DREAM
Shop Maine Craft presents a textile exhibtion by Kathy Beauregard at the Center for Maine Craft in West Gardiner. On View: April 1 – May 30, 2023.
Have you ever dreamed you were flying? Have you ever fallen asleep nestled in the roots of an ancient tree? Has a walk on the beach ever felt like a dream? Has a dream state ever transported you to a world inside a forest or a snowflake?
The hexagon quilt, Kundalini Kiss, was inspired by the memory of a passionate lover. I don’t know why a babushka doll has always been with me, but her powers continue to manifest.
My process starts with dreaming, sketching, remembering, sketching. Then I turn on some funk jazz music and start rummaging through textiles, colors, threads, beads, and flotsam for patterns that speak to the story in my mind. Then I play, experiment and stitch. My work ethic juxtaposes meditative stitching and floor polishing dance moves. I hope my art links my inspiration, my dream with your heart.
This 2023 spring exhibit, DREAM, was largely assembled with silk ties, saris and random upcycled textiles. The overlay of sheer silk and layers of embroidery and beads invites us to look beyond and imagine the moment of the dream.
Kathy Beauregard is a textile artist with a passion for hand embroidery and collage. Raised in the hills of western Massachusetts and America’s landscapes and parks, she has been firmly planted in rural western Maine for 50 years. Her sun filled home studio is surrounded by woods, echoing her deepest inspiration: the animating life force of nature. Kathy has a BA from Vermont College, where she studied ecopsychology and fine arts. Her artisan crafts business FolkAnna is named after her great grandmothers from Bohemia.
The first memory of her life is picking her finger on a needle. She’s been stitching all her life. As an artist, Kathy’s career began in 2003 during a study of ancient eastern European goddess embroidery, traces of which can be seen in her current work.