Think Martha Stewart and Snoop hanging out, making unexpected things happen. Sugar-coated bundles of detail and slight oddness combined to make work that is arresting and uncanny.
I’m Dawn Kraditor Waters and I create paintings and wearable art with fiber. I was first exposed to felting on a trip to Amsterdam. A friend then taught me the basics and I created scarves and swanky wraps. I wondered if I could make a portrait. I had not seen one made of fiber, and I had not created one in any medium. My chihuahua, Chico, was my first subject. It worked. The next few…not so much. I kept at it until the likenesses were recognizable.
I’m drawn to subjects who intrigue me or those to whom I have a sentimental attachment. I use fiber, usually wool, and a felting needle. The process is like tattooing, but with wool.
Famed photographer Steve McCurry (iconic Afghan Girl National Geographic cover, 1985) has given me permission to recreate his photos. I’ve created two thus far. I’ve also been fascinated by traditional Slavic ceremonial floral headdresses made of paper and have interpreted them with fiber. I then began adding flowers to unexpected subjects.
I came to this art relatively late in life after leaving a career in communications and advertising.
