WESTFIELD-Dawn Allen’s artistic expression begins with the natural settings that surround her family’s home in picturesque Wyben.
“I find inspiration from my garden and neighborhood,” she said on a recent afternoon visit in her home studio on Montgomery Road.
Fabric artist Dawn Allen of Westfield, seen in her studio, holds one of her pieces titled “Stonewall with Iris” that will be a part of the upcoming exhibition – “Irma and Doris Go Wine Tasting” – at the Black Birch Vineyard in Southampton.
Six months in the making, Allen is putting the finishing touches on her latest exhibition titled “Irma and Doris Go Wine Tasting” which will be showcased in August and September at the Black Birch Vineyard in Southampton.
Her fabric art exhibit will be a veritable garden of three-dimensional fabric flowers and foliage.
“You’ll want to get up-close and personal to enjoy the intricacies of beads and thread and the vibrancy of color,” she said.
Color has shaped Allen’s world since she was five.
“I have always loved color,” she said. “My favorite toy when I was five was a box of crayons. I didn’t color with them; I just spent hours arranging them in color families.”
As a child Allen often wondered if everyone saw colors the same way.
“My interest in how people may see differently became very meaningful in 2014 when I was diagnosed with a visual issue,” she said. “As I started wearing glasses I saw the world differently.”
At first she said her “new vision” was unsettling but soon she became inspired to create a new body of work by exaggerating color, movement and dimensions.
“I refer to my pieces as happy art,” she said.
Westfield fabric artist Dawn Allen will be exhibiting her original fabric flowers and foliage during an exhibition titled “Irma and Doris Go Wine Tasting” at the Black Birch Vineyard in Southampton.
Allen noted she also started quilting and beading at a young age.
“My medium is fabric and thread,” said Allen, adding she uses only organic cotton sateen which ensures that colors are more vibrant.
At the onset of a project she takes photographs from her walks and then digitally alters them until they turn into a pattern or a repeating geometric design. Once she has her original design, the image is sent to a company in Raleigh Durham, N.C., that prints on-demand.
“What makes the exhibition so special is no one has seen it before,” she said, adding that each piece is “totally unique” and allows her a chance to have her own voice.
“When I was very young I was an art quilter and didn’t know it,” she said on a recent blog posting. “I loved doing embroidery on handmade velvet quilts when I was about seven. In my early 20’s I made many quilts learning techniques from books on modern quilts.”
Allen explained on her blog that a quilt is defined by its three layers stitched together.
“Usually the middle layer is batting and the other layers are fabric,” she noted. “Some quilters use traditional patterns or patterns designed by other people. Art quilters create their own designs and often invent new techniques. There is no line in the sand defining a quilt vs. an art quilt.”
What sets Allen’s fabric art apart from others is her hidden-wire technique that brings each piece to life in three dimensions.
“I like the uniqueness of three-dimensional quilts,” she said, adding “I also love to use a lot of color.”
Dawn Allen has titled this 10″ x 12″ leaf “Arthur L” which has wires for structure but is also floppy like a leaf.
Visitors to the vineyard will see that Allen’s “happy art” is brimming with color, whimsy, and beauty that can brighten up any space in one’s home or office. From 10” x 12” leaves that can be used as a wall hanging in a home or office cubicle to dressing up a wine bottle, to 36” x 36” works that can grace any living space, there is much to explore when viewing her three-dimensional fabric art.
“Since my work is largely based on the technique of quilting, I decided to give my pieces in the vineyard show the names that I associate with quilters who came before me,” she said, adding they would be “popular names” from 1910 to 1930.
“Of course I thought of female names first, but then some of my art seemed like it called for a man’s name,” she said.
Allen noted she is still in the process of titling the pieces in the show and will reveal the titles with images of the work closer to the opening exhibition date on her website and blog.
Currently, she anticipates having close to 40 pieces on display including several “flat pieces” with titles of “Black-Eyed Susan in Field,” “Sunflower with Blue Sky,” “Child Holding Mushroom,” “Tractor Wheel with Chains,” “Brown and White Cow in Field,” “Purple and White Pansy,” and “Bird on Sunflower.”
An artist’s reception is planned at the vineyard at 155 Glendale Road on Aug. 5 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and is open to the public.
For more information on Allen’s work and other upcoming shows including juried group exhibitions in Lowell, visit her latest musings at http://dawnallen.net/blog.
“I’ve always wanted to be more creative since my first quilt when I was 11,” she said. “I enjoy making my own ideas happen.”
