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Arts & Entertainment

Artist Blends Techniques to Create Three-Dimensional Fiber Art

Natalie Shudt creates organic yet architectural art displayed in Occoquan.

Natalie Shudt blends color, form and texture in her fiber art, currently displays her work at the Loft Gallery in Occoquan. 

Shudt’s focus is on creating three-dimensional fiber sculptures and vessels, silk sculptures, and two-dimensional art.  Her inspiration is both botanical and architectural.  She is best known for making these free flowing organic yet architectural pieces by stitching the silk in sculptures.

She begins her process by sketching.  Then, she finds her fabrics. 

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“There is back and forth planning and then just letting it happen.  I pick what I come back to,” explained Shudt. 

Quilting is a common technique found within Shudt’s work. A stunning piece of art within her studio utilizes the patchwork quilting technique to create a colorful framed picture of intricate design.

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Shudt first found art at a campground her parents built in the 1970s.  While living within a 4H community, she took the drawing, painting and sewing classes that were offered.  Art may have run in the family, as her dad was a wood worker, but her parents never considered themselves artists.

At about 12 years old, academics became Shudt’s focus.  She studied intensely and grew up to become a successful business strategy consultant.  Her career took her all over the world to places such as Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Thailand.  In Thailand, she fell in love with fabrics and silks, which continues to inspire her today.

Shudt has a BA from Wellesley College and a MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. She is a member of The Art League, Washington Project for the Arts, Studio Art Quilt Associates, and the MIT Entrepreneurship Society.

In the 1990s, Shudt taught herself to quilt.  She made quilts for pleasure and gave them as gifts.  At this time, Shudt would work an 80-hour week and then be up until 2 a.m. quilting.  Eventually, she set aside quilting to have children, but it was always in the back of her mind that she’d like to do something in art with more structure.

When the Workhouse Arts Center opened, she toured it on the way home, which inspired her to buy materials like canvas and paint.  The next month, she submitted a tulip painting to a juried show held by the Workhouse Art Guild.    As an afterthought, she also brought along a fabric piece she had constructed, which ended up getting more attention at the show.  The second fabric piece she made got her a recruiting call from the cooperative gallery she is at now in Occoquan.  A few weeks later, she received a call to inform her she now had her “art home” within the gallery.

Shudt said, “I love being in Occoquan.  It’s a great fit. I love the feel of it.” 

She is proud to bring her friends and family to the gallery to show her work as well as all the other talent.  Shudt has been married 15 years and has three daughters who like coming to the art gallery.

In April 2011, Shudt was awarded the Strauss Fellowship from the Arts Council of Fairfax County.  This provided a cash grant to buy materials and offset expenses.  She gets silks from India and Thailand.  She goes to hunt for fabrics.  It’s about possibilities.

“My art is realizing a vision, approaching it in a way and doing things in a way they haven’t been done before by using materials in a way that’s unusual.”

In the future, Shudt sees herself making larger pieces than the table top sculptures she usually makes.  She wants to go bigger and create more
armature.  Her work is currently displayed at the Loft Gallery as well as within her studio space in the Loft Gallery Art Center in Occoquan. She also exhibits in galleries in the greater Washington, DC area and in juried shows. Private and corporate commissions are welcome.

For more information on Natalie Shudt and her artwork, visit www.loftgallery.org or www.natalieshudt.com.

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