Fiona Washburn Textile Artist Maine
Originally from the English east coast, I moved to Maine nineteen years ago. Maine’s stunningly beautiful coastline has been the main source of inspiration for me.
The light, color, and textures that make up the dramatic coastline and the deep clear ocean have an enduring allure for me. Watching the patterns the waves and ripples make are like lace on silk. On a calm evening the sea is like a mosaic. Small glittering chips of glass that change from vivid blues and turquoise to black and silver to pink and gold.
The rocks and tide pools with mussels, clams, periwinkles and scallops and a variety of seaweed. Rockweed, Bladdwrack and Kelp create a natural tapestry of patterns and textures that smoothly translate into a design on silk and velvet.
The beautiful Penobscot Bay where my family and I cruised on our boat is also visually stunning with mountains on the mainland and numerous fir tree covered islands.
Maine does not only have a beautiful coastline I also draw inspiration inland. My home and studio are in a tiny town a few miles from the coast. I love the wide sweeping tidal river just a few minutes’ walk from the house and the stream at the back of my studio.
I am also fortunate to have inherited a very attractive garden with a wide variety of flowers and shrubs and trees. A wonderful source of subjects to draw and to develop into designs.
I like to experiment. To combine hand painting with silk screen printing and dyeing. However most of my work is purely hand painted using the traditional serti method (A combination of dyes and gutta/resist) but I also enjoy experimenting with different techniques.
One of the techniques I like to experiment with is devore’ (or burnout / fiber etch). A technique that was very popular in French fashion houses in the 1920s and 1930s . By applying acid paste on to velvet with both silk screens and or applicator bottles. After heat setting, brushing the velvet pile out to leave the silk backing so the fabric has an almost three-dimensional pattern /design. The scarf or shawl is then painted or dyed, steamed fixed and washed.
Many of these techniques I learned many years ago at art college in London. It is always very enjoyable and rewarding to rediscover them and use them in new ways.
I have been creating one of a kind hand painted silk and velvet scarves, shawls, sarongs and wall panels for over thirty years.
I obtained a BA(Hons) Degree in Printed Textiles at Camberwell College of Art in London in 1982
I completed a postgraduate course in Textile Design at Central School of Art London. Both Camberwell and the Central are now part of the University of the Arts in London
Since moving to the US I have regularly exhibited at several art galleries…
The Center For Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) Rockport ME, The Work of the Hand Exhibition 2007 & 2009
Carver Hill Gallery, Rockport ME, 2007 & 2008
The Stable Gallery Damariscotta Maine, 2009 -2020
Craft Gallery Rockland, Maine, 2014 - 2019
River Tree Arts Center Kennebunk, Maine 2014 & 2015
The Markings Gallery, Bath Maine 2019
I am currently showing my work at the Handworks Gallery, 48 Main St, Blue Hill, Maine, 04614 handworksgallery.org
I have also enjoyed teaching hand painting on silk at various locations including The Farnsworth Museum in Rockland ME and at local high schools for their adult education departments.