Suzanne Bates
"The act of creating makes me feel alive and brings me joy. I hope my work spreads the joy."
Suzanne Bates designs work that is a reflection of her background. A graphic designer for 30 years, she now explores textiles out of a desire to create pattern with her hands rather than a computer. Working in textiles provides not only a canvas for her pattern design, but also a tactile and sensory connection to her work that has become a driving force.
Primarily using traditional Japanese resist-dyeing methods, Bates incorporates pole wrapping, stitching, and block clamping to create patterns on silk and linen. Increasingly, her work involves intricately hand-cut wood block forms, many of which can take days to create before they are finally immersed into a vat of dye.
Suzanne Bates holds a BFA in graphic design. She is self-taught in textile arts, having learned primarily from books, a recent class at Penland School of Craft, and an endless amount of trial and error. She has also extensively studied bronze casting and egg tempera painting.
Suzanne Bates designs work that is a reflection of her background. A graphic designer for 30 years, she now explores textiles out of a desire to create pattern with her hands rather than a computer. Working in textiles provides not only a canvas for her pattern design, but also a tactile and sensory connection to her work that has become a driving force.
Primarily using traditional Japanese resist-dyeing methods, Bates incorporates pole wrapping, stitching, and block clamping to create patterns on silk and linen. Increasingly, her work involves intricately hand-cut wood block forms, many of which can take days to create before they are finally immersed into a vat of dye.
Suzanne Bates holds a BFA in graphic design. She is self-taught in textile arts, having learned primarily from books, a recent class at Penland School of Craft, and an endless amount of trial and error. She has also extensively studied bronze casting and egg tempera painting.
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Selected Exhibitions & Awards
American Craft Council, Atlanta, Georgia, 2013-2015
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, One and Only: Gifts Made by Hand, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, thru Jan 2015
American Craft Council, Atlanta, Georgia, 2013-2015
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, One and Only: Gifts Made by Hand, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, thru Jan 2015