Surface Design on Silk

with Sherry Searcy

Saturday, March 10

9:30 AM - 12:30 PM

$55

Workshop Description

Experiment with markers, stamping, stenciling, and using dye pastels and spectra text tissue to design cloth pieces. Complete your own unique silk scarf in this half day workshop!

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

My work is abstract in nature and an emotional expression of experiences, places and things that move or inspire me. Although my formal training was in business rather than art, I took an oil painting class as an elective my junior year in college and fell in love with creating art. My chance meeting with French artist Simon Dumont introduced me to painting on silk with tinfix dye and my fascination with this form of creating art continues to fascinate me today.

I work on cloth, primarily with a variety of fiber reactive dyes, fabric paints and alcohol inks. Silk reacts well with many of traditional and experimental watercolor techniques; and I love the sheen silk habatoi which shows through the day and the way dyes flows on wet silk. Although I can guide the process, the result is a natural development of the process itself. Collage allows me to add additional elements with surface design and embellishment. 

My current work explores incorporating more textural elements in my surface design. The challenge is allowing the natural flow and sheen of the original fabric to show through the layers of design and texture. My current body of work is a form of abstract naturalism based on small elements of nature often overlooked.