Featured Artist - April 2012  Shelley Brucar

Buffalo Grove, IL, USA
http://www.handmade-memories.com
[email protected]

Colors, textures and patterns on fabric fascinate and energize me.  I use cloth, dyes and thread as a painter uses canvas and paint.  Rather than purchasing commercial fabric, all of my work starts with white fabric which is dyed and/or painted by me, making every piece of cloth unique.  Each work is stitched for additional design and texture.  In recent years, my work has taken parallel paths, one incorporating layering of fabric to achieve desired design and texture, and the other focused on various methods of applying  paint to fabric to achieve a different balance of tactility and surface quality.  

In the next several years, I want to pursue both paths - further exploration of color and pattern through layering of my hand-dyed, painted and screened fabric, and application of paint and gel medium on fabric to the point of stiffening and shaping the fabric.

Art brings to life my spiritual connection with nature, the connection with something larger than myself as well as with my inner being, my core, the values by which I live.   The tranquility of the natural world is my inspiration.  I want to share this sense of serenity, to encourage the viewer to let go of life’s daily demands and step into the art.

click images for larger view
Venetian Reflections I 45" x 23", 2012	Venetian Reflections II 25" x 33", 2012	Endangered Reef 44"x 48", 2011