It's First Friday!

Elizabeth Woodford will be the featured artist in a new show opening First Friday, September 6, at Artful Dimensions Gallery in Fredericksburg. The show, entitled Colors of Happy: Adventures in Textiles and Fiber, includes jewelry, art quilts, scarves, and more.

When the family pets are sheep, when your grandmother teaches you cross-stitch with your ABCs, when your mother spins and weaves, you have a head start in the fiber/textile field. Elizabeth has experience as well with metalsmithing, stained glass, found-object collage, and porcelain and stoneware; she has integrated all her knowledge to a cohesive artistic vision that informs all her work and enables her to teach with clarity and understanding. Her workshops are always rich, intriguing and popular.

Oceans have been Elizabeth’s art supply stores. Waves, sand, shells, wood -- you will find their echoes in her work, as well as their literal presence. And gardens grow in her work as well; she gathers seeds, leaves, flowers and ferns to imprint their forms on cotton, linen and silk. If today she is outdoors sun-printing fabric pieces, tomorrow Elizabeth will be turning bits of fabric, ribbon, beads and thread into a landscape collage, a flirty scarf, or an intricate bracelet. From such unlikely sources as cast-offs and scraps, she brings together coherence and beauty. Poppies grow in cheerful profusion among Queen Anne’s lace in a sunny field in one wall piece; a bracelet captures a breaking ocean wave in a lacy swirl of beads. Plump fabric birds hover, dangling from ribbons against the wall or lazily rotating with a free hanger. Abstract shapes pulse and blossom, with here and there a sparkle of beads or a defining line of colored stitching. A long scarf sports silk roses organically growing out of its own silk-and-felt substance. Elizabeth’s scarves are never boring rectangles. They curve and flutter, gently caressing and flowing when worn. You can’t look at Elizabeth’s work and not feel your heart lift. Maybe you can stop yourself smiling, but it will take some work!

Adventures in Textiles and Fiber runs through September 30 at Artful Dimensions Gallery. Artful Dimensions is located at 911 Charles Street in Fredericksburg. Telephone: 540-899-6319Hours are 12-6 PM Tuesday through Thursday, and Sunday. www.artfuldimensionsgallery.com •http://artfuldimensions.blogspot.com • artful dimensions on Facebook