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Every Fiber of Her Being
Written By: Donna Rhodes | Issue: 2016/09 - September
Fiber work, particularly clothing and basketry, is one of the oldest mediums in the history of civilization.
In today’s technological age of manmade products, fiber work is far removed from the skilled hands that once wove and stitched it, so it’s delightful to discover a contemporary fiber artist like Zoe Scroggs, who relishes fiber’s beauty, symbolism, heritage, and artistic possibilities.
She says, “My mother, her sisters, and their mother all did some form of handwork: cross stitch, needlepoint, tatting, embroidery. Growing up I was immersed in brightly colored threads, yarns, fibers, and fabrics. It was absorbed into my psyche.”
Her dad’s mother loved quilting. After her passing quilting took on a reverence at a moment of epiphany.
“I was in a shop looking for buttons. They didn’t have any. But they had something else…a quilting book of striking landscape scenes,” she says.
She describes it as one of those giant invisible arrows we sometimes perceive in our lives that point us straight to our joy.
She bought the book, went home, and began making tiny landscaped pillows. That launched a multitude of new ideas. Her painting and drawing experience at Western Carolina University and Eastern Carolina University encouraged experimentation with fabric painting.
She says, “While I loved painting on canvas, the process became too much of the same. With fiber art I could paint, cut, stitch, embellish, draw, manipulate, and more.”
You can see her delightful work at zoescroggs.com. Her nature-inspired wall pieces, pillows, and more can be found at several galleries throughout the Southeast, but you can also view them, meet her in person, and attend a short lecture, Q&A and exhibition at Smitten’s Third Thursday, September 15, from 5:30 P.M. until close, at 468 Main Street, in Highlands. Call (828) 342-9220 for more information or email [email protected]. Smitten is open seven days, Monday through Thursday 11:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Friday and Saturday 11:00 A.M. until ?, Sunday 1:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M.
