susiemonday.art.ideas

Artist, maker, teacher, author, head cook and bottlewasher.

The art I make is the result of a life-long love of pattern, texture and color. How I teach is a skill honed by experience (I started teaching creative arts to younger kids when I was 12). After earning a B.A. in Studio Arts from Trinity University, I helped lead an internationally recognized educational foundation, designed curriculum exhibits for schools and other institutions, wrote and edited for a major daily newspaper, opened the San Antonio Children's Museum and then, a dozen years ago, took the scary but essential (for me) leap to become a fulltime artist and art teacher.

This gallery shows a collection of some of  my textile paintings peopled with the mysterious beings who join me in the studio. Most of the figures are actual tracings of my own body -- it's not an exaggeration to say that I put myself in my work. 

Sirena means mermaid in Spanish, and, in my art, she is a stand in for that part of me who is spinning stories to seduce, to enchant, to entertain.

I am fascinated with letter forms, language and found words and signs. I am using text in my work in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, with a variety of surface design techniques, including stamping, screen-printing, direct digital printing, fused collage, sun prints and hand lettering. I teach these techniques in my online and in person workshops. I also love to experiment with text designs using my iPad apps.  If you are interested in any of these approaches, send me a message through the contact page and I will add you to my notification list for upcoming workshops and courses.

Art cloth starts as white fabric -- in my case, I often use recycled worn table linens, cotton sheets and other "repurposed" cloth. I alter the surface with batik, dye, stamps, stencils and screen printed designs. Most of my art cloth goes into my textile paintings, but some of it is available as unique yardage for sale to use in your projects or to hang as banner-like art in a room.

I'm a bit of a techie gearhead. Love those apps. I am working with iPad generated images for thermofax screens, quilt designs, digitally-printed fabrics and papers and other uses in my textile paintings. If you'd like to learn how to make your own, watch for my iPad for Fiber Artists workshops.