The sewing machine has become my brush, pen or pencil; hundreds of colors of thread have become paint for images I compose now on various backgrounds.
With a background in fine art, my artistic life began with painting and drawing. Beginning with oil and later using acrylics I turned from realism to abstraction. When I discovered fabric and thread as another medium, a new textural world opened. My work may now combine realism or abstraction or even surrealism.
I want my artwork to give the viewer a surprise, an out-of-context image, or a viewpoint with an odd juxtaposition.
While working on one piece another idea often emerges. It is this constant flow that stimulates my work to seek new themes or create a new series. The unusual or commonplace materials and techniques I use, the focus required by the slow working process of this art, and the infinite available subjects, keeps my work ever-changing, challenging, and unpredictable.
As Jacob Lawrence once said, “All artists are constantly looking for something, and they don’t always know what.”
B.J. Adams
Having studied mathematics and fine art as dual subjects and due to her many moves as a child (as a Navy Jr) and traveling many countries as an adult, and now at home in Washington DC she finds inspiration everywhere. One of the greatest influences on her work was viewing an exhibit many years ago of contemporary textiles. Now at her home studio she spends many hours drawing and painting with the sewing machine.
B. J. Adams work has been shown in many International art exhibits including The 9thth International Triennale of Tapestry in Lodz, Poland; Nos Plus Belles Histoires Brodees at the Folk Art Museum in Paris; and Art of the Stitch in London. Nationally her work has been exhibited in The Textile Museum, Renwick Gallery; and Katzen Art Center, American University in Washington, DC; several Quilt Nationals, Celebrating the Stitch, The Full Deck, SAQA Exhibits, and many other venues.
B. J.’s work is in the collection of many public buildings including The Art Institute of Chicago, Disney’s ESPN Zone in D.C.(now closed), Bellsouth Corporation, Kaiser Permanente, and Alabama Power and Light in Birmingham, Alabama. She has been awarded two grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and several awards for individual works in various exhibits.
Her artwork has appeared in many publications including: several catalogs of Studio Art Quilts Ass. exhibits, FIBERARTS, SURFACE DESIGN JOURNAL and catalogs, TEXTILEFORUM (from Europe), FIBERFORUM (Australia), THREADS (New Zealand) magazines as well as many books including QUILT NATIONAL catalogs, Full DECK, CELEBRATING THE STITCH, and MASTERS: Art Quilts.
Website
http://www.BJAdamsArt.com
