Joan Schaller Bauer
Jatelier Designs
Artist Statement
Having always been influenced by the great Impressionist painters, my fabric art works do not attempt realism, but rather the interpretation of a scene. I want the viewer to feel drawn into the image, finding their own impressions. I create fabric wall art using three methods: mosaic, applique and three-dimension. In all of these styles, I seek to make the viewer aware of the depth of detail in a work that strives to draw attention to some of the wonderful intricacies surrounding us in nature.
With mosaic wall art, I form impressionistic scenes using tiny cloth pieces carefully selected by color, and then arranged and blended together to create the image. The pieces are fused, veiled, and sewn, adding more lines of definition. They are also heavily quilted while being stitched in place.
My wall art appliques are often landscapes with a heavy emphasis on visual perspective. This technique blends and overlays many small pieces of fabric over larger and often varied fields of other fabrics. Every piece is meticulously sewn down and fused as necessary with decorative top stitching. The work is then quilt stitched onto an under layer of batting for depth.
The challenges involved in creating three-dimensional pieces take fabric wall art to a whole new level. My 3-D works use inserted wires and added structures hidden within to manipulate the applied art work. The fabric sculptures created can then be pliable or static. It is a time-consuming process that builds over an extended period of working on them, and I am very excited about how alive this makes the subject and its effect of involving the viewer with the scene and its forms.
My fabrics are almost exclusively batik, which offers brilliant color and design on each side to lend depth and texture. I also use traditional quilter's batting and many types and forms of threads and decorative cords, some of which I make myself. Elaborate, decorative over- stitching is applied to all my wall art to create drama, line and form. Finally, each work is finished with a border and backing, signed, and topped with a rod pocket for hanging.
Since early childhood, I have been passionate about fabrics and all forms of sewing. In my teens, I copied clothes from the pages of the New York Times biannual fashion magazine. My sewing machine accompanied me back and forth to boarding school. In free time, I would search through antique, thrift and consignment shops to find well made, classic clothing from the late1920s through the 1940s. Then, I’d spend countless hours disassembling them to study the methods of construction and inner findings, as well as the pattern shapes and how they related to each other. Finally, I would either reassemble or make a new garment using some or all of the components. At age 17, I was accepted at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City
For the past 20 years, I’ve also been designing and creating window treatments and all kinds of home fabric accessories for interior design firms and clients that range from corporations to individuals. I remain passionate about my work and enjoy every new challenge!
196 Franklin Heights Road, Jonesborough, TN 37659
www.jatelierdesigns.com jatelierdesigns@gmail.com
423-956-0502
