WILSON, N.C. — October 19, 2020 — Headed to the North Carolina Mountains? Be sure to make time to visit the “Craft to Art Series: Fiber Exhibition” in the Thompson Gallery at The Bascom: A Center for the Visual Arts in Highlands. Artist Susan Fecho currently has four new works on view in this exhibition, presented by guest curator Jerry Jackson. The show will run until December 27, but if you can’t travel to see these impressive works, then take a moment to view the exhibit virtually at https://youtu.be/CxePlj2TXro
Fecho’s works include a tapestries set: “Aesculus flava (Buckeye) and “Acer palmatum” (Japanese Maple) that incorporates beautifully dyed fabric with ink and stitching. Be sure to also note “The Widow Book,” created with handmade flax paper with embedded fabric; and don’t forget to look for “Vulnerable,” which is created from fabric with a handmade book on metal frame. 
“A series of Coptic bound books took form when I received a discarded 1913 home economic sample book of lace,” explains Fecho. “I gave the series a ‘life’ connected to being a southern Appalachian woman living at the turn of the 20th century. Handmade paper with embedded vintage fabrics/lace is combined with eco-dyed papers, hand stitching, and found objects. Discarded boxes are recovered with an aged-stained textile, which house each codex-bound book that fans open to reveal staggered pages. The series align with the stages of the southern woman’s life – The Trousseau, Light from Heaven [Early Marriage], Home Whispers [War], and The Widow.”
Jackson, executive director of John C. Campbell Folk School, shares, “…The objects presented in “Craft to Art Series: Fiber” reflect artists influenced by the Craft Revival in Western North Carolina; artists who have preserved traditional processes; and artists who have pushed their work into contemporary arenas focused on social, economic, political and environmental issues. Each “Craft to Art Series: Fiber” artist, while excelling in their creative practice, has influenced the processes of their medium and shared their knowledge with thousands of creative followers. Many of these artists have engaged the educational organizations that have preserved, influenced, and propelled the creation and education of a diverse range of fiber processes…”
About the artist —
A professor of art at Barton College since 1997, Fecho serves as dean of the College’s School of Visual, Performing, and Communication Arts. She studied at East Carolina University, Goldsmiths College of England, and the Jan van Eyck Academie of Holland. With a Master of Fine Arts degree from East Carolina University, Fecho continued with postgraduate studies through Northern Illinois University, the Penland School of Crafts, the Humboldt Field Research Institute of Maine, and the North Carolina Botanical Gardens. She is a trained printmaker, designer, and an illustrator with professional experiences that extend beyond three decades. Her art studio and gallery, Fecho Designs, is located in historic downtown Tarboro.
Fecho and her husband, Scott, make their home in Tarboro. They have one son and three grandchildren.
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