Michelle Bowers
I use natural fiber such as wool, alpaca, and angora as my media, transforming the raw fiber by hand dying and using a variety of felting and surface design techniques in my creative process. My style is expressive and impressionistic and centers on vivid colors and textures to create striking visual movement. My representational art is primarily landscapes and botanical images. I also creates stunning non-representational art in the process of exploring composition, medium, and color. www.michellebowersart.com 281-299-9049
I am an emerging fiber artist in the Katy/Houston Area. I began my artistic pursuits at an early age studying sketching, drawing, painting, and writing in a multitude of venues from academic courses to artist’s cooperatives. In recent years, I have transitioned from a casual painter and artist to a career artist. I think of my artwork as inner reflections of the outer natural world, full of color texture and experience.
My work reproduces familiar visual signs, arranging them into new conceptually layered pieces. This work has always been grounded in pleasure and aesthetics. Felting is my key to sharing this inner landscape with the world. Hand dying and wet felting started it. From the beginning, the process of transforming fiber into cloth has struck me as magical. And, over the years, that magical process has had its way with me, leading me from hobby to art.
Felting fills me with a sense of accomplishment and integrity, and has proven a most amenable vehicle for translating inner vision to outer reality. I felt from the inside out. Though I work quite deliberately, consciously employing both traditional and innovative techniques, my unconscious is the undisputed project manager. The organic nature of this work frees my imagination and provides many opportunities for happy accident and grace to influence the finished product.
Moving to Texas has opened new vistas that resonate deeply with my fiber work. Inspired and invigorated by a renewed sense of continuity, and awed by the mystery of how creation occurs, I am now exploring the many patterns, textures and colors of this new land.
