A Little History....

A little history......

A year after receiving my BFA from Clemson University in 1993, I began working as a textile designer. I started designing fabric for RV's and later the decor industry. While attending market shows for the decor industry(pillows, throws, etc.), I found a lack of African American designs. So I turned to some of my college works for inspiration. In college I worked with oils and large canvases, so I knew I would have to reduce my size and work with another medium besides oils. Keeping the same mask-like features I started producing my artwork in prismacolors (color pencil) on paper.

One of the most challenging things in working with color pencil is layering the colors so the white of the paper does not show through. I went through a lot of color pencils, not to mention my poor little fingers. Anyway, I had a couple of companies interested - but none saw the same vision I was seeing. No one felt there was a big enough market for African American tapestries. So, the only thing left was for me to get the product out myself. I produced a couple of pillows and wallhangings but had trouble with marketing. This is were The Rug Barn comes in and the rest is history.

Although, the white of the paper showing through was never a problem in rendering my artwork into fabric, I now work in watercolor and color pencil so I can get better paper coverage.

"Joyful Noise" was intended for fabric, but we later decided not to for various reasons. I really like the image and I have receive positive response to the piece. So, I decide to reproduce the piece as an print instead. The original image is rendered in color pencil on paper and also has paper collage. The signature is different from the signature on the fabric pieces because the fabric signature is a digital image. The signature is edited and enlarged so it is readable on fabric. So, rest assure the signature on the print is my own.