Spotlight: Paula Gron, Fiber Artist

Always an artist, Paula Gron has evolved from creating sculptural baskets to designing and constructing 3D fiber art. Inspired by nature, she explores life-giving seeds and pods. Her experience in painting, weaving, sewing and fabric manipulation gives her the technical skills to create these amazing art pieces.

How did you find yourself on an artist’s path? Always there? Lightbulb moment? Dragged kicking and screaming? Evolving?

I was an artist right out of the womb, creating with my imagination at a very young age.

Why fiber art? How does that medium best express what you want to communicate through your art? What different creative media do you use in your work?

Being interested in fashion, I learned to sew in my teens. In fact, I was a do-it-yourselfer in many areas due to a struggling budget as a young adult! I graduated from a private art college in the 70s with a major in advertising design and a minor in (fashion) illustration.

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Being the ever practical one, I learned to crochet and knit. After college, I took a weaving class at a local textile center but discovered quickly that I wanted to make my weavings three-dimensional. I then took a basketweaving class, at first creating and showing traditional basket work. Eventually, this led to my sculptural basketry which, looking back, were amphoric in shape and abstract in concept but indeed were my first pod-like structures that were inspired by nature.

Golden Trumpet fiber art by Paula Gron — Golden Trumpet

I have an award-winning 30-year exhibition and teaching record as a basketmaker, while still working professionally as a graphic designer and illustrator. It didn’t hurt to be married to a professor of sculpture who helped with constructive criticism along the way!

About 10 years ago, arthritis in my hands and the rising prices of commercial reed, had forced me to turn to the sewing machine for assistance.

Observing the beauty from decay that comes when plants are breaking down to send forth seeds, I realized that seeds are the most complex structure that a plant produces. I rely on my experience in painting, weaving, sewing, and fabric manipulation to select the process needed to construct these forms. My arsenal of basketmaking techniques also contain coiling, plaiting, twining, and knotless netting if needed!

Are there recurring themes in your work? What is it about a subject that inspires you to continue exploring it?

Recurring themes in my work are the forms of these life-giving seeds and the pods they come from. I continue to be fascinated with their complexity, always giving me inspiration for unusual dimensional construction.

It must be the vessel itself and the opening force of that vessel to release something, that continues to intrigue me. Or maybe, it is the closing and holding within.

Where do you find your inspiration for your designs?

A walk in nature is always inspirational depending on where I am living at the time, but I also research books and online materials for clear visuals. These include Seeds by Kesseler and Stuppy, Nature as Designer by Bertel Bager and any written works or photographs by Karl Blossfeldt. The Art of Annemieke Mein (Search Press) is not only close to my heart but also to the way I work.

Online resources are www.kew.org/wakehurst and the international resource for endangered plant life at www.iucnredlist.org especially since I am not a trained botany scientist!

Herbarium Data Sheet fiber art by Paula Gron — Herbarium Data Sheet

Do you do series work? How does that affect your approach?

Yes, I have worked in a series particularly when I received help from the scientists at our local botanic gardens. They gave me access to their archives, showing me herbarium data sheets.

These are a collection of plant specimens preserved on archival pages, labeled and stored in an organized manner that facilitates access. The labels indicate the location where the plant was growing, the collector and the date collected.

That was my lightbulb moment to recreate them in fabric on canvas. My approach there needed to rely on my other skills as an artist!

Science Knows fiber art by Paula Gron — Science Knows

What do you do differently? What is your signature that makes your work stand out as yours?

I think those working in quilt technique three-dimensionally are few and far between. Painting on a substrate non-woven material is rare and certainly making a stiff paper model beforehand for one-of-a-kind patterns is unusual.

Addressing endangerment of plants in the wild is new for me but certainly in line with public awareness. For me, it is a very logical transition from my gut reaction to vessel forms opening or blossoming out.

What do you do to develop your skills? How do you get better at what you do?

Any artist gets better at what they do by the doing. The problem solving that comes with every creative attempt just leads to new directions for the next piece. That is also how skills develop but the main point is to be fearless!

When I was “working for a living” and flubbed something up during my precious time off, it bothered me tremendously. Retirement gave me greater freedom to fail but an artist should really embrace that at any stage. That is how we learn to revise the concept and do a better job next time.

Conk Fungi fiber art by Paula Gron — Conk Fungi

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?

I have no problem at all with motivation partly because of my very fidgety hands and partly because the ideas keep flowing.

If I feel a little stuck on what to do next, I either get out some materials to play with, look at the work of other fiber artists, or go back to my research. Photos of unusual plant life are always a great motivator, visualizing the 3-D form from the photo seems to come easy to me.

When it comes to creating, are you more of a planner or an improviser?

I am definitely more of a planner probably because of my commercial art background. I always want to be ahead of any deadline.

Actually, I consider myself a designer-craftsmen instead of a fine artist. I tend to see the design very clearly in my mind and assemble the materials accordingly.

Bearded Iris fiber art by Paula Gron — Bearded Iris

When is your most productive creative time?

My energy level is, at this age, in the morning! But I do have a sweet spot for 2-5 pm especially to keep rolling on an idea.

