Featured Artist: Sheila Hicks

We are excited to share a new Featured Artist Series of fiber artists from the past and present. Check back twice a month to learn about the work that is inspiring the makers of the Modern Macramé studio and those of our fellow community. For our first post, we are featuring one of our favorites, Sheila Hicks. 

Sheila Hicks is considered the mother thinker of all form fiber making. Instinctively so, her exposure to the craft began as a child following her grandmother’s love of knitting, making her ‘thread conscious’ at a young age. From knitting to weaving to wrapping to knot tying, Hicks’ fiber knowledge has been developed through experiencing it all. 

While she is best known for large-scale sculptural installations, Hicks has also been a prolific maker of miniature textiles. 

Using a handloom, she incorporates unexpected yet natural materials like porcupine quills, feathers, steel fibers, and bamboo into small abstract compositions.

Hicks studied under the color theorist, Josef Albers, and was encouraged by Albers’ wife and profound weaver, Anni, to explore fiber art by traveling to culturally rich places such as Colombia, Morocco, Chile, Peru, India, and Bolivia.

At Modern Macramé, we are especially inspired by Sheila Hicks' striking use of color, inherited through her travels around the world, and are excited to offer materials for other fiber artists to explore the joy of combining colors and different materials within their fiber artwork!

Check out the shop for our current palette and check back for new colors soon to come!

Images were found on the artist's website and Artsy.