Low Rider, nestled on the corner of Hygiene Rd and N 75th St, is an oasis of “found beauty and shared stories”. The Low Rider team spends their days road-tripping in a sea foam green vintage Bronco in pursuit of the next find they can bring back to life and send off to its next home, but in between days on the road, they are passionate about finding local artists in the community to feature in the shop, from selling their art, jewelry and goods to hosting classes, young artist pop-ups and art shows. LowRider is hosting a show of "Women in Fiber" at the beginning of October, featuring Julie Rothschild, Maryanne Quinn, and Darcie Shively.
Why Fiber?
JR: I am fascinated by the active relationship between myself, the fibers I am working with and the loom, be it a frame or floor loom. I feel a simultaneous strength and fragility in my materials, much as I do in my body.
MQ: I found my confidence as an artist using this soft lovely medium. Wool is an amazing material to layer, fray, blend, cut, sew, felt, shrink, poke, knead—it’s a messy physical process, yet the end result is so refined.
DS: I came into fiber when I learned knitting at Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins in 2011. They also had a number of looms and classes, so I decided to give it a shot, not realizing it would become the medium of my art. I was always drawn to textiles traveling, especially through Latin America and India. I loved seeing how weavings could express so many different cultural ideas.
What in your past has brought you to this creative place in your life currently?
JR: I am a dancer and dance maker with hundreds of un-performed, or not yet performed, ideas in my notebooks. I think of what I am making now as material choreographies. It’s not that I am suddenly making those dances, but that I am following similar dance-making impulses with my materials.
MQ: As a kid, I spent my summers on the beach. I used to collect small creatures, driftwood, shells, and sea glass. The first works I created were sculptures using these elements. At that same time, I was drawing and painting the flowers that my mother grew in her garden.
DS: When I moved to Boulder in 2010, I took a year off and did a project called 52 To Do, where I learned something new every week for a year. It helped me shift from a workaholic mentality to reconnecting with my creative side. I don't think I could have ever gone straight from advertising to weaving without that exploration and space to see what I really enjoyed making.
What are the joys and challenges of working with fiber?
JR: I love the moment of taking a work off the frame. Removing that structural tension changes it in ways I can’t entirely predict.
MQ: Joy is creating my own view of nature that is both fantastical and representational.
DS: I love how color takes to wool, and I love the joy of finding wool in New Mexico from people who have carried on the tradition there.
If you were not creating art, what would be your go-to for self-expression?
JR: I don’t do so well when I’m not making art, be it dance or fiber or metal. If I’m not physically creating, I have pencil and paper on hand to keep track of my ideas.
MQ: Gardening, working in a flower greenhouse, or walking the beach collecting and painting seashells.
DS: Pie making
Who or what inspires you?
JR: My inspiration of the moment is the group of women I just had dinner with in this tiny village in Scotland: artists, nurses, mothers, totally humble badasses.
MQ: Aside from my already expressed connection with nature, I would say I am inspired by the power of carefully chosen color in art. Color is a most important component of my work.
DS: Nature is always a source of inspiration and we live in a place where we get to really enjoy a close relationship with it. I am also heavily inspired by the unknown and forming a relationship with that in my weavings.
Julie Rothschild @julierothschild / JRMade.studio
Maryanne Quinn @maryanne_quinn_art / MaryanneQuinn.com
Darcie Shively @awovenchannel / DarcieShively.com
Low Rider Gallery
Artist in Studio
October 5 and 6, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
October 12 and 13, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm