Seattle Culture
Experimentations in Shape: Joan Wortis’ Handmade Textiles
Creative work by Vashon Island artist Joan Wortis includes pleated and dyed textiles
By Brigitte Long June 27, 2016
This article originally appeared in the July 2016 issue of Seattle magazine.
Joan Wortis’ home studio just off Wax Orchard Road on Vashon Island, is the ideal spot for indulging the artist’s creative side. “The island is a great place to work,” Wortis says. “Quiet, peaceful, no telephones in the studio…I can focus.” Such focus is critical to the creation of Wortis’ pleated and dyed textile works, each constructed by hand.
“I can never design them in advance,” she says. “There’s so much experimentation in playing with the shapes. There’s an endless number of places to go within them.” A solo exhibition focused on patterned collage work inspired by Wortis’ travels in Asia will bring the Far East to Pioneer Square’s ArtXchange gallery this fall. ArtXchange, 512 First Ave. S;206.839.0377; artxchange.org
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