Born to two prolific textile artists, silk, color, and clothing have always been central to my everyday life of play and personal expression. As the final apprentice to Hiroko Harada, a master of indigo and shibori, I dove deep into the technical skills and specialized techniques of shibori. Dedicated to continuing this tradition and making it relevant to my artistic expression in the present, I explore color relationships and manipulate texture to create wearable pieces of art intended to evolve and come to life with their wearer. In addition to shibori, silk-painting unleashed even more dynamic possibilities in my textile design. My hand-painted raw silk clothing is inspired by the Japanese design concept of “whole-cloth”, designed for organic movement and prompting playfulness in its wearer.

Biography

I am a second-generation textile artist raised in Elkins, WV. I currently make my home and studio in the West Virginia mountain community of Thomas. There, I am an artist collaborator in the Lamplight Art Gallery. I specialize in wearable art using shibori, a traditional Japanese dye technique, as well as hand-painting on raw silk. I studied as a Fulbright Scholar at Osaka University of the Arts and apprenticed under Hiroko Harada, a master of all natural indigo and shibori. I am a juried Tamarack artist and a member of the Tamarack Foundation’s Rural to Urban Markets program. Since exploring the wholesale market with the support of the Foundation, I have supplied 29 different stockists around the country including the Baltimore Museum of Art and The National Gallery of art in Washington, D.C.

Other Creative Skills

Textile Design & Artistry