Featured Member Interview: Katherine Stein

What inspires you to create?

I don’t want to sound like a cliché, however just about everything inspires my creativity. From the time I first see the sun rise over the hill to when the sun finally sets spurs my urge to create and color whatever I can. My most recent observation is that pollen looks really awesome when it’s swirling in a puddle of water. 

 

 When did you decide to pursue art, or did art pursue you?

 I’ve always wanted to be an artist, I started with embroidering on a sampler I got at the Ben Franklin store when I was five, and when I made an outfit for the Dolly Derby in Girl Scouts. Eventually I graduated to embroidering my shirts with some wild designs using more complicated crewel stiches (it was the 70’s). In High School I took every art class I could and happily tried as many mediums as I could. I’m always trying one class or another. I’m not afraid to try anything and I’m finally having an impact on my spouse, he and I are going to collaborate on a Jerry’s Artarama mystery box.

If you weren't an artist, what would you be? 

Dead or catatonic.

What other jobs have you had which have aided you on your artistic path?

I really haven’t had any jobs working for anyone else that put me on an artistic path, however, my career as a procurement buyer/planner has pushed me to find creative ways to solve problems and to use art to relieve daily stress levels. In 2011 I started my own art business, Designing Dragonflies; I dye and sell silk scarves wholesale and at Art/Craft Shows. I also sell felted items such as Nuno Felt scarves.

At an art supply store, which section do you gravitate to first?

If I have time, I go through every aisle (you never know what wonderful stuff you’ll find). Since I’ve identified myself as a Fiber Artist, I usually gravitate to stores that carry dyes and fabric paints. However I’ve been getting more into drawing and painting so I’m always on the prowl for good deals for those products. But Askew-Taylor Paints on Glenwood Ave in Raleigh is my favorite place to troll. You NEVER know what you’ll find hidden in the rooms of art supplies.

What new technique or art form would you like to learn?  Do you have plans to do so?

I would like to get more into merging drawing, painting and fiber. I took a class last year that combined both and really loved doing it. I have a couple of projects in my head that I need to get sketched out on a cotton panel and start to create.

 

 

If you could do anything, and knew you could not fail, what would you choose to do?

I would buy an old warehouse or mill; renovate it into a combination of Art studios, meeting rooms/classrooms, gallery and an inn. This way I’d be able to accommodate different artists needing space, provide space for guilds to meet or classrooms (at a reasonable rate) and then sponsor weekend workshops and the inn aspect of it would accommodate students. The gallery would be a co-op of all the artists in the studios.

 

Sounds like a wonderful space, Katherine!  Thanks for the interview.