Mary Anne Jordan

Mary Anne Jordan is a Professor in the Textile Program in the Department of Visual Art, School of the Arts, at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. She received her MFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art, and BFA at the University of Michigan. Her work has been shown nationally across the US and internationally in Japan, Poland, South America, France, Canada. In 2005-2006 Jordan was a Research Fellow at the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska. She has taught workshops at Arrowmont, Haystack, Penland, Splitrock, and the Quilt and Surface Design Symposium. Jordan’s work has been published in various exhibition catalogs, magazines and journals such as Fiberarts, Surface Design Journal, American Craft.

I use fabric, color, and pattern as a method to construct metaphors for our culture, lives, and bodies. I strive to create work that is honest and straight forward, and make visual statements that magnify the perfections and flaws of every-day life.

My Ideas are inspired by art-making processes, art history, and various contemporary resources. With a long-lasting affinity for textiles and associated histories, a wide range of textile traditions has been a great source of inspiration. My deep interest and research in textiles has taken me many places conceptually, and physically in the world; it will continue to lead me to places yet to be explored. The large universe of possibilities has always informed my work as an artist: current events, popular culture, life at home, observations from nature, and close encounters with art (of both the great, and not-so-great kinds).

My work recurrently alludes to issues of domesticity and every-day-life. I use traditional sewing and quilting processes to create the work. At the same time, the patterns and images convey a sense of “defiance.” Marks are made carefully, then deliberately allowed to flow/bleed/weep. The marks that “happen” in the process of making things by hand are preserved: drips, stains, blemishes, bleeding dye. Evidence of the personal mark and human body is of utmost importance. Human evidence is portrayed by a “careless” mark, (a crooked seam, a frayed edge) or indication of use (the mark left by a wet glass, stains, holes, drips, splatters, smears).

The processes I use to create my work include fabric dyeing, painting, screen-printing, fabric piecing, and quilting. Drawings also precede the start of each work. I organize shapes and patterns… cutting, piecing, painting, dyeing, and composing. The layering and juxtaposition of shapes and color on fabric allows personal narratives to emerge. I use fabric, color, and pattern to build the work while making and adjusting ideas and decisions at each step . The planned and happenstance….each day we make decisions, large and small. Likewise, each work results from the questions posed, the decisions made, and the process of making.

http://www.maryanne-jordan.com