23 - Caron McCloud
McCloud Covers
Baker Block Building
211 Taylor Street, No. 35
Port Townsend, WA 98368
Telephone: 360.379.1235
caronmccloud@olypen.com
www.caronmccloud.com/
Pieced & appliquéd fabric
“The Fence”
4’x4’
Wall hanging
Demonstration:
Artist will be working and available to demonstrate technique. Works will be on display.
Directions to studio:
The Baker Block Building is located in downtown Port Townsend at the corner of Taylor and Water Streets. “McCloud Covers” is located on 211 Taylor, 3rd floor, Studio #35. Parking in downtown is typically difficult with 2 hr. limits. Additional parking possibilities on Washington and Jefferson Streets.
Artist statement:
I have always been involved in the creative process. My earliest memories are those of writing, drawing, coloring, painting, and making things with tools and the skills my mother taught me such as sewing, crocheting, knitting and carpentry.
My love of fabric started with the wonderful printed cotton sacks in which the feed companies used to package grains for various farm animals. As a child, watching my mother empty those sacks to feed our chickens, and then convert them into beautiful little dresses for me, introduced me to a magic I would pursue throughout my life. When I picture my mother in my mind, I see her rubbing a piece of material between her fingers, “testing the goods.” Our fascination and amazement at all the textiles and materials with which we are constantly in contact led to a career in the fashion industry for both of us. I also owned and operated art galleries in Sausalito and Sonoma, California. I am proud that our legacy in the arts continues with my daughter, Shiloh McCloud, who now has her own art gallery in Mendocino, California.
Though I have left the fashion and art gallery professions and am now a writer, I continue to be involved in the visual arts. Our former business of designing and manufacturing clothing has provided me with a vast collection of fabrics and remnants, which, along with other items, are pieced and appliquéd to create what I call “McCloud Covers” – coverings for body, bed, and wall. I also design using themes and color schemes customized to my individual client’s taste. Some of my pieces are created to illustrate my writing, and I am currently working on one inspired by my recently published book, RACHEL’S BAG, In Search of the Qabalah of Our Mothers.
Working with my hands provides me with a much needed balance and reprieve from the intense concentration and involuted process of writing. I love the feel of the “goods” of my palette of textiles and I love putting together the pieces in my “artist’s dream of a perfect studio” in the Baker Block Building, in the “artist’s dream of a perfect town” Port Townsend, Washington.