Authentic Obsessions

• Maura Ambrose - Holding Both Truths

  Priorities, patriotic quilts, procrastination, studio space evolution, and playing with the tension and finding the edge!Maura's journey began in 2011 when she followed her dream to merge gardening and quilting. Hailing from a family of quilters and tailors, Maura finds joy and meaning in connecting with her ancestors through her craft and preserving heritage techniques. A pioneer in hand-dyed fabrics and hand-stitched quilts, Maura has inspired an international movement by sharing her plant-based dyeing processes and using those colors in quilt making. Her brand, Folk Fibers, has become a sought-after choice for heirloom quilt collectors. At her home studio and garden sanctuary, Maura immerses herself in color, allowing the transformation from seed to plant, dye, and textile to inform her work. She shares her expertise by teaching workshops locally and abroad, emphasizing a balance of technique and play. Maura and her family live on a ten-acre woodland property near the lower Colorado River in Bastrop, TX. Embracing the seasons, Maura's connection to nature and authentic living continues to inspire her creative work.Takeaways:Once you sit down to work in this slow intentional process of hand sewing there’s a heartbeat, a quiet space, a discipline of being present and reflection, allowing the waters to clear.Artist dates are where creativity blooms.Quilts touch the deepest parts of people’s lives.There are many places in life where we have a need to control, but our art practice is a place where we can let go of that control.The work speaks for itself, it’s told to me in real time.Maura Ambrose Folk FibersMaura Ambrose on InstagramMaura Ambrose on FacebookAurora Silk natural dyes  

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• Lisa Solomon - Color

  Glue & adhesives, rules & parameters, loving the outcome without loving the process (this is where discipline comes in!), purposefully making things that others might not want, and knots all come up in today’s episode with Lisa Solomon.Lisa Solomon is a studio artist that moonlights as a college professor and illustrator/graphic designer. Profoundly interested in the idea of hybridization (sparked from her Hapa heritage), her mixed-media works and large installations revolve around domesticity, craft, and personal histories. She often fuses "wrong" things together--recontextualizing their original purposes and incorporating materials that question the line between ART and CRAFT. She resides in Oakland, California with her husband, a teenager, two kitties, a three legged pit-bull, a dachshund mutt and many, many spools of thread. She is the author of - A Field Guide To Color, The Color Meditation Deck, a historical book on Crayola crayons, Knot Thread Stitch, and the illustrator for 20 Ways to Draw a Chair and Draw 500 Everyday Things. TakeawaysWhen it comes to making art, consider using the word ‘parameters’ instead of ‘rules.’Art is a space where you investigate things.Discipline is integral to everything.It’s not about only making work when you are inspired, it’s about the ACT of making.You can contribute to Lisa’s Japan Chroma Exhibit by sending material before May 30, 2025 to: PO BOX 99534, Emeryville, CA 94662Lisa SolomonLisa Solomon on InstagramLisa Solomon on BlueskyLisa Solomon on PinterestLisa Solomon on AmazonArtists Take ActionThis to ThatWalter Maciel galleryTadao Ando architect

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• Michael McConnell - Falling Asleep

  Michael McConnell was born in Michigan, where he used to watch squirrels from the front window. He graduated from Columbus College of Art & Design, with an emphasis in lithography and painting, and landed in the Bay Area soon after, where he still lives. Making art is how Michael makes sense of the world and his forgotten childhood, creating visual narratives that examine the space between memory and nostalgia.During his conversation with Molly Meng, Michael talks about how falling in love with Joseph Cornell’s work allowed him to excavate his own language of “symbology.” He also reveals how the ropes and strings used in his work are about lineage and connection, symbolizing a narration thread.TakeawaysYou can figure out how you want to make something by learning how someone else makes something.Your personal life affects your artwork. If you’re feeling like you don’t have a voice, ask yourself what you want to say with your art. Are people listening?Slow down and let go of the expectation that you should crank the work out.Be careful what you start collecting!  Color becomes an environment for things and is about pushing something and taking it further.“Sometimes you just go into the studio and just sharpen pencils.” The Woodmans documentaryMichael McConnellMichael McConnell on InstagramMichael McConnell on BlueskyJoseph CornellCourtney CerrutiBrian McDonaldThe Woodmans documentary

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• Sarah Haskell - Loose Thread: Let It Be Dangling

  Let the loose thread be dangling! Born and raised in New England, Sarah Haskell has a BFA in Textile Design from RISD and a Masters of Art and Healing from Wisdom University.  As a seeker, maker and creative pathfinder her medium is most often thread, investigating the mystery of encoded fabrics and the hidden language of cloth.Sarah talks about the soothing nature of weaving, the importance of community involvement, how the natural world and its objects (rocks, shells, pinecones) speak to her, and making work that you yourself need to see. Sarah uses embroidery, weaving, and natural dyes to explore personal truth and universal wisdom. I love how she describes her obsession as taking separate objects and putting them together in an organized structure that other people can respond to. She creates a structure from things that are chaotic.Takeaways:A sketchbook is a repository for your dreams, thoughts and ideas - all of it, everything!Weaving is a full body process.Thread is elemental- almost like DNA.Approach everything with an awareness of all the things we can see and those that we cannot.Make the work you need.Find a way to raise up all the boats in the harbor.Take off the backpack of self-doubt and keep forging ahead.Sarah HaskellSarah Haskell on InstagramSarah Haskell on FacebookMolly Meng

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• Melissa Guido - Pushing A Boundary

  Melissa Guido is a multidisciplinary printmaker and illustrator whose work draws inspiration from fashion and costume design of the 1920’s. Melissa is currently living in Iceland for 9 months under a Student Fulbright Open/Study Research Grant where she is exploring Iceland’s sustainable textile practices and unique plant sources for natural dyeing. During our conversation Melissa talks about digital art, the magic of Iceland, the collaborative nature of printmaking and some surprising revelations about rulers and paper cutters. Her obsession with pushing boundaries is evident in her printing work –screen printing, letterpress, etching, lithography, and relief printing – as well as her current creative pursuits focused on traditional textile arts, natural dyeing, embroidery, weaving, and knitting.As the co-founder of Sourwood Press, a design and printing studio established with Brittany Emerson, Melissa leads a female-run business specializing in designing, producing, and selling products such as bandanas, stationery, and tote bags. Sourwood Press also collaborates with designers and businesses to create bespoke printed goods and products. TakeawaysWhat is the best possible way to make a piece shine?My skills were built over having lots of mistakes.Stay curious about tactile skills.Don’t ever wish your life away.Melissa GuidoMelissa Guido on InstagramSourwood Press on EtsyPeter Hristoff on InstagramChelsea CardinalLarry B WrightCharles YoderJillian Tamaki graphic novelistDafi Kühne on InstagramHamilton Wood Type MuseumPressing On: The Letterpress FilmNew York Collage EnsembleFulbright Student Fulbright Open/Study Research Grant

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