Sheila Hicks

Artist 202

Sheila Hicks Textile sculptures Sheila Hicks (born in 1934) is an American sculptural textile artist. After founding workshops in Mexico, Chile, and South Africa, and working in Morocco and India she lives and works in Paris, France. She is known for her innovative and experimental weavings and sculptural textile art that incorporate distinctive colors, natural materials, and personal narratives.

Hicks' art ranges from the minuscule to the monumental. Her materials vary as much as the size and shape of her work. Having begun her career as a painter, she has remained close to the color, using it as a language she builds, weaves and wraps to create her pieces. She incorporates various materials into her "minimes", miniature weavings made on a wooden loom. These include transparent noodles, pieces of slate, razor clam shells, shirt collars, collected sample skeins of embroidery threads, rubber bands, shoelaces, and Carmelite-darned socks.

Hicks's work is characterized by her direct examination of indigenous weaving practices in the countries of their origin. While in South America she developed her interest in working with fibers. This has led her to travel through five continents, studying the local culture in Mexico, France, Morocco, India, Chile, Sweden, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Africa, developing relationships with designers, artisans, industrialists, architects, politicians, and cultural leaders. Hicks’s practice isn’t just about creating objects and installations, but about living a life centered around making. She’s unyielding in her ethics—enduring art and meaningful experiences derive from a conscientious, curious, and ongoing engagement with the material world. “I’m working very hard to make things that are dignified but joyful.” - Sheila Hicks

This core of joy in contemporary art really inspires me. Her use of material to achieve colour theory and how she uses threads is really interesting and pushes boundaries of expectations of what we can do with day to day items. #sheilahicks #textileartist #artblog #artistoftheday #artistsoninstagram #artresearch #celebratingart #investigatingart #blog #artist #contemporaryart

Sources Consulted: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Hicks https://www.artsy.net/…/artsy-editorial-84-sheila-hicks…/amp https://www.sheilahicks.com/bio