Silk Artist

johannasdream@gmail.com

917-692-7398

Awards and spent a few days and some late nights meeting rap, R&B and kuduro superstars from across Africa: names like Banky W, Fally Ipupa, Daddy Owen, Cabo Snoop and Radio & Weasel, from Angola to Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond, all huge stars in their own countries, selling truckloads of records despite rampant piracy and a rickety music industry. These guys are kind of the Jay Zs and Snoops of Africa, basically.

Johanna specializes in painting on silk and in hand-dyeing.  She is based in Lowell, Massachusetts. 

Formerly a painter on canvas, Johanna added silk to her choices of media when she first experienced the exhilaration of touching this fabric with a dye-laden brush. Her love affair with silk painting thrives fifteen years later. 

More recently, Johanna has created a line of cotton/rayon clothing.  She employs tie dye and Shibori techniques to create funky, comfortable clothing suitable for yoga and dance.

Awards and spent a few days and some late nights meeting rap, R&B and kuduro superstars from across Africa: names like Banky W, Fally Ipupa, Daddy Owen, Cabo Snoop and Radio & Weasel, from Angola to Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond, all huge stars in their own countries, selling truckloads of records despite rampant piracy and a rickety music industry. These guys are kind of the Jay Zs and Snoops of Africa, basically.

kind of the Jay Zs and of Africa, basically.

The very first time I touched silk with a brush full of dye, I was exhilarated..  The color became intense and deep, and the silk did its thing, making the dye appear to glitter, adding a subtle dimensionality.  I was transfixed.  Over the years, I struggled to master these media.  I found it challenging to control the dye and to achieve the effects that I desired.

At some unexpected point, I had an epiphany.  I realized that I was not to be master of these media.  I accepted that the silk and dye interact, and that my role was to attempt to mediate between them.   I am a collaborator, not the master.  Once I gave up control and let the magic happen, I became more at one with my work.  This was a lesson that made a major shift in my perception of what is worth trying to control, and what to let be.

Nature inspires me and I am drawn to paint what I see there.  My eyes bask in the colors while my mind analyzes the forms that hold them.  I still try to control dye with resists such as wax and water-based gutta to recreate what I see, but these methods of control are no longer my "go-tos."  I no longer rush to fix breaks in my lines.  I now know that in nature as in life, something beautiful may happen if I stand aside and let the colors play.

Johanna Tiemann