My siblings and I spent a large part of our wild childhood playing hide-and-seek in fabric stores while our mom shopped for her projects. She taught me to sew when I was young, and arts and crafts have always been part of my life. I spent summer holidays in the untamed woods of northern Canada, which helped cultivate my love for nature. Today, I live in Northern Virginia with my husband and son, where we’re fortunate to have swaths of wild nature just outside our suburban home.
While I enrolled in every art class possible throughout high school and college, my professional background is in communications. I have my Masters of Arts in English and journalism from the University of Minnesota Duluth and spent more than a decade in public relations and marketing. During that time I taught college-level English literature and composition as well.
All of these experiences influence my work today. I’m interested in layers, textures, shadows, mark-making, and elements of collage. I’m inspired by hidden beauty, the unexpected, folk and fairytales, and ancient worshipers of nature. Above all, I’m interested in humans and our connection to the natural world, including our shared resilience, persistence, and vulnerability.
As I gather plants, make dyes, and thread my machine, I think of my mother and grandmothers, and their mothers and grandmothers, all of whom were sewists and fiber artists of their time — their craft passed down to me. Each time I snip a bloom, I whisper a breath of gratitude, honoring the plant, the soil, the rain, the sun, and the cyclical nature of creating with gifts from the earth.
Robin Scherrer 