Mud, Twine & Sticks

Elizabeth Marcais

I have a B.A. in Art with an emphasis in Graphic Design and Ceramics. I began my career selling pottery at festivals and teaching pottery at local studios. This gave me an appreciation for thinking about the form of an object and its function. I also taught 18 years in the public school system as an art teacher, before transitioning to being a full-time natural dye artist. As an educator, I always wanted to expose my students to a large variety of art forms and techniques. This willingness to try new things for my students also gave me the opportunity to learn a variety of different techniques that I now use in my art. For my work, I am inspired by the ancient tradition of Shibori, which is the Japanese word for the binding and folding of cloth, before dyeing. I use many different traditional as well as some of my own to create unique layered patterns and or landscape imagery. Found objects are one of my favorite things to utilize in my work, by clamping or binding them to the fabric to create a resist. I use