Morgan Clifford is a professor of art at UW-River Falls. Clifford has a B.A. from Beloit College and an M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She attended Statens Laereskole I Forming in Notodden, Norway to study textiles. She taught the fibers program at Macalester College before coming to UW-River Falls in 1990. She has received grants to study textiles in Indonesia and Japan and has recently spent time in Peru studying Precolumbian textiles.
Put me in most modern fabric stores and I’m completely bored, but dangle some ancient rag made of handspun, hand woven materials in front of me and I’m right there with you. I am endlessly fascinated by what happens when threads are crisscrossed and grids and squares are created. The compositional devices of checks, checkerboards, and lattices are natural extensions of the woven structure, so I use them in my work. Color is critical. A textile that glows because of beautiful colors and patinas doesn’t need to have a complex composition. I have a strong physical and tactile response to the linen, silk, hemp, and handspun nettles (“aloo” from Nepal) that I work with. If I didn’t, I doubt that the final piece would succeed. When people see my work up close they often tell me “I just want to touch it”. Exactly. morganclifford.com
- B.A. from Beloit College
- M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art
Professor of Art (Fibers) UW River Falls www.uwrf.edu
NAFTAE 