Susan E. Picinich, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication, has been working hard on her loom this spring. As a member of the Weavers Guild of Greater Baltimore, Dean Picinich will have pieces in the Anniversary show this summer.
My fiber art will be on display in the Weavers Guild of Greater Baltimore 70th Anniversary Show from July 5 to August 31, 2019. There is an opening reception on July 11 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. with demonstrations of weaving and spinning. The show is at the Baltimore County Arts Guild, 1101 Maiden Choice Lane in Baltimore 21229 www.bcartsguild.org
As a costume designer, the fiber arts have always been part of my world through sewing, dyeing, surface embellishment, and clothing related crafts. In graduate school at the University of Michigan I took Weaving and Fabric Design with Sherri Smith. I continued learning to weave as a new Assistant Professor at Western Illinois University with Art Professor Jo Sanders. But my fiber work took a backseat as my academic and free-lance design work intensified. Now I am working as an artist again, anticipating my new faculty role. In the past year I joined the weaver’s guild, took workshops, and made Shadow Weave towels to enter in the 70th Anniversary Challenge Heirlooms category. Now that I’m back in the swing of weaving, my next project is a series of sculptural bodices or corsets representing female archetypes. The pieces will be woven of rags and shaped on the loom using the pulled-warp process.