Artist's Profile
About Pam
|
| I
can’t remember when fiber and fabrics where not a part of my
life. My mom taught us to sew at an early age and I grew up
on a farm with sheep and a spinning wheel on the hearth. Not that
anyone in my family knew how to spin , but my mother had a flare for
fashion, fabric and making stylish things. My dad taught me how things
worked so fixing that spinning wheel and adjusting my first old
loom where enjoyable challenges. In Jr. High I remember taking an
aptitude test. Mine said I should be either scientist or an architect.
I loved art and design classes in high school and that was where I saw
my first loom. A few years later began taking classes in
spinning, weaving and dyeing through the Phila. Guild of
Handweavers. That experience opened the door to a lifetime of
exploration of fiber arts and I am still not bored! Being a painter at heart, I respect the technical part of weaving but use dyeing to provide spontaneity to my craft. I hand-dye most of my warps. Being a spinner in spirit, I dye and sell natural fiber yarns and support US mills and those small farms that now spin their own fibers. Being a weaver in my head , I enjoy imagining the structure of my next project, drafting the design and making calculations before I approach my loom. When I finally weave, the rhythm of the beater and lifting of threads is my meditation, I count the same numbers over and over again. The power from my body, structure in my head , materials from my hands and color from my heart all come together to build order from chaos, fabric from miles of yarns, a sense a joy from hard work. I see now how my affinity for science and architecture come together in the making of cloth. I maintain a studio at Sherman Mills in Philadelphia where I produce limited edition scarves, shawls and blankets. I specialize in hand dyed yarns and multi-harness loom structures to create fabrics that are not only functional but also show a sense of movement through structure and color. I focus on the idea of the “wrap”- lengths of cloth that are draped or wound around our bodies to provide a sense of warmth and security. Each piece is personal, marking a place and time. My background includes studies in fiber at Penland School of Crafts, Phila College of Art and a BS in Textile Design from Phila College of Textiles and Science where I also taught Weave Design Studio between 1995- 2001. Since then, I’ve taught the fall 2003 fiber concentration at Penland School of Crafts, Advanced weaves at UArts and a design and structure series at Woven Fiber Art House and Crafts for Living Gallery. I am also a regular teacher at the Phila. Guild of Handweavers. I conduct studio classes in weaving , dyeing and design as well as teach workshops for conferences and guilds. This new adventure of moving to the Mills to work among other artist and provide yarns ,weaving and spinning supplies to area fiber artists is a dream come true. I hope you will visit and help keep the fine tradition of fiber arts alive. |