Katy Widger
'The First Half: An Exploration in Fiber Art'
Now living in Edgewood, Katy was raised in Corrales village,
north of Albuquerque. She was a fine arts major at San Juan College focusing on
the study of color theory and design. Through her mastery of dyeing techniques,
she has exciting color and textures of fabrics to incorporate into her
artwork. Katy is the author of The New Color Wheel Fabric Dyeing
and Print Your Own Fabric. Currently, she is studying oil painting
on canvas.
See more of her work at www.katywidger.com
The Featured Artist Booth--2007 Fiesta
'Sand Tracks'. 24" h x 60"w . Mixed Media Fiber. Best
of Show Fiber Celebrated 2001 Nora
Eccles Harrison Museum of Art Salt Lake City, UT.
'Sand Tracks'.
Detail.
Katy's statement about her fiber art:
"My fiber work deals primarily with shapes formed by
light and shadow, and texture inherent in earth, water and sky. I use
fabric and dye to achieve my palette, coloring fine cottons and silks using
surface design techniques from direct painting to printing, stamping, arashi
shibori and discharge to construct my paintings in fabric.
When pursuing an idea, my working process is collage: gluing,
layering and juxtaposing shapes, colors, textures. Once the layered surface is
complete it is bonded to a backing fabric, with thin cotton batting sandwiched
in between. The final step of binding the three layers together with
machine stitching adds linear design, dimension and subtle surface enrichment.
The source of my images is the power and majesty evident in
the landscape, the cosmos, the dance of life around us, and my response of awe
and gratitude. My creative process is a private conversation, immersed in
serendipity that transforms dye, paint, fabric and thread into lyrical images of
color, texture and form."
"Living Water". 46" x 36". Surface
design:
"Cole Slaw". 24" x24"
Dye, paint, print, shibori. Cotton, silk: fused,
appliquéd, machine quilted.
Katy Widger was nominated to be the 2007 Featured Artist by
the New Mexico Quilters' Association, Inc.
Why we have a Featured Artist
An exhibit of work by one individual offsets the group
shows on display elsewhere in the exhibit hall. Technical mastery,
sustained production of work, evolution of themes or color explorations are what
distinguish professional work from the amateur in all types of art.
Candidates for the Featured Artist are proposed by the guilds and the person
selected is given a booth for a solo exhibit during the Fiesta and is publicized
in the Fiesta press releases and advertisements as well as in featured articles
in local journals.
The Fiber Arts Fiesta has been fortunate to have had Featured
Artists who have that special passion about fiber art--Annrae Roberts, surface
designer, in 1999; Helenn Rumpel, fine art embroidery, in 2001; Mary Colton,
tapestry weaver, in 2003; and in 2005, Valentina Devine, knit and dye artist.
