Website: https://www.maryalowe.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maryaalowe
After more than 30 years in the traditional quilt world, many of them as a professional quilt restorer, I began to explore abstract art using textiles as my medium. Now, although still grounded in fabric, my process for manipulating the fabric has changed dramatically. I use it not as raw material for construction, but as a tool for expression.
Although realism peeks into my work from time to time, non-objective abstraction is the voice to which I gravitate the most. I believe that abstract work allows the viewer to bring his or her own history, wiring, and interests into a conversation with the art.
To explore one idea from different standpoints, I often work in series. Birdhouses, seedpods, small silk pieces speaking to Marco Polo’s Silk Road fame are just a few of the series I’ve worked with. More recently, larger-scale abstracts grounded in color or shape have captured my attention. Regardless of the series theme, however, the majority of my work is built around small improvisational blocks that I call “wonkies”. They have an energy, color, and visual texture that I embrace as one of the key foundations of my studio work.
