This Friday’s featured artist is Mary Edna Fraser and her fabulous batiks!!
I especially love her series entitled Our Expanding Oceans! They are absolutely gorgeous!
I especially love her series entitled Our Expanding Oceans! They are absolutely gorgeous!
Northwest Passage, Arctic Ocean, batik on silk, 38.5″ x 54.5″
From her Artist Statement:
My life’s work is from an aerial perspective, a view of the earth I choose to transcribe onto silk using dyes in the ancient medium of batik. The art comprises a series of narrative landscapes inspired by the terraqueous reaches of the continent, where realms of earth, sea and sky converge. Each area is carefully researched, often by hiking the terrain, exploring the waterways by boat, and painting studies on location. Geology, topography, maps, charts, and satellite images are studied to identify features of visual interest.
Photographing from the open windows of my grandfather’s 1946 Ercoupe plane with my father or brothers as pilots, we explore the natural wonders unaltered by man. I also hire instructors who guide me over their familiar landscape such as the canyons of northern New Mexico or the Appalachian mountains. Experience flying various aircraft allows me to set up photographic compositions with ease. When positioned, I hand over the controls to shoot with digital Nikon cameras. During an excursion aloft, as many as five hundred photographs are taken which will then be reduced to the best designs. An organization of the land emerges revealed only by altitude.
My life’s work is from an aerial perspective, a view of the earth I choose to transcribe onto silk using dyes in the ancient medium of batik. The art comprises a series of narrative landscapes inspired by the terraqueous reaches of the continent, where realms of earth, sea and sky converge. Each area is carefully researched, often by hiking the terrain, exploring the waterways by boat, and painting studies on location. Geology, topography, maps, charts, and satellite images are studied to identify features of visual interest.
Photographing from the open windows of my grandfather’s 1946 Ercoupe plane with my father or brothers as pilots, we explore the natural wonders unaltered by man. I also hire instructors who guide me over their familiar landscape such as the canyons of northern New Mexico or the Appalachian mountains. Experience flying various aircraft allows me to set up photographic compositions with ease. When positioned, I hand over the controls to shoot with digital Nikon cameras. During an excursion aloft, as many as five hundred photographs are taken which will then be reduced to the best designs. An organization of the land emerges revealed only by altitude.
Earthscaping, batik on silk, 47″ x 47″
Yukon Delta, Alaska, batik on silk, 44″ x 44″
Selenga Delta, Lake Baikal, Russia, batik on silk, 46″ x 45″
The textile artwork of Mary Edna Fraser has been collected and exhibited worldwide.
In 1994-95, she was the first woman to be honored with a one-person exhibition at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. She has completed numerous public commissions including batiks for the American Embassy in Thailand and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Publications reviewing her work include Smithsonian Magazine, Air and Space, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, National Geographic and New Yorker.
See more of Mary Edna Fraser’s art and learn more about her on her website at maryedna.com.
TGIF!
In 1994-95, she was the first woman to be honored with a one-person exhibition at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. She has completed numerous public commissions including batiks for the American Embassy in Thailand and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Publications reviewing her work include Smithsonian Magazine, Air and Space, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, National Geographic and New Yorker.
See more of Mary Edna Fraser’s art and learn more about her on her website at maryedna.com.
TGIF!
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