Dawn Williams Boyd’s artwork reflects her interests in American history as it affects and is affected by African American citizens, women’s identity and sexuality and politics. After more than 30 years successfully painting in oils and acrylics on various surfaces, in 2002 this prolific artist began to ‘paint’ with fabric instead of on it.
Dawn’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions and the artist has participated in countless national and international group exhibitions such as “Soulful” at d’Art Center in Norfolk, VA, in February 2019, “Things That Matter” at the St. George Art Museum in St. George, UT, and “Fabric Flash: A Contemporary Textile Exhibition” at Chastain Art Center in Atlanta.
WORKSHOP: Embroidering Fabric Faces Made Easy
Ability: All
Saturday–Sunday, Aug. 24–25 | 10am–4pm
$300 per person
Students will learn elementary life drawing skills with a focus on the human face. Using basic geometric shapes to form facial features, each student will draw their own portrait (or that of a loved one from their own photograph or a fellow workshop member from a live drawing) in pencil on paper.
Through observation students will learn to place, expand and modify these basic shapes in order to add emotion to their portraits. We will transfer the portraits on squares of flesh-colored cotton fabric and learn four basic embroidery stitches used to define the facial features — back stitch, satin stitch, blanket stitch and French knots.
Students will take home a finished embroidered portrait which can be adhered to a new or existing project, such as a quilt, pillow, hand bag or clothing.
This special event is part of ASLD’s Visiting Artist Series to bring guest artists to Denver and offer master classes to our community. We are grateful for the generous support from the Olson-Vander Heyden Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Learn more about the VISITING ARTIST SERIES.