Annabelle Stein started out making little clothes out of felt for her troll dolls in pre -school. By junior high, she was sewing all her own clothes. She went to art school in Oakland, California, then moved to Oregon and continued her work there. Eventually returning to California, she earned a BFA in Textile Studio Arts.
“I started out spinning, natural dying and weaving. When I went back to college the second time, I took up screen printing. I still work with some other techniques, but the screen printing really satisfies me for now. I got addicted to silk screening and work mostly to create surface design. I especially enjoy making one-of-a-kind wearables.”
Today, Annabelle uses a variety of screen and hand printing techniques, sewn, stitched, and embellished to create scarves and wearables, wall pieces, and small sculptures. Just as a painter begins with a blank canvas, she starts with all white natural fiber fabrics and the printing is done with the final piece in mind. Mixing the dyes herself to achieve desired colors, each type of fabric takes the dye differently depending on the type of fiber and the weave. After the printing is completed, she sews it into its finished form. The fun is in the experimentation, playing with color, pattern and texture.
See more of Annabelle’s colorful work on her Chatham Artists Guild gallery page.
