The JCC Patio Gallery is pleased to present “What I Did On My Summer Vacation” a textile exhibit by Louisville fiber artist and educator Melinda Snyder from Aug. 31-Oct. 7, with an opening reception Aug. 31, 2-4 p.m.
Snyder works with hand dyed cottons and silks, using strong color relationships to build abstract compositions. Her work has been included in many regional and national shows and published in Fiberarts Design, Books Five and Seven and the Surface Design Journal. Her most recent work was exhibited in Form, not Function, Quilt Art at the Carnegie, 2013 and Fiber Focus, 2011 at Art St. Louis where her quilt won the Excellence in Quilting Merit Award.
She is also the artist-in-residence at Bloom Elementary in Louisville, where her students are a continuous inspiration. Her students have even made a direct contribution to the show. All the black and white printed fabrics were made by them in art class.
“They are the best at being unafraid to try new things all the time. I love their artwork and constantly tell them I always like their work better than the samples I make to get them started. They think I am kidding, but it is really true,” she said.
Still, the summer is a time for Snyder to more fully concentrate on her own art.
“For this show I wanted to get more immersed in fabric collage. As soon as summer vacation began, I started playing with composition, paint and stencil, a technique I loved to do in art school,” she said. “Several of the quilts were stitched this summer also. It is the process of quilting that is so rewarding to me: dyeing the fabric and finding surprises of color and texture, pulling the cloth out of the dye pot, cutting and piecing and finishing the completed cloth with rows of quilting stitches.”
Patio Gallery hours are Sun. 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Mon.-Thurs. 8:30 a.m.-9 p.m. and Fri. 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.