Featured Artist Janet Carlson

Artist Janet Carlson presents a sumptuous collection of digitized textile designs, and a fascinating backstory. Learn more about her by visiting her website.

 

 

My earliest memories were of my mother providing felt fabric and showing me how to hand stitch. From there I took my 1960’s troll dolls and made a small army of Flintstone costumes with jagged hemlines. My mother and both grandmothers encouraged and nurtured my creative pursuits. They were my cheerleaders. Tenacity is defined as the ability to keep doing something difficult: perseverance, determination, persistence , stick-to-it-iveness, single-mindedness and doggedness.

 

 

My parents accepted a going out of business donation, an assortment of silk brocade. I was a 12 year old beginner on a sewing machine working with brocade. Soon after, I discovered quilting. I found that I can get lost in selecting colors and textures in combinations that make them sing.

 

 

Art and home economics were my favorite classes. A fashion design degree was in my future! I found work sewing upholstery. Denied a student loan in 1973, there was a five year gap between high school and Miami Dade College. My mother and grandmothers groomed me to be fearless and hang tight to my career and personal aspirations.

 

 

College opened the door to employment in small family-owned businesses. Seven years passed by before I had the opportunity to work as a fashion designer. If you have passion for a career in the arts, tenacity is the key. The fashion design degree was followed by 25 years in the Miami garment industry. That sounds all very nice and neat. Truth is, the wife of the boss was often giving instructions on what she wanted to design each day.

 

 

One of my responsibilities as a designer was to purchase textiles. I was well advised on what to select that will sell in the marketplace. Tops N Tops, where I worked for seven years as a Missy designer, prospered while manufacturing in the USA.

 

 

Gradually I found myself working with Haiti, Guatemala and Bangladesh as a pattern maker and a technical designer. When the Miami jobs evaporated, I enrolled in vocational school. After learning Adobe Suite, I studied with Pattern Observer Textile Design Lab. My first print designs were created in Illustrator. I marketed my men’s board shorts at local craft shows. Yes, it was a lot of work. Yes, I lost money. Nevertheless, I have no regrets. At that time I was working with sublimation printing, pattern making, grading sizes, cutting and sewing 42 board shorts—in our garage.

 

 

When it comes to finding a style, it was through the exercise of practice, joyfully shredding books while exercising my love of colors. My admiration of Gustav Klimt led to the addition of gold embellishment. With collage and quilting you never really know what it will look like until after you are all finished. That is what makes it exciting—the surprise factor.

 

 

My goal has been to offer something unique that is not currently found in textile design. I now offer my hand rendered textile designs to the commercial marketplace. What you see is what you get. In repeat with exclusive rights.

 

 

Closing words of wisdom: Embrace and run with your dreams.

 

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