By Lydia Statz
March 8, 2013
ThirdCoast Digest
When Harmonie Baker organized the first Warped Milwaukee exhibition, an art show featuring works of fiber art, she knew there were plenty of talented artists out there. She just had to find them.
“I think I spent like a month just begging people to submit to it and searching for fiber artists,” she says. “It’s like they were all hiding under rocks.”
That was three years ago and pretty much sums up why Warped Milwaukee began. If Baker, a fiber artist herself, couldn’t find other artists, how was the public supposed to know they were there?
Working with fiber is a largely solitary practice. Unlike more traditional media, there are no organizations to join, no social scene and until recently, no dedicated gallery space or shows. And yet, fiber artists are woven into this city once you start looking. Last year’s Pfister Hotel’s artist-in-residence was Timothy Westbrook, a fiber artist from New York. Throughout the Milwaukee Public School system, fiber artists use their craft to teach confidence and creativity to at-risk youth. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee offers a bachelor of fine arts degree in fibers.
Read the full story at ThirdCoast Digest.
