Bobbe
Shapiro
Nolan
Juried Artist Member (JAM)
Location
Eagle Lake, TX
United States
Region
Artist Statement
I have always been surrounded by people and things that attested to the value of the handmade. Frequent moves taught me that friends might be temporary, but family was always solid. And the sewing machine was the first thing moved into the house.
In my adult life, I have explored the boundaries society imposes on freedom of action, particularly for women and the elderly, relating deeply to the stubborn, recalcitrant old people who refused or resisted “what was best for them.” At what point, I wondered, should a demand for conformity and safety overpower an individual’s need for eccentricity?
Today, my art seeks that limitless place for creation, where I make or alter or find; where handwork is important because it is evocative and engaging, where viewers can fly with me over imagined landscapes. Using stitch, color, and texture, I strive to capture power, mystery, enigma--forces far larger than myself. Everything is warped and bent. The edges move with the continental plates or the massive flood, the earthquake and tidal wave, the warming planet. There is always a next step, something over the hill.
In my adult life, I have explored the boundaries society imposes on freedom of action, particularly for women and the elderly, relating deeply to the stubborn, recalcitrant old people who refused or resisted “what was best for them.” At what point, I wondered, should a demand for conformity and safety overpower an individual’s need for eccentricity?
Today, my art seeks that limitless place for creation, where I make or alter or find; where handwork is important because it is evocative and engaging, where viewers can fly with me over imagined landscapes. Using stitch, color, and texture, I strive to capture power, mystery, enigma--forces far larger than myself. Everything is warped and bent. The edges move with the continental plates or the massive flood, the earthquake and tidal wave, the warming planet. There is always a next step, something over the hill.
