ART CLOTH MASTERY PROGRAM 2014: TEN VOICES FROM ONE: Mindy Fitterman

BIOGRAPHY

Mindy Fitterman has been playing with color, paper and textiles since forever. In college, she earned a degree in Textiles and Clothing (Colorado State University, Bachelor of Arts, 1973), and much later served as a docent at the New England Quilt Museum (Lowell MA, 2009-2012). She is a graduate of the Jane Dunnewold Studio Art Cloth Mastery Program (2014-2016).

Fitterman has exhibited at the New Hampshire Institute of Art (1999), Vermont Quilt Festival (2008), Kimball Jenkins Estate (Concord NH, 2010), and On and Off Fredericksburg Road Studio Tour (San Antonio, 2016). Her virtual quilt, Out on a Limb, is in 500 Art Quilts: An Inspiring Collection of Contemporary Work (2010). One of her essays appears in Creative Strength Training (Jane Dunnewold, 2016). Fitterman’s artworks are held in private collections in the United States and Europe.

At the 2016 Houston International Quilt Festival, Fitterman exhibited 3 works as part of the special exhibit TEN VOICES FROM ONE: Work by the Art Cloth Mastery Program 2014, curated by Jane Dunnewold (November 2016).

ARTIST STATEMENT

The centuries-old form of the Tibetan Buddhist thangka gives shape to this series, a contemplation of beauty, decay and spirit. With their graceful cloth covers draped at the top, thangkas convey reverence, majesty, and mystery. It’s easy to understand why they have been used all these years for monastic student instruction and personal meditation focus.

In traditional thangkas the central image is a Buddhist deity, a scene or mandala created with paint, embroidery or appliqué. For this series I designed custom-printed fabrics using my peony photographs and pentagon designs.

Peonies convey both time and timelessness with their beautiful transition from a tightly-packed bud to a lavish display and finally a seedpod. Pentagons, sheer fabrics, and contrasting threads are my symbols for these and other transformations, whether botanical, chemical or spiritual. To make cloth pentagons I use English paper piecing, a traditional hand-sewn patchwork method that involves wrapping fabric over paper shapes.

Some traditional thangkas include a rectangle of contrasting cloth below the central image. This “door” is where one enters the world of the deity. The window screening on my doors is a reminder of the difference between looking outside and being outside.

CONTACT INFORMATION

E-mail: mindy@mindyfitterman.com

Website: www.mindyfitterman.com

WORK

EXHIBITED

NOVEMBER 3-6, 2016

HOUSTON INTERNATIONAL

QUILT FESTIVAL