In 1981, after teaching elementary school for 15 years, I began to search for something that truly interested me. I took a career awareness test at a local college. The test showed that I had a strong interest in visual art with a realistic bent. The "realistic" part for me was sewing. I had been sewing my own clothing for years. Sewing and gardening were my two main creative outlets. I immediately thought that perhaps I could create my own fabric. I went to the library and checked out books on the batik process.

Thus began my new career as a self-taught designer of textiles. I sewed the fabric into all sorts of fashions for women and men. I did not think of myself as an artist as I believed that I had no talent or training to qualify as one!

My first exploration into batik led me into more explorations. Due to a lack of funds, I invented some tools and techniques of my own. I used paint rollers, real fish, leaves, lace doilies, sponges, fabric markers, cut potato stamps, household bleach, sponge brushes, and found objects to print designs on fabric.

I exhibited my work in craft shows throughout the Southeast. In 1985, after extensive exploration and experimentation with fabric, I was juried into the prestigious Southern Highlands Craft Guild! In 1992, I moved to Asheville NC so that I could benefit from the stimulation of an area that was rich with craft heritage.

After my mother died of brain cancer in 1992, I had a strong urge to add photographic images to my work. I took a 2-month concentration in photography at Penland School in Penland, NC. I put a darkroom in my studio and worked with black and white photography. This culminated in a one-person show at Pack Place, Asheville's Art Museum, in 1997. I had been working as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels and I made photos and wrote stories about the people that I met on my weekly rounds. The show was titled," Meals on Wheels: A Volunteers View". This work is now on permanent display at the Asheville Meals on Wheels Office.

I used heat transfer paper to add photographs to my wearable art. Then as the century ended, I felt an urge to move away from wearables and to create visual art using my photographs on fabric. I took courses in basic quilting, Victorian quilting, and a class entitled," Outsider Art Quilts" taught by Susan Shie. The basic quilting class helped me get over the fear of quilting, the Victorian quilting class taught me embroidery and how to use irregular pieces of fabric, and the outsider quilt class gave me permission to move outside traditional quilting and into surfaces that could be termed excessive!

During this same year, I got my new computer, scanner and printer-the holy trinity-as I called them. I discovered the image editing software that came with this system. The first time that I scanned a photo and found the many ways that I could alter and combine it with other photos, I was hooked! I put my photography skills, my new quilting and embroidery skills, along with my new permission to be excessive, all together in the year 2000 to produce the textiles that I am now creating. The inspiration comes from the photographs that I make as well as from the altering and combining of these photos. The physical and more traditional work of piecing, stitching, beading, hand embroidery, quilting, appliqué, and embellishment connect me to the past. I feel that I am bridging the gap between the new digital technology and the older traditional handwork. And for the past quarter of a century, I have managed to bridge the gap between my perceived former "uncreative" schoolteacher self and the rich creative self that lay just beneath the surface. I gave myself permission to explore, to dream, to enjoy, to expand and to create.

See my work at these fine shops and galleries:

Allanstand Craft Shop- Folk Art Center, Asheville, NC

Tunnel Crafts, Tunnel Road, Asheville, NC

Piedmont Craftsmen, Inc. 601 Trade Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101
336-725-1516

Beet, Contemporary Crafts and Functional Art, 3202-A North Davidson
Charlotte, NC 28205, www.beetonline.com, 704.334.3558, Owner: Nancy Neely

The Design Gallery, 7 South Main Street, Burnsville, NC 28714
www.the-design-gallery.com, 828.678.9869, Owner: Wendy Reid