Sue hopper artist biography

Everybody has a talent. Even the kids themselves have wanted to give back to the camp with proceeds from their car-wash and lemonade-stand businesses. Sue talks faster as she describes to me every part of the camp that has fallen so perfectly into place, and I can tell she is lit up by it all. She is the epitome, I think, of not resisting what is in front of you to do—while not getting bogged down by the details.

I paint to accomplish the things that God puts on my heart. And it just keeps growing. So just step out. And here I thought I drove to Lockridge to interview a gal about her trade. Sue also tells me that for years, she and the area kids have put on plays in the theater space she built in front of her paint shop. Like the lightning rods, electric sparks, and eagles that stream across her motorcycle designs, this woman is seriously on fire.

Sue hopper artist biography

Meredith Siemsen Meredith, an Iowa native, was baffled when she earned her high school's writing award in It wasn't until twenty years later that she discovered she actually enjoyed wordcraft. One is a collection of photos I took of a rusty old fishing boat in Iceland way back in It has inspired several works, most recently Avast It was before digital cameras took off, so I only have a couple of images.

But they continue to provide inspiration. For me, they go hand in hand, and the print enhances the stitching. I usually work with any plain white medium-weight cotton, as long as it is per cent cotton and takes the dye. I also use synthetic fabrics such as voile and felt. I create thermofax screens like a silk screen from my images for printing.

I then use either a procion dye mixed with Manutex or a ready-mixed textile printing medium. Procion dyes take longer to prepare and fix, whereas ready-made textile printing mediums are immediate and can be heat set. Procion dye fully colours a cloth, while textile medium just sits on top of the fabric, making the handle much stiffer. I also use a discharge paste to remove dye, taking the fabric back to its original colour before printing.

I enjoy that element of surprise. Fabric manipulation plays a strong role in how I create my work. That includes using stitch, padding and quilting to distort a shape. I learned most of my techniques during my embroidery degree, but I explored using a heat gun on my own. My mum gifted me one, and I found it a great way to create holes and broken edges with synthetic fabrics.

I stitch on the fabric first and then use the heat gun to manipulate it further, as melted fabrics often become too hard to stitch. I wear a mask when using the heat gun, and I make sure the room is well ventilated to protect against nasty fumes. I had tried using a soldering iron in the past, but I struggled to completely clean the tip, so the unpleasant fumes from melted fabric would linger until the iron cooled down.

I also managed to burn myself, so I gave up on that tool. Embroidery is on my mind throughout my creative process. I look at the patterns and marks on my images and think about how they can be translated into computerised stitching or how I could use free-motion stitch. I prefer working with a sewing machine, particularly one that can drop the feed dogs for free-motion stitching.

I had to replace my old Bernina after 20 years of constant use, but I replaced it with a similar model the I still have my computerised Bernina E. My best free-motion embroidery tip is to bring the bottom thread up through the fabric before starting to stitch. Then take a couple of stitches, and snip off both threads. Leaving a long thread underneath leads to tangles and knots that can break a needle.

It also leaves a tidier back. I also suggest changing needles frequently, because a blunt needle can cause lots of problems. And use the best thread you can afford. Cheaper threads can be coarse and have tiny slubs that can cause more knotting that leads to thread and needle breakages. Lastly, always use a presser foot. I find the open darning foot works best.

As a child, I was constantly making things, and my parents encouraged me with endless supplies of paint and glue. My father was a skilled carpenter, and my grandfather was a painter. Although I never met my grandfather, I was fascinated by the marks and textures in the few oil paintings my father kept. My mother and grandmother were always knitting and sewing, so as a child, I was surrounded by fabric and suchlike.

I was 28 at the time, and as an older student, I loved every minute of it. I then went on to complete an MA in Textiles at the same university. My greatest challenge then and now is writing. They can also reveal our labor, our relationships, and possibly, our potential for a long and happy life. Bearing the fabric of traditional Korean clothing, and the marks of struggle, the hands in these paintings are colorful testaments to reunion celebrations.

But they are also spectacular displays of dramatic duplicity. Uneasy embraces across history and geography, they hint at the painful reality of unending separation, clutching at fleeting and bittersweet happiness. Other paintings feature fighting politicians, their faces comically contorted. Are their exaggerated expressions real?