Thursday, January 20, 2011

Unlocking the Vault



Untitled - Ikat Dyed Wool
Handwoven by Terry Jarrard-Dimond


I remember a number of years ago when Disney began promoting the sales of older films by setting a date and saying that after that date the movies would go back into the vault. Well I'm doing the opposite, I'm unlocking the vault to share images of a range of types of work I have made. In most cases I only have pictures of the work and not the work itself. Many of the things I will be sharing with you in the coming year were sold or in some cases destroyed. (I'm a good self editor.)





Hand knotted cotton roving
MFA Thesis Exhibition - Clemson University


My undergraduate degree was a BA in Art and I waited 10 years before going back to school to work on an MFA. During the time between schools I had become very interested in weaving (like so many in the 1970s) and so weaving was the medium I was using when I began my advanced studies. My major professor, Mike Vatalaro, was a ceramist as there wasn't anyone at Clemson University to teach fibers. Due to that I put in many hours in the clay studio and I'll share some of that work another time. Mike was and is interested in clay as a material for sculpture and as I began to explore the world in 3-D with clay and it naturally flowed over into my fiber studio.





Hand knotted cotton roving
MFA Thesis Exhibition - Clemson University


I began by working with yarns, roving and cords which were tied and suspended to capture light or engage space in some specific manner. Later the fibers became wire and I will share some of those another day.

In my heart of hearts I prefer not to be limited to the title of "fiber artist" or quilter or etc. I like the simple concept of being an artist. Art can be made of any material that speaks to the artist and my love of materials and approaches can be seen in how I work and the materials I have used and hopefully will use in the future.




One artist who was fearless in the exploration of process and material was Eva Hesse and I could not resist including this photograph of myself in the Guggenheim Museum standing across the way from one of her fabulous works. Stay tuned. There will be more.


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