Debra Calkins Work

I hated to see Pam Sanders come pick up her pieces today. She is a lovely lady and her work is truly wonderful. If you did not get to see her things then I highly recommend you check out her website. She will also be showing at Best of the Northwest in November. This is a terrific show. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys unusual art and exceptional art!!

So today we are putting up Debra Calkins work as our new Featured artist. Here are some pictures of some of her work. The photos do not really do her work justice but they do give you a small bite of what her work is like. If you want a better idea of it then please come by the shop to view it.

Each of our artists has a time on our featured artist wall. These are a few of Debra's works.

Debra calls this work "Bent but Not Broken". She describes this work as:

Circumstances, events, people can bend us every which way. This piece is about the resiliency of the human spirit to bend but not break. It is made using heavy interfacing, Cotton and hand dyed fabrics, thread lace- rayon and polyester, ribbon, and stainless steel mesh.

Although you cannot tell it in the picture this piece has real movement and the torso is actually bent in many ways. Come on to the shop and see this piece for yourself. It is remarkable.

This piece is called "Unbowed". Debra says of this piece:

Life can hand us many circumstances that can fracture and tear at us. This piece is about the putting back together, in any manner possible, of ourselves. It is made of heavy interfacing, cotton fabric lace, felt, chiffon, ribbon, beads, cotton embroidery thread, safety pins, and tulle.

This piece is called "Canyon Wall". Debra describes this piece as:

This is one of my experimental pieces. I used tissue paper fused to cloth, then painted it. I made the batting extra thick so when I stitched I would have deep lines. I fused on chiffon and then heat distressed. I finished with the thread lace to add one more layer of texture and to finish the piece. This piece was made with heavy interfacing, cotton batting, polyester cloth, tissue paper, acrylic paint, chiffon, thread lace- rayon thread.

Debra calls this one "Cellular Delight". She says:

I am a massage therapist in my day job. I have an endless fascination with the body. I had looked at some cellular pictures and this is one of the pieces that started there but evolved. It is made of Heavy interfacing, cotton batting, beads, sequins, embroidery thread, hand dyed cotton fabric, thread lace-polyester thread, and a variety of yarns.

One of the reasons I am so happy to display Debra's work at the shop is because it is very interesting and beautiful. Another reason is because Debra is totally cutting edge with her fabric art! It is fascinating to see how she uses new materials on the market to create things they literally were not designed for! It is a delight to have her work here in the shop and I hope you stop by and give it a glimpse.

Debra Calkins displays her work here at Rockhoppers.