ARTIST STATEMENT
Climbing The Great Wall, studying the hand-chiseled designs of the doors of La Sagrada Familia, or seeing the precise structures of Machu Picchu, I have experienced many visual images firsthand through travel and the power of art, architecture, history, and the written word. My world travels have shown me the synchronicity between different countries and cultures with similar approaches to art, miles apart, and separated by centuries.
My artwork references the history of loss, the legacy of family, and the spirit of personal renewal. I work with my imagination and the power of my hands. I use the opportunity that chance presents. I seek innovative ways to integrate color, pattern, and design with layered stitch, paint, paper, and text. I work with surface designed fabric, hand dyed yarns and threads, hand dyed ribbons, and found objects. I hand stitch, machine embroider, knit and crochet freeform, bead, dye, and embellish my art.
I play, I explore, I contemplate, I construct, I deconstruct, I reconstruct.
I create……..
RESUME
MICHELE KRAMER LASKER, 6717 S. 72 E. Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74133
918.510.4024 - lasker.michele@gmail.com
VISITING GUEST ARTIST:
Art in Embassies Program – United States Embassy, Lima and Cuzco, Peru, May 2019
INVITATIONAL SHOWS:
New England Quilt Museum – In Praise of Silk - 2019
Art in Embassies Program - United States Embassy, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - Ongoing
Art in Embassies Program - United States Embassy, Lima, Peru - 2018-2020
Fiber Happenings - Edge Center Gallery - Bigfork, Minnesota - June 2016
Organic Matters - Santa Barbara Greater Jewish Federation - Winter 2016
Fiber - Faux and Fabulous - Santa Barbara Greater Jewish Federation - Spring 2015
SOLO SHOWS:
FingerPlay Studio - Art Walk Louisville, Louisville, Colorado - Fall 2015
Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce - Summer 2014
AWARDS:
Tulsa Artists' Coalition 27th Anniversary Show – Jurors’ Choice - Summer 2016
JURIED SHOWS:
Modern Day Monet - Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut - Spring 2024
Las Lagunas Gallery, The Second Half Show, July 2021
30th Annual TAC Juried Exhibition 2018 - AHHA Center - October - November 2018
Webster Arts - Green - September-October 2018
Nature and Neon - Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts - Gatlinburg, TN - Winter 2018
108 Contemporary - The State of Craft: Oklahoma Members - Fall 2017
Fiber Art VIII Int’l Biennial Fiber Arts Exhibition - Sebastopol Center for the Arts - Summer 2017
Capital Health Medical Center, Investor Art and Healing Gallery - Winter 2017
Quilts=Arts=Quilts - Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center - Fall/Winter 2016-2017
Tulsa Artists' Coalition 27th Anniversary Show - Jurors' Choice - Summer 2016
MORE COLOR Art Show - Dennis R. Neill Equality Center - Spring 2016
108 Contemporary - Artists' Show - Winter 2015-2016
FiberWorks - Living Arts of Tulsa - Summer 2015
Tulsa Artists' Coalition 26th Anniversary Show - Fall 2014
FiberWorks - IAO Gallery - Summer 2014
COLLABORATIVE SHOWS:
Flora Borealis - Textile Center, Minneapolis - 2024
Fate Destiny and Self-Determination - San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles - 2024
Royal Astronomical Society - London - Bicentenary Quilt - 2020-2021
A Common Thread - Textile Center, Minneapolis - 2012 to 2017
Tree Jumpers & Jazz Festival - Warwick Art Gallery - Warwick, Qld Australia - Summer-Fall 2016
Flower Power - Fibrefest - Craft and Quilt Fair - Glebe Island, Sydney, Australia - June 2015
International Quilt Festival - Eye of the Quilter Exhibit - Fall 2013
Northeastern University Art Gallery - Fiber Now - Winter 2013
Southwood Landscape and Garden Center Quilt and Fiber Festival - Winter 2013
PUBLICATIONS:
Pattern in Nature - International Free Form Arts Guild - 2017
Flora and Fauna - International Free Form Fiber Arts Guild - 2016
Ocean - The Color of Water - International Free Form Fiber Arts Guild - 2015
ARTS AND CULTURE GRANTS:
Fund for Teachers Sabbatical to Europe, 2010 - Fund for Teachers Sabbatical to Vietnam, 2004 - Freeman Foundation and Yale University Field Studies in East Asia, 2004 - Freeman Foundation East Asia Field Study, 2001 - Fulbright Memorial Fund for Japan, 2000
VISUAL ARTS AND TEXTILE STUDIES:
Silk Painting and Japanese Batik with Muffy Clark Gill - Imagery and Abstraction in Collage with Deborah Griffing - Natural Dyeing with Elin Noble - Color and Design Studies with Sue Benner - Mixed Media and IPAD for Textiles with Susie Monday - Shibori Dyeing with Sharon Kilfoyle and Cheryl Rezendes - Sculptural Knitting with Adrienne Sloane - Marbled Fabric with Jo Fitsell - Tapestry Weaving with Louise Martin and Louise Oppenheimer - Abstract Art Quilting with Sue Benner - Tapestry Weaving with Fiona Hutchinson - Textile Weaving Workshop - Pat Kinsella
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
108 Contemporary, Embroiderers’ Guild, Oklahoma Visual Artists Coalition, Studio Art Quilt Associates, and Surface Design Association
EDUCATION:
Mandarin Language Institute - The University of Oklahoma
Masters + 60 Hours in Computer Science, Social Studies, and Educational Technology
M.A. Education, Language Arts and Educational Administration - University of Buffalo
B.A. Elementary Education and English - University of Bridgeport
WORLD TRAVEL:
Scotland, The Netherlands, France, and Italy - 2024 - Italy and Greece - 2023 - France and Sardinia - 2022 - France 2021 - Chile, France and Peru 2019 - England, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Wales 2017 – England, France and Scotland 2016 – England, France, and Switzerland 2015 – France and Portugal 2014 - Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan 2013 – Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, and Spain 2010 - Italy 2008 - Vietnam 2005 - Peoples’ Republic of China 2001 - 2005, Korea 2021, Japan 2000 - 2001