Visiting Artist - Visual Arts

Caressa Mathews

18245 Sloane Avenue
Lakewood, OH  44107
Phone: (440) 382-6750
Email: caressa7678@yahoo.com

My art disciplines include loom weaving, screen-printing, and silk-painting. I work with fibers -- silk, cotton, handmade paper, and wire. I'm interested in using materials, color, and form to represent the human figure -- its ephemeral qualities and its beauty. I use silk for its light weight and its ability to pick up the rich colors of the dyes. Wire as a stabilizing structure works well when woven with cloth. Its malleability and strength under the cloth are like the bones under the skin. In a workshop I taught at Summit Art Space, we focused on the form of the sphere, a three dimensional circle, which sparked an open discussion on the cycles we encounter in life and their connection to nature. The ages of participants in the workshop ranged from 8 to 65. I'm interested in working with elementary to high school aged kids, as well as in a community setting, with a variety of age groups. I'd like to help participants look at the roles cloths, colors, and shapes play in their lives and how they can be used to describe their unique vision of beauty and the body.

My recent work explores the concepts of color and form, light and air. A gradation of natural, earth-toned colors is used to provoke a sense of growth and change, while also referencing the fleshiness of the body. My interest in the human form stems from my decade-long yoga practice, which is rooted in the physical, but grows into an understanding of subtle energy. Figural fabric structures are suspended in space, allowing light and air to pass through. The actual weaving of the pieces is significant because it is a visual manifestation of the cohesion of breath woven with consciousness. Weaving, like breathing, emulates cyclical time, structured by repetition.

I received my BFA in Textiles from Kent State University in 2004. I've attended numerous workshops with renowned artists and traveled to Bali to learn the art of Batik. I interned at the Women's Studio Workshop in New York and taught at Snow Farm, School of Craft, in Massachusetts. My work has been exhibited throughout Ohio, New York, and Illinois.