languages spoken:  English

Art For Your Head by DreamWoven

Tags: hat, hats, headwear, couture, accessories, dreads, wool, felt, handmade, milliner, hat designer, dreadlocks, hand dyed wool,

Marjorie Durko Puryear Art

Travel Documents 1-Moments On The Grid. ArtQuilt 30" x 30"

mardurpur.blogspot.com/

I am a fiber artist, formally trained, with both BFA and MFA degrees. I construct textile compositions that are unpretentious stories. Typically small-scale, they are easy-to-live-with pieces, often quirky, and very enjoyable. This work is defined by a passion for collecting cast-offs: delicate handkerchiefs and monogrammed linens; handwritten notes and letters from another era; and odd photos. I identify with the history each item carries and am obsessed with assembling found parts into a new whole, inventing a new message for the appropriated materials.

My work is meticulously conceived and honors fine craftsmanship.

Most pieces are small-scale, single unit/single element compositions, formally framed. Other work is in traditional quilt form – both art quilt and functional.

My work has been exhibited in hundreds of group and solo shows, recently: the ARC Gallery, Chicago IL; Fuller Museum of Craft, Brockton MA; Carnegie Center, New Albany IN; Turchin Center, Boone NC; Prescott College/Sam Hill Gallery, AZ; Craft Alliance Gallery, St Louis MO; Museum of Decorative Arts and Design,  Riga LATVIA; and soon, Selden Gallery, Norfolk VA.

My work is sold through exhibitions and now by direct contact through my blog.

Artist's statement:  The textile art that I create is emotionally linked to everyday humble craft- forms and the tactile, sentimental memories they can embody. I transform the mundane parts of an ordinary life into compositions that evoke intrinsic beauty and a viewer’s curiosity - objects that become new and extraordinary decorative elements.

Location:  USA. Split residences-Massachusetts and Alabama

Blog:  mardurpur 

Memberships:  

   Surface Design Association, MA/RI.
   Weavers Guild of Boston, WGB.
   Handweavers Guild of America, HGA.

Languages spoken:  English

Notes From You Series - Judge Me. detail Framed size 18" x 18" by Marjorie Durko Puryear Art

Tags:  collage, lace, Victorian, letters, memories, writing, small, feminine

ColourSpun, Dana Biddle

www.colourspun.com

I'm a fibreholic - slightly off beat, dancing to my own tune, a whizz at multi-tasking - I juggle being a wife; mother; fibre artist; consulting editor - textiles for Stitches magazine; indie dyer and owner of “ColourSpun – Natural Designer Yarns”; creative workshop presenter; speaker; author of ""A Knitting Adventure with South African Yarn""... and anything else that takes my fancy.

My days are spent in my studio - dyeing, knitting, spinning, stitching, dreaming up projects for Stitches, making fibre art.... just generally having fun. I have my perfect life!

All my ColourSpun yarn is coloured by hand, so each skein is imbued with my creative energy and will have its own unique characteristics.  I only use the finest quality, locally grown merino wool roving and yarn, kid mohair and pure cotton: the dyes are the most earth friendly available and have excellent wash fast and light fast properties. My studio is a smoke free and pet free environment and I use methods that use the minimum amount of water and sun stoves to dye the yarn.

I am a member of Fibreworks and my work has been exhibited at home in South Africa, in the U.K., Brazil, Europe, U.S.A., Japan and New Zealand. I have work published in a number of books including Innovative Threads - A Decade of South African Fibre Art by Liza Gillespie and 1000 Artisan Textiles by Sandra Salamony and Gina M Brown.

Artist's statement:  I am not one of those artists who use their work to make profound statements. I don’t plan my work to express deep feelings or beliefs. Mostly, I am inspired by the beauty in things, sometimes in people, sometimes in nature and often in the materials I love to work with. The pieces I make often seem to create themselves as they develop and evolve into something completely different to what I have in mind at the start. I don’t follow rules but do believe that if something is worth doing it is worth doing well and stop if you’re not having fun.

ColourSpun's mission is to produce the best quality, natural, earth friendly fibre and yarn - filled with creative energy to give joy and pleasure to everyone who works with it.

Location:  Heidelberg, Gauteng, South Africa

Online shops:  ColourSpun, ColourSpun on Etsy

Blogs:  ColourSpun, The News Thread

Other social media: Linkedin, In 2 crafts, Ravelry, Twitter 

Memberships:  Fibreworks

Languages spoken:  English, Afrikaans

Hand-dyed eco yarns by ColourSpun of South Africa

Tags:   hand crafted, textiles, hand spun, fibre art, jewellery, soft sculpture, yarn, felt, knitting, hand dyed

DyeVerse

www.dyeverse.co.uk

Shani is a handspinning, dyer and weaver, who produces textiles with a "twist".

DyeVerse, her company, runs courses in colour, writing and textile construction, beginner through to experience, located in Wales and the South West.

Artist's statement:  I am an established writer and practicing crafts person with a passion for exploring/challenging the possibilities of textiles. I specialise in combining arts and crafts with contemporary design to produce textiles and objects that are both practical and desirable.  

I don't use complicated looms, techniques or equipment to produce my garments and installations, preferring to create work with simple constructions.  This way I enjoy and engage fully with the process, rather than drowning in technicalities, and the finished item is something which has come into being "through" a slow and deliberate production journey not "because" of it. 

Simplicity of construction along with quality of materials will ensure a welcome addition to your wardrobe or wall, or a bespoke present for a treasured friend or that special occasion.

My work has been featured in the Yarn Forward Magazine and various other periodicals and exhibitions throughout the UK, and I was involved with the creation of the SpinDyeWeavers, a textile workshop project in 2009.  

Location:  Bristol, United Kingdom

Online shop:  DyeVerse

Blog:  DyeVerse
Other social media:  
   Bristol Creatives
   Ravelry
   Spinning Daily

Memberships:

   Heritage Crafts Association
   Textile Forum South West
   Bristol Creatives

Languages spoken: English

DyeVerse: Dyeing, Spinning and Weaving in Bristol, UK

Tags: handcrafted, textiles, artistic, handspun, historic, traditional, contemporary, sharing, slowcloth