of my French knot work has focused on those WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE PEOPLE TO KNOW “knotty girls,” I truly enjoy the more thought- ABOUT THE PROCESS AND THE ART YOU CREATE? provoking art history connections, such as the John Lewis piece that combines the styles of Grubbs: I like to elevate the ordinary or the small artists Kehinde Wiley and William Morris. into a place of importance by embellishing with intricate stitches or knotting. My small vessels are made of cotton thread in double half-hitch knots, which are tied knot-by-knot, row-upon- row from bottom to top. I limit myself to a few materials in order to concentrate on color and form in this repetitive and contemplative process. I find the repetition of the knotting to be comforting and calming. The excitement comes from the designing of this knotted surface and the form of the vessel. I hope the viewer feels both my meditative calmness and excitement. Husky: Felt forms when wool fibers are treated with heat and pressure: hot water plus pressing, rolling, and squeezing. People have made felt into coats, mittens, boots, blankets and nomadic yurt homes for thousands of years. I have always been most interested in the landscape as a subject. My process includes dyeing, carding, spinning and felting. Using silk, mohair, wool, ramie, raffia, I try to convey light, patterns, space, and a sense of a place in nature. I build “strokes” of fiber color and texture in the wool like a painter applying pigment. I construct the blanket and the surface design from the raw fiber. My fascination with the beauty and character of the materials, and with the experiment of the design Julie Marks Blackstone, Knotty Girl: Carmen, Embroidery, Cotton process grows every time I work with fiber. Floss and Notions, 5 x 7. Photo Courtesy Julie Marks Blackstone. Blackstone: These pieces are incredibly time- consuming. Nearly all of them have taken more than fifty hours to stitch, and I don’t even bother to factor in the initial design time. To sustain inspiration on a piece for that long is a challenge for a slightly hyperactive person such as myself. It requires that I sit and focus for hours on end. One of the side benefits of this work involves my day job. When teaching, I’m 1010