Aida Ayers\, Deborah Kuster\, Melissa Lash brook\, Lisa Thorpe\, and Emily Moll Wood present "Messengers & \; Messages" \;
\nFive Fiber Artist\, five messengers\, five ways of looking at the world and sharing ideas\, five approaches to fiber art and five voices sharing their art.
\nAlice &ldquo\
;Aida&rdquo\; \;Ayers
www.aliceaida.com \;/ \;www.hearnefineart.com \;
Aida is an interdisciplinary ar tist and arts educator whose career spans over three decades across the Am ericas\, Africa\, and Europe. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a \;Mas ter&rsquo\;s degree in Art Education\, and her professional journey has in cluded residencies in theatre\, visual arts\, and art therapy\, as well as roles as an adjunct professor. \;
\nSince 1989\, Ayers has been a dedicated teaching artist\, completing residencies in more than 300 sch ools\, colleges\, community centers\, and libraries. She has designed and led art programs\, art therapy initiatives\, and restorative practices for diverse audiences\, while also collaborating with government agencies to organize community events such as art camps\, mural projects\, and cultura l exchanges. \;
\nIn both the studio and classroom\, she encoura ges students to question assumptions\, examine their relationships to idea s\, and connect insights to broader cultural and societal contexts. \; Ayers&rsquo\; personal artwork in textile arts explores spirituality\, tra dition\, and belief systems drawn from African and American cultures. She works with ethnic\, hand-dyed\, and repurposed fabrics\, found objects\, a nd collected artifacts\, using layering and hand-stitching to create rich textures that reimagine the practices of her childhood through a contempor ary lens. \;
\nIn addition to her visual arts practice\, Ayers i s the author of three books: \;It&rsquo\;s \;Me \;I&rsquo\;m&n bsp\;Running From\, \;Tomorrow&rsquo\;s Garden\, and \;Lead with L ove. Her work as an artist\, educator\, and author reflects a lifelong com mitment to cultural exploration\, creative expression\, and community tran sformation. \;
\nDeborah Kuster \;
www.deborahkuster.com \;
Deborah Kuster (Ph.D.) is currently Professor Emeritus of Art at the Un iversity of Central Arkansas\, having had the honor of preparing future ar t teachers in her 16 years tenure there. \;Her \;life&rsquo\;s&nbs p\;career is in the field of art education\, \;with \;experiences& nbsp\;teaching all ages in schools\, museums\, and community o rganizations in Texas and Arkansas. \;She \;creates her two- and t hree-dimensional art by cutting\, collaging\, and sewing her personally ha nd-woven textiles. She \;states: &ldquo\;I am always amazed how my pas t weavings will fit into new artworks in ways I could have never predicted . My art has been my \;teacher \;and it has enriched my own teachi ng\, mindfulness\, and faith. \;
\nMo Lashbrook Mo Lashbrook is a practicing mixed media artist and hobby farmer.
She honors nature and time through layers of abandoned objects\, cyanotype
\, and fibers. Her work is full of symbolism and has evolved to include ma
terials grown on her farm. Mo received a BA in fine art and MA in teaching
from the University of Central Arkansas. She was a military pilot and art
educator for many years. She served with the Cabot Foundation for Arts &a
mp\; Culture and was an Artist Inc. Fellow. Mo is a member of the Central
Arkansas Art Collective\, and her work is part of the Arkansas Arts Counci
l&rsquo\;s permanent collection. Lisa Thorpe Lisa Thorpe is a mixed media fiber arti
st and educator based in Little Rock\, Arkansas. Her visual work is idea a
nd story driven and often connected to words and writing. The art created
is both personal and universal. Driven to pique and poke\, she strives to
invite discussion and discovery\, reflection\, and wonder. Over th
e years Thorpe has explored many mediums\, for the past ten years her focu
s has been on fiber and fabric art. Dyeing\, printing\, and marking her ow
n fabric\, and using photos printed on fabric of to create art. She is dra
wn to the use of fabric and stitch as a reference the tradition of stitch
as a feminine art that clothes and covers and comforts. Her work plays wit
h the boundaries of what is quilting\, what is photography\, what is art.
Her work reaches back to her foremothers&rsquo\; quilt making as an expres
sion of self\, a comfort and gift for those who encounter it. Thor
pe has a BA in Design from University of California\, Davis and an Art Tea
ching Credential from San Francisco State University. Her identity is equa
l parts artist + educator and she loves to share what she has learned in h
er creative explorations. To that end\, she has published writings and art
in About Place Journal and Cold Mountain Review and numerous technique an
d inspiration articles in Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines
. Thorpe was a featured artist both Quilting Art TV PBS season 2024 and Th
e Quilt Show in 2022. teaches at quilt guilds throughout the country and a
t national and international art quilt venues. Most recently\, at the Inte
rnational Quilt Festival in Houston\, the Gulf States Quilt Festival in Ba
ton Rouge and the SAQA(Studio Art Quilt Association) conference in Toronto
Emily Moll Wood Emily Moll Wood is a
visual artist who paints a lot of flowers and portraits. Lately the two su
bjects have been combined to explore the hidden labor of women. She holds
a Master of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and
has taught painting classes for over 15 years\, most being at the Arkansa
s Museum of Fine Arts. Her work has won awards in numerous juried exhibiti
ons and can be found in many private and public collections such as the Hi
storic Arkansas Museum and the Springfield (Missouri) Art Museum.
www.molashbrook.com \;<
/p>\n
www
.lisathorpe.com \;
www.emilymollwood.com \;