Think sugar coated bundles of detail and slight oddness combined to make unpainted paintings that are arresting and uncanny.

I'm Dawn Waters and I paint with fiber. In 2014, a friend taught me the basics of wet felting and I began making wearables. Soon after, I was introduced to the felting needle. I wondered if I could make a fiber portrait with one of these barbed needles. I had never seen a fiber painting, and had not created a portrait in any medium. Needle felting is relatively new, unlike wet felting - it’s like tattooing, but with wool. I kept at it, and finally the likenesses were recognizable and the intended emotions emerged. 

I often include an unexpected element like James Brown’s face as Edvard Munch’s The Scream; my political slant, as in Ruth Bader Ginsburg as Wonder Woman; or a poignant subject, such as the iconic National Geographic Afghan Girl. I used to communicate as a writer, but now I do this through these paintings, making statements or eliciting emotions, whether it’s evoking comments about a political statement, a discussion or mere reflection from an emotive piece, or simply a good laugh. When I started creating these paintings, I made famous faces, but am progressing into a more emotionally-focused direction and creating pieces that combine methods and materials. Much of my work incorporates 3-D wet felted objects such as flowers, a nod to where I began. 

I relish the challenge of bringing a subject to life through fiber and creating work that begs to be touched. I have recently begun painting with paint and mixed media and it’s clear that each medium is informing the other, and I see the possibilities are endless.

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Please contact me for commission and exhibition inquiries.  dawnwatersart@gmail.com  804.837.3296

This is the Famous Faces page. To view other fiber paintings, click here. 

This is the Famous Faces page. To view other fiber paintings, click here.