Mixed Media Textile Art
Defining Moments: Stitched Perspectives on Becoming a Woman, a mixed media fiber project by 2018 NEA Heritage Award winner Marion Coleman and Carol Larson, explores personal, social, historical and political events that start in the 1940s and continue to 2017 when they both have reached seventy years of age. They address their life journeys including Carol's childhood innocence, naivete about civil rights, marriage, motherhood and the persistent impact adolescent elective surgery has had on her physical and emotional health.
Marion, an African American, documents the influences of those early years, affirmative action, civil rights, single parent adoption and interracial marriage. Carol and Marion have been friends for over a decade and share a passion for art, social justice, feminism and human rights. In this series each one challenges societal perceptions of what is normal or beautiful, womanhood, racial differences and similarities and aging. Sadly, Marion Coleman passed in 2019. The project has 38 pieces. The work shown here is my work in the series.
Exhibits: Visions Art Museum, now Visions Textile Art Museum, CA, 2019
Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, TX 2020
To purchase the Defining Moments Catalog, email me.
62″ x 39″ Examines the contrasted upbringing of my maternal grandparents discharged, screen-printed, photo transfers, machine-stitched exhibits: Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019 Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, TX, 2020 Petaluma Art Center, CA 2022 Detail:
59″ x 38″ Examines the contrasted upbringing of my paternal grandparents discharged, screen-printed, image transfers, machine-stitched exhibits: Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019 Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, TX, 2020 Petaluma Art Center, CA 2022 Detail:
59″ x 59″ Examines the contrasted upbringing of my parents. military dog tags, Army uniform, image transfers, discharged, screen-printed, machine-stitched exhibit: Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019 Detail:
64″ x 40″ Born four days apart my aunt and I were often mistaken for twins. vintage baby jacket, vintage linens, vintage news stories; discharged, screen-printed, image transfers, machine-stitched exhibit: Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, TX, 2020 Detail:
57″ x 34″ This piece celebrates my handcraft heritage. My predecessors included seamstresses, knitters, lace-makers, embroiderers, weavers, spinners and quilters. heirloom crochet, knitting, sewing, piecework, quilting, weaving, cross-stitch, embroidery, christening gown, my own hand-weaving and Nuno felting; hand-stitched, machine-stitched exhibits: Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019 Petaluma Art Center, CA 2022 Detail:
38″ x 56″ Born at the forefront of the post-war baby boom generation I was not alone for long. hand-woven baby blanket, chenille crib blanket, vintage bonnet, hand-knit booties, hand-made baby jacket, photo transfers, machine-stitched Detail:
48″ x 41″ Documenting the white flight migration of the 1950’s, in which my family participated. photo transfers of elementary school photos, machine-stitched exhibits: Diaspora: Stories of Migration, Textile Museum, George Washington Univ, DC 2016 Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019 Northern Illinois University Art Museum, IL 2022 Detail:
55″ x 43″ From my parents having a custom-built home, to jigsaw puzzles, paint-by-numbers kits and learning to sew, I was hooked on creativity at an early age. found materials, image transfers, machine-stitched exhibit: Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019 Detail:
60″ x 37″ My mother nearly single-handedly raised three children while my father was away on business. She had help from Macie, a black domestic who came from the inner city by bus. vintage aprons, vintage embroidered tablecloth; screen-printed, machine-stitched exhibits: Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019 Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, TX, 2020 […]
41″ x 55″ My father’s response to any complaint I had, as a kid, was that it built character. Most of my character-building took place at church or at the country club. image transfers, machine-stitched exhibit: Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, TX, 2020 Detail:
76″ x 40″ Examines the mixed body image messages that precipitated my being shortened six inches to fit into an idealization of how a young woman should look. Although the bone is gone, the shadow of who I was remains. original imagery, screen-printed, hand-stitched, machine-stitched exhibits: Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019 Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the […]
49″ x 39″ Inspired by the 2016 lenient sentence of a Stanford swimmer convicted of campus rape. This stirred my long repressed anger & shame over my own campus rape 50 years earlier. screen-printed, hand-stitched, machine-stitched exhibits: Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019 Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, TX, 2020 Fiber International X, CA […]
45″ x 40″ Confusion, chaos and conflict reigned before finding the clarity to quit college midterm, junior year. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. digitally-manipulated text, hand-written text, screen-printed, photo-transfers, machine-stitched
48″ x 39″ After I left college, I got a clerical job in the big city and commuted from my parents’ home in the suburbs. In three months I had saved enough to move out. Finally…freedom and independence! vintage kimono, machine-stitched exhibit: Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, TX, 2020
62″ x 41″ I found my person via a computer match… a stoic Swede, and native of San Francisco, Boy Scout, Eagle Scout and fireman. We met, married a year later and have been together since. vintage clothing, photo transfers, machine-stitched
59″ x 42″ To create this piece about marriage, I took apart a bridesmaid dress and my wedding dress; both which were made by my mother. I screen-printed our vows onto my dress fabric and embellished with the paisley bridesmaid fabric, my head-scarf and the hand-crocheted head-scarf which my Russian great-grandmother wore to the wedding. vintage clothing, […]
48″ x 40″ My husband insisted that we live within our means. It was a challenge but I learned to budget and became a saver. Within three years we had saved enough to buy our ‘first’ home, where we still live. screen-printed with original text, photo transfers, machine-stitched exhibit: Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, […]
66″ x 51″ My inner growth blossomed in my 30’s and 40’s from hours spent at the loom weaving, knitting and making felt, while listening to other people’s wisdom, on TV and radio. screen-printed with original text, leaves constructed of my own hand-woven, hand-knit, hand-felted remnants; hand stitched, machine-stitched exhibits: Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019 […]
50″ x 50″ We waited nine years to have a baby. Along with this beautiful human being came severe post-partum depression. No one talked about it; it was just there, like a dark cloud in the house. screen-printed with original text, photo transfers, machine-stitched exhibit : Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019
57″ x 41″ In my 30’s and 40’s my life was extremely harried; as mother, wife, driver, secretary and mail-order yarn biz owner. After working, driving, cooking, cleaning, and shopping I salvaged about 2 hours of creative time every Sunday afternoon. This piece is intentionally busy to reflect that harried time. vintage hand-spun, hand-woven baby bomber jacket, […]
44″ x 38″ Those whose absence from my life have defined my journey. Seven died, two left due to a difference of opinion and one has dementia. screen-printed with original text, photo transfers, hand-stitched, machine-stitched exhibit: Petaluma Art Center, CA 2022
37″ x 53″ I retired at 50 when my longtime employer, a doctor, died. I traveled the world and took a variety of art workshops, distilling what I learned to find my own voice. digitally manipulated text, screen-printed, photo transfers, machine-stitched
62″ x 37″ An optimistic attitude has been particularly helpful as an aging woman, dealing with my own and my loved ones’ health issues. screen-printed, digitally-manipulated text, photo transfers, machine-stitched exhibit: Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, TX, 2020
46″ x 37″ Storytelling has transformed and healed my life. Perhaps through my narratives the viewer finds her own voice? screen-printed with stories from both the Tall Girl Series and Defining Moments series, digitally printed, screen-printed, photo transfer, machine-stitched headshot photography by Karen Preuss. exhibit: Visions Art Museum, CA, 2019
In this piece I pay homage to the most generous artist I know; my friend, mentor and Defining Moments co-creator, Marion Coleman. Without her input, perspective and insight, this project would have never gotten off the ground. I remain grateful for her encouragement, support and challenging my growth as an artist. Sadly, Marion died in April 2019, […]
