By Peggy Mackenzie
Fabric artist Shoshanna Schwimmer is a color enthusiast, no doubt about it, and the exhibit at the Greenbrier Valley Visitors Center offers a taste of Schwimmer’s creative take – and dependence – on nature.
“Whenever possible,” she says, “I’m outdoors, cutting brush, pruning, growing food and flowers. When the last flowers have died in fall, I search my fabrics and beads, hungry for color.”
As she explained in a quote from The Greenbrier Quarterly, “I pick a color scheme that feels nourishing.”
Schwimmer’s layered fabric designs employ richly colored papers, laces, ribbons, beads and costume jewelry applied to a surface, which are then pieced together “until they satisfy my sense of beauty. Then I pare down – less is better.”
Schwimmer has always “looked for beauty since the sandbox, but never expected to be an artist.”
In fact, at one time, Schwimmer’s focus was on acquiring a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, studying French, Italian, and Russian, long before she began taking art classes.
Now a committed, innovative and original artist, Schwimmer’s work can be found at art shows and at the annual Greenbrier Valley Theatre auction, and in private collections in the U.S. and Canada.
Schwimmer’s Fabric & More exhibit will be on display at the Greenbrier Valley Visitors Center throughout the month of June. Stop in any day of the week and take in the colors. The Visitors Center is at 200 W Washington Street, 304-645-1000. It’s open now Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. and Sunday, 12 noon-5 p.m.
