Patti Kramer
I have always been drawn to texture and color. I received an Associate of Applied Science degree in interior design and also have taken many fiber, weaving, dyeing, batik, ceramic, sculpture, and papermaking classes at colleges and universities in Arizona. I taught art at a parochial school for three years and owned a decorative painting and mural business for ten years. I began creating art full time in 2010.
My favorite art class was Papermaking at ASU in the 80's. What could be more fun than playing with paper pulp? At that time the class was held in a dungeon-like room in the basement of an old building on campus, where a large metal Hollander beater was located. Each student had lab time with the machine. The machine would slowly beat cotton fibers for hours until it became paper pulp. During the process, I would experiment, adding all sorts of items to the cotton pulp - straw, flowers, weeds, old cotton rags (which made "rag paper"), twigs, spices, pigment, and my favorite - colorful cotton threads. A "mould and deckle" (taut screen stretched over a frame) was dipped into the vat of pulp and pulled out again, now with the fibrous pulp attached to the screen. The pulp was transferred from the screen to a couching cloth. The room next door held a large industrial press that squeezed the water out of the sheets, causing the fibers to intertwine and giving strength to the paper. I found it all fascinating and have enjoyed using paper as a medium ever since.
In the early 90's, I pursued my dream of selling art and spent an entire summer creating art for that purpose. I no longer had access to the Hollander machine at ASU, so I purchased premade cotton pulp in five-gallon buckets. I worked for hours dyeing it, adding fibers, making sheets, then tearing them into pieces and creating pictures much like I do today. By the end of the summer I had eight large pieces finished. Artisans Showcase of Scottsdale accepted my artwork and I was excited to have my pieces shown there. Two months later they had a fire and all of my art was lost! I learned the hard way that it is common that consignment work in a gallery isn't covered by a gallery's insurance.
After painting murals and faux finishes for ten years in Casa Grande, AZ, I am now creating art full-time.
In the early 90's, I pursued my dream of selling art and spent an entire summer creating art for that purpose. I no longer had access to the Hollander machine at ASU, so I purchased premade cotton pulp in five-gallon buckets. I worked for hours dyeing it, adding fibers, making sheets, then tearing them into pieces and creating pictures much like I do today. By the end of the summer I had eight large pieces finished. Artisans Showcase of Scottsdale accepted my artwork and I was excited to have my pieces shown there. Two months later they had a fire and all of my art was lost! I learned the hard way that it is common that consignment work in a gallery isn't covered by a gallery's insurance.
After painting murals and faux finishes for ten years in Casa Grande, AZ, I am now creating art full-time.
desertbrush.com desertbrush@gmail.com Studio: 131 W Wilson St Casa Grande, Arizona 85122 520-876-4733 ALL Rights Reserved © 2012 Patti Kramer
