Fibre Art
Artist Profile – Martha Brown
Jun
My mother was a wonderful seamstress. As she was growing up, she learned to make a lot of her own clothes, and over the years advanced to suits out of Ultrasuede® and anything else imaginable. She was determined to drag me into her world of patterns and alterations. I did not enjoy it at all. She made clothes for me that I have to admit now, were of quality and good, but modest taste. She even signed me up for a sewing class at a local shop. At the end, I won the award for the best garment, but my mother did a great deal of the work!
I majored in art in college, but remained uninformed about the art form, as silk-screening and weaving were the only fibre art classes at the time. But I do remember the many figure-drawing classes I took and finding a great deal of interest in their costumes and the drape of the fabrics. (We didn’t have nude models back then!)
The aversion to working with fabric eventually passed when I was on my own and wanted to make some simple curtains. A few years later I was trying to refurbish an old comforter when a friend saw my struggles, and loaned me a book, Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes.
Read more in our Fall 2012 issue.
Martha Brown
[email protected]
www.bluemoonfabricarts.com
