Light Waves of Color

Color, bold and bright or soft and subtle, excites me the most. Seeing color dye charts and paints never ceases to inspire me to create.

I began designing art-to-wear as an outlet for this creativity. With a degree in Fine Arts from Beloit College (Class of '76) in Wisconsin, designing my own garments is a way to incorporate my love of fiber with my art background.

I learned how to handknit at an early age from my mother and a close family friend. I was an avid knitter of other people's patterns until a fellow artist suggested that since I would work into the wee hours on a sweater and let my paintings sit undone for months, I might want to put my own art ideas into my knits; thereby fulfilling my creative urges with my knitting obsession.

I studied pattern writing and machine knitting at the Textile Arts Center in Chicago from 1985-1988. I continued my training working independently for five years (1989-1994) as a pattern writer/designer and sample maker for other Bay Area sweater manufacturers. I now market my own line, Younger Knits, through high quality crafts fairs, galleries and clothing stores nationwide.

My unique signature of blended color developed when I moved to California in 1988. I was drawn to the exquisite and ever-changing West Coast sunsets as a source of inspiration. I shot rolls and rolls of film, trying to capture the moment to moment changes in the sky.

My early work featured a gradient dying technique I developed which allowed me to create the subtle transitions of color found in the evening sky. I used a computer paint program to layout the pattern and color variations in the garment. I’d then knit panels of raw silk; two for each patterned area which were painted with two contrasting gradients, unraveled and then re-knit together in fair-isle patterns to create the finished look I desired.

The combination of hand-dying and re-knitting processes allowed for subtle surprises in the finished product, as I never knew ultimately which color would lie next to another. This allowed for unpredictable combinations of color that bounced or blended through the garment; guaranteeing that each garment was unique, as is each sunset.

My latest creations play with shifting color in pure form, using rayon hand-painted with ombred hues of color. After years of working with color in a geometric context dictated by the use of fair-isle stitch patterns, my newest explorations no longer are confined to the boundaries of the individual stitch. I am painting, freehand on the sweater bold brushstrokes of bleach to remove color and create a personal calligraphy, juxtaposed with color gradations of rich and jubilant hues. The freeing of my painting style has created an exciting new direction bringing me full circle to my art training in a textile context. The garment becomes less and less about the knit and more a canvas for my painting. The rich interplay of color, light and form in fiber endlessly engages me.

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