Artist Profile

 

MY STORY

Designing fabric mandalas is my passion. These mandalas grew out of an attempt to make a representation of a light grid as a visual reminder for my own meditation. Since I’m not much of a drawer, I wondered how to show the quality of light. By using color and varying textures of fabrics, ribbons and sequins I found a solution. Et voila! My first fabric mandala!

MY PROCESS

The mandalas are made using vintage and new fabrics, buttons, beads, ribbons, trims and other found objects collected on my travels over the years and repurposing them.  I use a variety of techniques, combining hand and machine stitching, appliqué, fusible web, fabric painting, beading, and embellishments.

Each mandala is made with an intention, i.e., healing, creativity, abundance or passion, or perhaps the memory of a place and a feeling associated with it. This affects the color and textures of the fabric I’m drawn to and the objects chosen as a focal point. The colors and textures have their own unique vibrations that resonate with the viewer in their own unique way. As in any creative process, the piece takes on a life of its own, and can lead me in surprising new directions.

MY HOPE

Being drawn to colorful things my whole life, (I’ve been called the “Queen of Color”), constantly doodling spirals, and having a fondness for buttons (from rummaging in my mother’s button drawer as a child), the richness and endless variety of the mandala has captured me. To me, they are reminders of our inner beauty and spirit.  My hope is that a particular mandala will remind the viewer of a part of themselves and it will make your “heart soar” as making them does mine.

With warm regards,

Nancy Leith