ABOUT

Fiber is an equalizing material, touching nearly every facet of our lives. Every piece of clothing, upholstery, house linens, quilts, crocheted scarf, sewn button hold the potential of connecting us through time and space. Fiber at its essence is a long mutable line, knotted, looped, woven in place; a line drawing in space that we are invited to touch, use, mend, and cherish. 

I came to fiber through my mother. Her, through her mother, sisters, and grandmothers. My work continues their maternal creativity and extends into a new generation of shared creative lineage. These works call on the recent history of commercial surface design, reaching back to the turn of the 20th century feed sack fabrics. Cloth feed sacks were printed with flowery patterns that could be repurposed into quilts and clothing. The visual language born in those feed sacks can be seen in contemporary quilting fabric surface design. 

The patterns in these pieces all come from two swatches of 1970s quilting cotton from my mom. The pattern elements have been broken down and reconfigured into new variations and colorways. A new generation. The new patterns are recreated in tufted textiles hailing to the care and comfort of a familial space. 

Alisha earned her BFA in Sculpture and Print Media and MA in Studio Art at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. While attending IUP she completed a study abroad program at Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb (ALU). Alisha completed her Master of Fine Arts at Stony Brook University where she held the Maurice M Goldberger Fellowship and was awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant. Alisha has participated in residency programs through the Vermont Studio Center and the Arrowmont School for the Arts and Crafts Pentaculum. She has also led drawing and embroidery workshops at Bloomsburg University, and East China Normal School, Shanghai. 

Recent exhibitions include, (Un)Common Thread (2023) Art & History Museums of Maitland, Maitland, FL, Vivid Visions(2023), Art150 Jersey City, NJ, Re/Structure (2022) CANO Oneonta, NY, New Directions in Fiber Art (2019) Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, Art 31: Fiber (2018) Art and History Museums of Maitland, Maitland FL, Out of the Seam (2016) Haas Gallery, Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, PA, Empire of Dirt (2015) Paul Robeson Galleries, Newark, NJ, Resilience (2014) Eastern China Normal University, Shanghai China, Of the Land (2013) Woman Made Gallery, Chicago IL She has also shown internationally in Croatia and China.

 

Video courtesy:
Gateway Project Spaces
Credit Media
Luis de Sousa

Music:
Washed Out – Entrance