Biography: Darcy is an interdisciplinary award winning artist and educator based in the Chicago Area. Her mediums include fiber art, mixed media collage, and photography. She received a BS in Ornamental Horticulture from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and continues to self-educate in various art disciplines to develop her cutting edge techniques. After a 25 year career as a landscape designer and environmental planner, she was laid off from her job in the engineering firm. She didn’t let that stop her, she taught art at Joliet Junior College, Joliet School District 86’s After School Art at the After School Art Program and Kids College Nature Programs. She has exhibited widely, including several solo shows, throughout the United States. She has been featured in many Chicago Area newspapers and international magazines. She also has a very good sense of humor.
Artist Statement: The Wisconsin River and its abundance of wildlife was my backyard during my childhood. It was only natural for me to fall in love with nature. Throughout my life, I have used the needle and the eye of the camera to fulfill a passion to create art. When I was seven years old, I began sewing when I was ten years old, I picked up my first camera. For years my focus was on creating garments. Eventually, desiring an even more creative outlet, I turned my attention to creating art quilts and art dolls. After learning the basics of these crafts, I began to apply the “what if” theory. “What if I do this? What will happen?” My work is done in the mediums of fabric and photography. I manipulate fabric through various kinds of painting and dyeing processes which inspire me as my projects develop. Images taken with my camera many times become a source of inspiration that I directly apply to my fiber art. Having been granted a boundless imagination and sense of curiosity, I embellish the typical to create the inspirational Today, my fiber art, collage and photography do not simply exhibit the detail oriented, uncompromising hand of a qualified technician but attention to and careful application of design and color. I strive to make my art become a story that intrigues the viewer and makes them want to know more.
MEDIUM: Fiber Art, Photography, Mixed Media
EDUCATION: BS, Ornamental Horticulture, California State Polytechnic University College of DuPage, Art Joliet Junior College,
Art EXHIBITS: (just a handful to give you an idea) “Celebrating Spring” International Quilt Festival, Chicago, Houston “Vicinity” Norris Culture Arts Center, St. Charles, Illinois Professional Art Quilters Alliance, Naperville Cultural Arts Center “Merge and Flow” Surface Design Association, Minneapolis, MN “A Tenacious Evolution” Solo Show at Gallery 7, Joliet, IL “Stitched Together: Art and Science” Studio Art Quilts Association, Fermi National Lab, Batavia, IL “botanic/organic” Union Street Gallery, Chicago Heights, IL “Always Something…” Midwest Surface Design Association “An Art of Her Own” Collaborative Gallery 7 Morton Arboretum Photographic Society 6th, 7th, 8th , 9th Annual Nature Photography Exhibit “Capturing Nature” Morton Arboretum Photographic Society, Tall Grass Arts Association, Woodridge Public Library, Wasco Nursery “Illumination” Professional Art Quilt Alliance, Great Wisconsin Quilt Show “Stitched Together” Studio Art Quilt Association “Biomimicry” The Fine Line Creative Art Center, St. Charles, Illinois “Generally Eclectic: A Collection of Interdependent Art”, Solo Show, Prairie Center for the Arts “Uncle Bill and Me” Solo Show, Woodridge Public Library “Symmetry” Tall Grass Arts Association, Park Forest, Illinois “Focus on Fabric” Professional Art Quilt Alliance Invitational Exhibit, St. Charles Public Library “New Members Show” PhotoMidWest, Madison, Wisconsin “Collective Awakenings” Chicago Alliance of Visual Artists
TEACHING EXPERIENCE: International Quilt Festival - Chicago Lectures at various Quilt Guilds in the Chicago Region Gallery 7 Workshops, Joliet IL Nature Photography, Pet Photography, Photo meets Art Quilt, Joliet Junior College After School Art Program, Joliet School District 86, Friends of Community Public Art Kids Kollege Nature Programs, Joliet School District 86, Joliet Junior College Photographing Flowers, Joliet Junior College