Artist Statement/Biography

Artist Statement

Working in fabric, I use abstract, graphic imagery to reflect structure, place, movement, and light. Fabric is a tactile experience that goes back as far as I can remember, and as each of my many artistic talents seemed to fall away, one by one, fabric has remained the medium that remains a constant in my heart. I began as a quiltmaker, but was immediately distinguished by a different drummer that became the “discovery” of a voice. My move into fine art was by necessity; how else was I to express what I saw and sensed with every part of my mind and body. I find myself experiencing a moment with every sense, including the sixth, and recollection and detail comes as an immediate idea that needs a place to land. I don’t know that it matters what I decide to focus on. It only matters that I get to as close a sensibility as I can, and find a way to visually express it.

The Rising Series (Cities) attempts to capture the hope and resilience that humanity creates when building up and above, reaching for the sky and the aspirations for the best of human civilization. The Sails Series (Soaring) understands how soul and spirit attempt to create what we can to capture the metaphorically larger forces of wind, water and the physical world to make our way with perseverance, uncertainty, and often joy.

Biography

Allegra Brelsford was born in New York City and moved to Vermont as a child where living on the land while making and working with one's hands became a way of life. She has studied dance, theater, painting, drawing and music throughout much of her life. She began her formal art training at The Putney School and Marlboro College, where she earned a Bachelor's in Theater (Directing), before completing her Masters in Arts at Smith College in Theater History, Literature and Criticism. She began making quilts in 1995 and soon after was seeking out teachers who could help her translate the medium to fine art. She has studied art, design, and quiltmaking with Nancy Crow, Rosalie Dace, Lisa Call, David Hornung and at local universities and art centers.

Allegra Brelsford has shown and sold her work at many exclusive fine craft shows in the northeastern United States, through the Studio Art Quilters Association, and online. She is a member of The Textile Study Group of New York, Studio Art Quilters Association, and the American Craft Council. Currently Allegra works in her main studio on Long Island Sound in Connecticut and in New York City, using collage and her own hand-dyed fabrics to design and build her often large, colorful, and finely-textured two-dimensional work.