Brooks Harris Stevens is an artist and Professor at Eastern Michigan University where she has been the Fibers program coordinator in the School of Art & Design since 2007. She received her BFA in Fibers from Savannah College of Art and Design and a MFA in Fibers from East Carolina University, School of Art and Design. Brooks is continually inspired through the creation of installations and three-dimensional fiber based work with interdisciplinary approaches challenging the fiber medium. Her current research focuses on the mending of cloth, land and architecture inspired by various cultural observations. She has lectured on textile practices in Europe and the U.S. while exhibiting work in solo, group, and juried exhibitions nationally and internationally. Currently, Brooks has work included in Guns: Loaded Conversations, which exhibited at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, San Jose, California: April 22, 2018 – July 15, 2018 and will travel to the New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, Massachusetts: January 9, 2019 – April 6, 2019. Additionally, she is preparing new work for the Biennial Fiber Art Fair at the Seoul Arts Center in Seoul, South Korea, May 24-31, 2019.
Artist Statement:
Working as an inter-disciplinary artist I escape in the creation of work that is deeply rooted in the history of textiles. I seek to express my personal experiences and relationship with cloth using various materials and techniques that are associated within my human experience. These cultivated experiences help to inform every choice of material, each stitch, cut and fold when making work. Just as I am drawn to the touch of materials and their inherent qualities, I equally rely on personal experiences that ultimately unify concept with technique.
Over the past several years my work has shifted to focus on various cultural observations through a universal act of mending. The common act of mending is one that has been practiced worldwide since the making of utilitarian objects connecting us all to the use, understanding and appreciation of how these objects and materials serve significant roles in our lives. The understanding and love of cloth is one that continually drives my curiosity and artistic interpretation of our world. I find value in not always taking the traditional route regarding my artwork as it is important to discover new ways of creating work that advances the ever-changing boundaries in textiles. Through the repetitive acts of mending worn cloth, the landscape and the built environment allow me to find a place of discovery and understanding while making. http://brooksfiberart.com
- BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design
- MFA from East Carolina University
Associate Professor at Eastern Michigan University bsteve10@emich.edu
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