Sharron Parker received an undergraduate degree from Duke University and a masters degree from UNC-Greensboro, studying education, art, and interior design. She continued her study in textiles with classes at Penland School of Crafts, where she has returned to teach workshops in feltmaking. Her work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and, under the Art in Embassies Program, has recently been exhibited in Turkmenistan and Armenia.
“As a child I chased butterflies, scrambled over rocks, and read romantic tales of faraway places. Years later, I’ve studied butterflies and rocks, and traveled to many of the places — the Amazon rain forest, craggy cliffs with castle ruins, remote island beaches — and I’ve never lost the wonder of them. Yet exotic beauty can be found everywhere.
I use the ancient technique of feltmaking not to capture what I’ve seen directly, but to create something new. The simplicity of the technique — combing, layering, and working dyed unspun wool in hot water until the fibers lock — allows me to work spontaneously, and often experimentally. The shape of a piece might come from a bird’s wing, the color from crystals under a microscope, a line from the sinuous edge of a pond meeting the shore, and the texture from the bark of a birch tree. I wish to celebrate nature, not to mirror it.”
Website
http://www.sharronparker.com
