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TAC Talk | Fiber Arts Roundtable

  • Blowing Rock Art & History Museum 159 Ginny Stevens Lane Blowing Rock United States (map)

BRAHM is excited to host a roundtable with four North Carolina fiber artists, Vicki Essig, Bethanne Knudson, Leslie Pearson, and Susan Sharpe. Their combined work evokes the possibility of the range of expression one medium can hold, drawing inspiration from classic forms, nature and the edges of imagination. The panel members will share insight into their creative process and influences through a series of questions prepared by the exhibit curators. There will be time for audience questions as well.

This roundtable discussion is held in conjunction with BRAHM’s exhibit Southern Strands: North Carolina Fiber Art, which features fiber artists from North Carolina and runs from May 25 – October 27. Southern Strands: North Carolina Fiber Art is made possible by a grant from the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership.

Tickets are free for members and $5 for non-members.

About the Speakers

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Vicki Essig

Living in the mountains has taught me to be in wonder of nature and her artistic hand. On my daily hikes my pockets gradually fill with artifacts and curiosities that I find along my path. These small treasures that are often overlooked are archived into my fine handwoven cloth where they are suspended in quietude. Many compositions incorporate nearly two-hundred-year-old manuscripts and
texts. The fragments of this rag paper, with barely detectable messages, are hand woven into the silk cloth producing an intricate structure that weaves the past with the present. In viewing my work, my hope is that, for at least a moment, you become lost in the discovery of the minute, the quiet of repetition, and the beauty of nature and pattern.


Bethanne Knudson

Bethanne completed her BFA in Fiber at the Kansas City Art Institute and earned an MFA in Textiles from the University of Kansas. From 1987-1996, Bethanne taught weaving, printing and dyeing, along with two-dimensional design and drawing in the college and university setting.

Bethanne Knudson photo cred Matt Rose.jpg

In 1997 Bethanne became the Director of Training and Technical Support for JacqCAD MASTER®, software that is used to design Jacquard woven textiles for the industry. This meant traveling to Jacquard mills, to train and troubleshoot, working in design studios, as well as in weave rooms.

In 2000, Bethanne founded The Jacquard Center, a training retreat for Jacquard Studies. From 2000 to 2012, the Jacquard Center provided access to weaving on Jacquard-controlled industrial power looms. This brought designers and artists from throughout North America and Europe to work and study at The Jacquard Center.

In 2004 Bethanne began working with Stephan Michelson on building their own textile mill. The result is The Oriole Mill, housed in a 72,000 square-foot, brick building, built in the 1940's. The mill owns industrial Jacquard and dobby weaving machines. The Oriole Mill produces its own line of high-end, exquisite fabrics and finished products for the home and the body. Bethanne is currently the Creative Director for The Oriole Mill, designing Jacquard fabrics and directing product development. She continues her personal art practice, making Jacquard woven wall pieces, using the woven image as an underpainting for lake pigments and ground earth ochres.


Leslie Pearson

Leslie Pearson is a multimedia artist who utilizes many fiber based materials, processes and techniques to create sculptures, installations, encaustic paintings, and handmade books in which she explores themes of memory and identity. She pursues art as a studio artist, community arts advocate and educator. In 1998, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from Southeast Missouri State University and was heavily involved in community arts programming as the Assistant Director of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri and co-curator of Gallery 100 and the Lorimier Gallery in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In 2000, she earned a Master’s degree in Museum Studies at Newcastle University in England and completed an internship at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland, UK.

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In 2011, she earned an MFA in Textile Design at East Carolina University’s School of Art and Design in Greenville, North Carolina. She has taught at various colleges and Universities and currently serves on the Board of Trustees at the Arts Council of Fayetteville, and on the Board of Directors for the Surface Design Association. Pearson exhibits her work nationally and internationally.

Pearson’s work is an investigation into memory, identity, and the transformative value of communication. She creates pieces in response to new challenges, environments and relationships.

“I'm drawn to things that have layers of history. Be it handwritten letters, journals, old books, rusty metal, postage stamps, buttons, teeth, animal bones, or bits of fabric; my studio is filled with objects I've collected or unearthed. I'm a scavenger for the lost or forgotten things that have interesting textures, colors, and surfaces. I like to imagine the stories that these treasures hold. I'm inspired by organic forms found within the natural world such as pods, seeds, nests, eggs, and shells - mostly for the metaphor they hold as keepers, protectors, and incubators.” - Leslie Pearson


Susan Sharpe

Susan Sharpe  - Me & 3 Scout Robots.jpeg

Susan Sharpe is an artist and art educator living in the Boone, NC area since 1970, when she first attended Appalachian State University. She grew up in Burlington, NC, in a large farming family of ten children, and prefers to live and create her art in the mountains of western North Carolina. Sharpe has been exhibiting her works in fiber and fabric since 1979 in regional and national competitions and has won numerous awards. Rich in color and texture, her works range in style from realistic to abstract, and feature painted, printed, & dyed fiber and fabric media and a variety of construction processes including quilting, felting, weaving, and papermaking.

Sharpe earned graduate degrees from Appalachian State University and East Tennessee State University, and studied various fiber techniques at Penland School. As an art educator for forty years, she taught in a variety of settings and with students of all ages until her recent retirement. Sharpe now offers workshops in drawing, design, paper making, natural dyeing, screen printing and long arm quilting at her Redwing Studio in Vilas.


Thursday Art and Culture (TAC) Talks bring collegiate level lectures to your museum. Featuring scholars from around the country, the lectures are selected to provide supplemental information on our current exhibits, or highlight the history and heritage of the mountains.

Beginning at 6 pm these events have an hour long lecture with audience question and answer session at the end. Unless otherwise posted, all TAC talks are free for members and $5 for non-members.

Thursday Art and Culture (TAC) Talks bring collegiate level lectures to your museum. Featuring scholars from around the country, the lectures are selected to provide supplemental information on our current exhibits, or highlight the history and heritage of the mountains.

Beginning at 6 pm these events have an hour-long lecture with an audience question and answer session at the end. Unless otherwise posted, all TAC talks are free for members and $5 for non-members.

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July 9

The Maker's Table: Tartan and Beyond