East Carolinian

Issue date: 1/13/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: staff photo

A community-campus consortium is bringing the fabric and thread art of Deidre Scherer to the Greenville Museum of Art beginning Jan. 20 through Feb. 27.

Scherer uses fabric as paint, thread as brushstrokes and mortality as theme in two traveling exhibitions depicting intergenerational and nontraditional families from culturally diverse groups.

The artwork in the two series, "Surrounded by Family and Friends" and "The Last Year," is made possible in part by a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is sponsored by the End of Life Care Coalition of Eastern Carolina in collaboration with East Carolina University faculty and staff, surrounding community members, entities and businesses.

Special events, lectures and workshops with the artist are planned Jan. 20-24. All events are free and open to the public.

Scherer studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and developed her distinctive narrative approach with fabric and thread in the 1970s. She has presented in more than 150 solo and group shows nationally and internationally. She received the 2008 Humanities Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and was featured last year in an hour-long documentary by Vermont Public Television. Scherer and her husband live in Vermont, where she is a studio artist.

Combining the techniques of layering, piecing and machine sewing, Scherer builds a rich, tactile surface of images with contours, highlights and shadows. Her unique approach to fabric and thread medium serves to tell stories and gives figures 3-D quality.

Area teachers, community college and university faculty are encouraged to bring classes to the museum, which is open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 1-4 p.m. Saturday. Special exhibit event hours are available by arrangement.

For more information on the artist, go to www.dscherer.com. For more information on the exhibit or special programs, call Annette Greer at ECU at 252-744-1263, Susan Redding at the End of Life Care Coalition at 252-847-0868 or Charlotte Fitz at the Greenville Museum of Art at 252-758-1946.

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