I never sit in front of a TV without something to work on, most often some final hand stitching is done in the evenings.

Are you a “finisher”? How many UFOs do you think you have?

It makes me crazy not to finish something!

I sometimes work on 3-4 things at a time which may include something functional for myself or a family member but the art projects and/or their parts will not sit around very long before I get back to them.

Do you have a dedicated space for creating? If so, what does it look like? Where does the magic happen?

We only had one child so my studio space has always been a spare bedroom especially as needed when I freelanced as a commercial artist. Back then, my husband claimed my “hobby” was done in the whole house which it was at times!

One of my recent brilliant ideas was to put a stainless steel kitchen sink in the guest bath as we were remodeling it. As a basketmaker, I used to soak reed in a bathtub all the time. But this sink is great for rinsing paint, or for hand dyeing fabric.

Paula's art supplies — Paula’s art supplies

Since the child flew the nest, I have one bedroom as my fiber studio, which includes the closet, while the other bedroom is my “drawing/painting” room where my vintage solid oak drafting table lives. I’ve got a single daybed in there (hotel reservations for guests!), otherwise it is taken up with more fiber art on the walls and art supplies…some for my grandson when he visits. The “cloffice” in there is where we keep our computer.

Special tools Paula uses to create her art

What is your favorite lesser-known tool for your trade? Have you taken something designed for another use and repurposed it for your studio?

The tool that I absolutely have to use now is my needle nose pliers. I have such arthritis in my index fingers, the knuckles of my right hand index are actually fused! When hand-stitching through thick layers I sometimes have to us the pliers to push and pull my needle.

Upholstery needles are also a must, especially the curved ones, that help getting around tight corners. And one little known tool from my advertising work in pre-computer days is the C-THRU manual french curve strip.

Do you use a sketchbook or journal? How does that help your work develop?

Yes, I’ve always used a sketchbook and tracing paper… tools left over from my commercial illustration days. I can visualize and draw the 3-D work from a couple angles and write notes about how I would put it together, but I can’t figure out what is feasible until I trace out patterns on index board, cut and assemble them.

How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?

I always have more than one project going at a time and never let much time lapse between projects if I can avoid it. But life happens with grandparent duties, doctor appointments, exercise, or meeting with friends in my local textile guild.

Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?

The most important part of my process is observation. I look at how many lobes a pod has, its veining, how it is attached to the stem, how it opens and how many seeds it may have.

Once I identify the shape of a lobe, I work on a pattern that might need several “darts” to go from flat to dimensional. If the connection of the lobes is simple, I don’t worry about assembling all the pattern lobes beforehand.

However, many times I need to make multiple similar patterns, tape the darts together and see whether all curves in the pattern line up including those that may attach to leaves, a stamen, etc. I then may need to adjust the pattern accordingly.

Paula working on making one of her patterns

If the piece will be freestanding, I use heavier chip board to make sure it stands up and consult the sculptor I live with on the dynamics of doing so. Since, he works in metal, he has occasionally, supplied weights for the bottom of my pieces.

I then trace the patterns onto fusible interfacing adding 1/2” seam allowance around the edges. At the same time, I can prepare the other pieces of the quilt sandwich. I trace the pattern to heavy Pellon® (with no seam allowances) as well as to the paper side of Heat-n-Bond® (with seam allowances). The Heat-n-Bond® is for the underside of the backing fabric so I need to be sure to flip the pattern if the shape is not symmetrical!

I also use the pattern to transfer its outline to tracing paper and plan the couching and quilt stitches. Whether the interfacing is cut out or not, I then paint the non-glue side with Lumiere® metallic acrylic, painting into the pattern edges.

Paula painting on the substrate she uses for her art pieces

Once dry, I couch down decorative threads according to my drawing. I use a cording foot on the machine, a 90/12 needle and variegated thread. I use rather long running zigzag so the cord colors can show through. With the bonded backing fabric and the Pellon middle, I am ready to stitch my sandwich.

Paula sandwiching the layers for her 3D fiber art

I find it best to straight stitch around the edges of the sandwiched pieces to secure top to bottom before beginning my quilt stitches. I also use the same variegated thread for the quilting. The process is repeated for all remaining lobes and assemble any seeds.

Sometimes the seeds are a few stuffed constructions that will be inserted in the pods later and sometimes they are many little sandwiched interfacing/pellon/interfacing pieces, which need to be hand stitched together and added to burst forth from the pod.

I’m then ready to sew all the darts together right sides facing, do a tight zigzag around the seams close to the stitching then cut it neatly and flip the construction right sides out. Sometimes much hand stitching follows to assemble all the parts.

How is your work different than it was in the beginning? How is it the same?

My work, as I mentioned, is not much different from my previous weaving and sculptural basketry. Again, the vessel or containment form, holding and/or opening up in bloom to release seeds or just showing decay after the seeds are gone.

I’m a bit of an activist now that I have the time to “make good trouble” so interjecting a cultural issue in the work seemed logical. When calls for entry have a theme promoting awareness, I quite often have been accepted.

Quilt shows are opening up more and more to three dimensional quilting (layered and stitched) artwork. I can now say I have a long show record as a textile artist!