Barbara Bend Afton
Artist Statement
I am a fiber artist that wraps and rolls. I wrap and roll anything that will lend itself to my obsession. I use remnants from another time or for another purpose like colored wire, zippers, piano hammers, ties, labels; things that create a visual language that speaks, so others can hear. The centers of my pieces are wrapped with old T-shirts that are rolled around discarded electrical wire and then connect to form the figure. My wrapping is tight so my structures become solid sculptural forms. The arms and heads bend and turn to express purpose or emotion. My figures become complete when the synchronicity of unrelated elements come together.
I began this process about ten years ago when I was given a gift of an African doll formed by wrapping strips of cotton fabric over a structure. It was simple and deeply expressive. At the time I had been spinning various fibers, felting wool shapes, and scavenging the countryside for natural dye plants to use for color. The creative energy for wrapping moved my soul and I ached to explore it more, so I set the spinning wheel aside and started studying this technique. I was drawn to the power of its ancient and primal roots. Wrapping was once essential to survival: poles lashed for shelter; grasses twisted and wrapped for food collection baskets, bodies embellished and clothed. The characters I create emerge from somewhere a little out of reach; they come from the edges, a conversation between the materials I use and me. Usually, they grow from a unique fabric or a particularly wonderful combination of colors and textures. I scavenge and glean the relics of our contemporary society with an eye for repetition, color, and compatibility as I gather the materials to work with. I take great joy in putting the unlikely pieces together and making them into a different whole with a new purpose and sometimes unrecognizable past. It is a conversation with respect for the integrity of the materials out of their intended place into a new one. Bio I, like most women, wear many different hats. I am a teacher, fiber sculptor, gardener, prairie planter, woods walker, lake swimmer, listener, questioner, mother, wife and yes, many other roles. I draw on these experiences to help reach the parts of me that honor an inner peace and acknowledge despair as I attempt to make sense of a very disjointed world in crisis through my art work. I earned my BS in studio art at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill and my MA in education at U.W. Madison. I have taught for over 25 years in public and private schools. Teaching opens me. I am inspired by the raw, fumbling, chaotic minds of children especially the middle school child. Their fresh perspectives and blunt challenges are gifts to me as they share their struggles. I use this energy as I create my sculptures; it gives them life. My formal art education is in drawing and painting, which I continue to dabble in. My passion is fibers. I started by stretching material as if it were canvas and used fabric as color and thread as line. Then I wandered into spinning, weaving, quilting, and natural dying taking classes through the Weavers Guild and Textile Center of Minnesota with some well know teachers such as Peter Collingswood, Paula Simmons, Anita Mayer, Walter Nottingham, and Kaffe Fassett. I began making sculptures about ten years ago when I was given a gift of an African doll formed by wrapping strips of cotton fabric over a structure. It was simple and deeply expressive. At the time I had been spinning various fibers, weaving my yarns, felting wool shapes, and scavenging the countryside for natural dye plants to use for color. I was drawn to the power of the ancient and primal roots of wrapping, once essential to survival: poles lashed for shelter; grasses twisted and wrapped for food collection baskets, bodies embellished and clothed. As I explore this technique the characters I create emerge from somewhere a little out of reach; they come from the edges. Usually, they grow from a unique fabric or a particularly wonderful combination of colors and textures. I use remnants of another time or structures like colored wire, zippers, piano hammers, ties, labels; things that create a visual language that speaks, so others can hear. I take great joy in putting the unlikely pieces together and making them into a different whole with a new purpose and sometimes unrecognizable past. It is a conversation with respect for the integrity of the materials out of their intended place into a new one. My husband and I live in the St. Croix River Valley; we celebrate our extensive gardens, fresh produce and our commitment to restoring native species in the woods and prairies. We built our home as our three children grew up creating fodder for many stories about living with a house in perpetual evolution. Now they have grown and, at present, span the continent form east to west, they are creating their own life stories. I have shown my work at the Katherine Nash Gallery, Phipps Center for the Arts, Textile Center of Minnesota, Vigland Gallery in Michigan, Seasons on the St. Croix in Hudson, Fiber Arts Center in Amherst, MA, Orchard Gallery in Centuria, WI, Color Crossing in Roberts, WI, Hammond Arts Alliance in Hammond, WI, Frank Stone Gallery in Minneapolis, Whitby Gallery in St. Joseph, MN and Unity Church in St. Paul, MN. | Dollmaking with Barb BendI offer doll making classes, teaching the techniques I use. I need at least 4 people to be interested for the class to go.
In this class I will show you how I make the faces, hands, form the body and then dress our figures in fabrics that you have collected. The first day will be faces and hands, they are the hardest, It is best if we have a few days between the first and second class, so hands and faces can get finished. The next class will be to finish the body and dress the dolls and a third get together for show and tell and share ideas. Location: Color Crossing in Roberts, Wisconsin www.colorcrossing.com/ Fee: $140 plus material fees We can do it on two weekend days 9-4 either the same weekend or time between. Or we can do it for 5 evenings 3 hours each 6-9, or 5-8 and bring your own meal? We can do one Saturday and then 2 evenings. We will tailor the class to the needs of the participants. So if you are interested let me know, outline what might work best for you, and if you know someone that might be interested forward this on to them. People can always contact Color Crossing and let them know and they will get a hold of me.
The two dolls below resulted from a welding class I took and wanted to make a stronger armature to build off of. Junker Landfill is about the caping of a local landfill that has polluted over 120 wells over the years.
Sanctuary's head dress is made from welded keys, bone beads, and plastic snaps. She is made of remnant tie silk and shirting form a local tie factory.
Exploring Tensions Dolls 2011In these pieces I explored the tension between inside and outside; inside being a place of safety or protection whereas the outside is exposed and expansive.
Voice in the Winds of Change $900
Evening Shelter $900
Coming of Age $900
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