Ren LaDassor – October 6-8
https://www.instagram.com/morethansheseams
Ren LaDassor has worked in the textile industry for over 30 years. She has worked in TV, Film and Broadway and now the majority of her time is spent on textile art. She is an Arkansas native and earned her BFA in costume design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She then spent her 20s working in New York City. She now lives in Madison, Wisconsin, and works as a textile artist, graphic designer and costume designer.
Ren’s body of work uses fiber and wood to capture intimate portraits of the random perfection of nature. She strives to manifest the perfection of a woodland scene and lock it into a permanent art form, in a way a photograph cannot. Influenced by her home in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum in Madison, she looks out over the forest every day, watching it morph, blossom, thrive and fade. Using wood from felled trees, driftwood or other forest detritus, she creates preserved specimens of nature. The artistry is finding the balance between the regular and irregular. Her goal is to recreate the messy chaos of wooden decay and plant growth and she encourages the viewer to look closely and witness every stitch.
In-person and Virtual Lecture: Tues, Oct 6: 9:30 am (CT): Moss as Muse
Ren’s lecture will focus on her career in the fiber arts beginning in television and Broadway in the highly collaborative arts, to solo artist, and now back to collaborative arts as a teacher. It will include anecdotes of how her art came to be and getting to know her art through the naming process. Stories of public reaction to her art will also be included.
In-Person Workshop: Sculptural Moss Embroidery
Tues, Oct 6: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Wed, Oct 7: 9:30 am – 4:00 pm
Thurs, Oct 8: 9:30 am – 4:00 pm
In this workshop, we will explore the process of making sculptural moss embroidery. Everyone will start with one of Ren’s kits and will then spend time together as a group combining embroidery floss, roving, beading and real wood to create a unique bed of moss. Technical knowledge of color theory and practical sewing techniques will be covered.