TWELVE VOICES FROM ONE: Edie Brown

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Edie Brown

What Do We Touch?

The Samdokai (The Harmony of Difference and Equality), a poem by the eighth-century Zen master Sekito Kisen, explores the concept of “branching streams that flow in the darkness” and an urging for those who study the mystery to not waste time.

Through direct experience, questions arise such as “what do we touch and what touches us?” When inquiry and response arise together, what do we open to and what opens us? Somewhere, beneath the surface, an intermingling of experiences occurs; causes and conditions lead up to this moment in time and space. Past, present and future are not separate, nor is the process linear.

Mining the unconscious involves identifying patterns and habits, searching for something that cannot be named, and finding along the way timelessness, transparency and impermanence. The process of making becomes an archeological dig; the exploration of entangled and transparent layers. We have an opportunity to gain an intimate understanding of what is most important. Don’t waste time.

Biography

Edie Brown has worked with dyeing and surface design since 1996. She first exhibited her work in 2003 and was included in the Surface Design Association Review 2007. Brown is also a registered nurse with a Master’s Degree in Public Health. As “branching streams flow in the darkness”, she continues to explore the intersections of working in healthcare systems, practicing Zen, and speaking in cloth. Compelled to go deeper and be challenged further, her journey continues in the effort to discover visual language for invisible concepts and to think spatially as well as spaciously about fiber.

ediebrownmum667@yahoo.com

1 comment:

AnonymousDecember 28, 2011 at 10:04 PM
Hi I think Barry and I met you in Kansas City or another surface design workshop. Enjoyed seeing your work. We still work in cloth but not as much as you do. We were the anesthetist and RN couple if you remember. Got a third place in the Des Moines quilt show with "The Zen Chicken or can you find the Egyptian Rabbit with sunglasses?" Linda Spreen
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

THE MASTERY PROGRAM

This exhibition represents nearly three years of intense and dedicated study on the part of the participants. The Mastery Program 2009, in which they were enrolled, required five week long sessions in the San Antonio studio, in addition to demanding assignments which were addressed during the interim periods.

Artists interested in surface design processes are at a disadvantage in this country. Most opportunities for study require either enrollment on site at a university or college, or are offered as week-long workshops through adult education summer programming. The inability to relocate to a program venue inhibits artistic mastery, as does the limited experience of a week’s class without a systematic follow-up.

The Mastery Program was developed to address this reality. The selected participants study surface design techniques on cloth, and also color, design and the articulation of a personal visual language. Each artist is required to develop a research project related to the dyes, chemicals or paints used as part of the patterning palette. Assembled together, these projects will eventually become a catalogue of research to contribute to the surface design field at large.

Professional behavior is also a topic of discourse. Artists prepared a resume, visual documentation, an artist’s statement and a biography as part of the requirement for completion of the program.

This exhibition is a sampling of the finest work being presented by serious students of surface design today. I expect each of these artists will continue to generate studio work for exhibition after the program is completed. A few may choose to extend their circle of influence by teaching. Others may decide to write a book or produce some other lasting contribution to the field. The future is rich with possibility. It has been my great pleasure to accompany them on this exciting path. I congratulate each on the efforts of the past two and a half years.

Jane Dunnewold