Before I get to the featured local area artist in this post of “The Spotlight” I have a quick news release of a mixed media fabric workshop being held at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Visitor Center. “Fiber Art Journal: Stretching Boundaries” Saturday, March 20, 2010. “The workshop will focus on creating vibrant backgrounds, collage, printing, stamping, painting, surface textures, hand and machine stitching, embellishments and much more on fabric.” The workshop is open to all levels so no art experience is necessary. If interested you must act quick because the Registration Deadline is Friday, March 12th. For more information contact the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Visitor Center at 608-625-2960 or email kickapooreserve@krm.state.wi.us. The instructor is Carissa Brudos and she is today’s featured artist.
If her name sounds familar it might be because she was honored as WKBT NewsChannel 8’s “Top Notch Teacher” last May. Anyway, on to Carissa.
Carissa Brudos is an enthusiastic creative instructor with a passion for the visual arts and teaching. Currently she teaches art in the La Crosse School District at two elementary schools. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a Masters of Art Education from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She also is very involved as a professional artist, creating mixed media fiber art quilts. Carissa displays her work regularly in a variety of art venues throughout Wisconsin. She is active and supportive in the community sharing and promoting the visual arts.
Carissa Brudos
Artist Statement, 2010
“The advantage of working in fabric is that it is so versatile. One can print, paint, draw and sew on it.
The way a quilt is constructed, layer after layer, over time, is a lot like how life is lived. My experiences in life are just that, many layers. As I create with this time consuming medium, I spend time with each layer, each experience both with my head and my hands. It gives me a chance to imagine the next part of the layer, the experience, the stitch and meaning.
The subjects in my work have changed as I have changed, but what is most important to me is interpreting the experience.The beauty that radiates from the female form is reminiscent of the natural surroundings with which I live. My series entitled Life Layers, depicts the female form as a dominate part of the living environment. The female is transformed and becomes the part of the space she inhabits. The beauty surrounds the form and the two become interchangeable.
Currently, my art quilts depict life, my interpretation of the many layers and experiences. Surviving cancer, I now view my life differently; reborn, refreshed, renewed, as I have received new life. The female form in my work becomes part of environment, strong, enduring, changing, connected as I have found myself to become.”
Carissa’s quilt “Life Streams” is pictured above. To see her quilt “Life Streams” click here, and her “Top Notch Teacher” segment is posted below.




