I grew up in Sacramento CA. I attended San Jose State and Sacramento State where I earned a BA in Education in 1965. A year after graduation my husband was facing the draft so he decide to join the Army and attend Officers School at Ft. Belvoir just outside of DC. I taught the 66-67 school year in Fairfax VA. Besides field trips to the DC museums, I spent many weekends exploring the amazing museums and art galleries of the DC area.
Upon completion of Officers School my husband was stationed in Heidelberg Germany. I got a teaching position in the defense school, Heidelberg #2. We spent many weekends and vacations visiting historic places and museums in Germany, France and Spain. On completion of my husband’s service, he took a European discharge and we spent the next 6 months traveling around Europe, North Africa and across the Bosporus into Turkey. While in Istanbul we visited the Blue Mosque. I was taken by the rich carpets which covered the walls and floor of the Mosque. There were hundreds of people praying but the sound was muted by the thick wool carpets. That vision stuck with me and after we return to Sacramento at the end of 1969 I experimented with ways to “paint” with wool. I finally found that making tapestries with the “tufted” wool technique gave me the result I was looking for. But by then we were off again, this time to Anchorage Alaska!
We arrived in Anchorage in October of 1972. In May of 1973 I had my first show of my tapestries. Thus began a 25 plus year career as a tapestry artist. I was fortunate to have my work selected for Public Spaces, corporate and private collections through Alaska and beyond.
During college I took an art class alongside my regular required classes each semester. Jewelry, ceramics, printmaking, etc. were some of the media I explored. After moving to Anchorage I continued to take art classes at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Besides ceramics and printmaking I also took photography. I thought I should learn more of the “technical” side of my camera. The semester also delved into alternative processes. Of course, that fascinated me as I learned about cyanotype and the fact that I could print on fabric. By this time our children had headed off to college and my husband and I were free to travel. I started winding down my career as a tapestry artist as it was not very transportable. A camera was all I needed to capture images on my travels. I started experimenting with different ways to show my photos to tell a story. I made a garment using cyanotype images on cotton. I enter a juried show with the piece and won an award, but I also had people wanting me to make garments for them. So again, I changed directions and became a wearable artist. Besides taking photos when I traveled I started finding amazing fabrics and silks that I could use to create my one of a kind art garments.
Contact me at cstrandartist@hotmail.com