Hi, I'm Ayn
Bio
Ayn is a printmaker and textile artist. Her subject matter includes imagery from the natural world as well as abstract compositions informed by her dreams. Her work is an exploration of ideas and processes, incorporating drawing, layers, patterns and texture to achieve visual storytelling.
Formally trained as a professional fine art printer, Ayn began working with textiles in 2005. Her current work is focused on merging processes and techniques from her printmaking background with the fabrics and threads of the textile medium, the results of which she calls textile paintings.
Ayn maintains an active exhibition and show schedule. Her work has been shown in numerous regional and national juried exhibits and gallery shows throughout the US, including shows in NY, CT, MD, PA, and VT in the East, IL, MN, TX in the Midwest, and NM, OR, WA and throughout Colorado in the West. She has exhibited at American Craft Council Shows in Baltimore and St. Paul and the SOFA Chicago Show.
Her work is available at several galleries throughout the US. Ayn has taught drawing and printmaking at the college level and currently teaches workshops in multiple surface design techniques as well as eco-dyeing and contact printing with natural plant materials. Her current teaching schedule is available here.
Born in Illinois and raised in Kansas City, MO, Ayn moved to Colorado in 1981 to attend college at Colorado State University where she earned a BFA in Graphic Design and an MFA in Printmaking and Sculpture. After completing her MFA, she moved to New York City and spent several years working as a professional Fine Art Printer in a Master Printmaking (Etching) Studio in Manhattan. She returned to CO a few years later and currently lives and maintains her studio practice in Fort Collins, CO.
Interview with American Craft Council
Taft Canyon Studio Tour
Artist Statement
I am a mark maker. I love to draw, map, and organize thoughts, plans, spaces, and the world around me. Drawing and mark-making, seeing the artist’s hand, an honest glimpse into one’s mind and heart– these are the qualities I value and strive for in my art. It is through drawing, visually mapping ideas that I make sense of the world.
Trained as a printmaker, I create richly drawn active surfaces, exploring drawing and mark-making. Combining printmaking with fiber, I am intrigued with the endless variety of line quality, texture, and surface that can be achieved in textiles. In my textile work, I use hand-dyed fabrics combined with multiple surface design techniques including painting, discharging, and deconstructed screen printing to create abstract mixed media textile paintings and art cloth. The deconstructed screen printing process is a remarkable synthesis of printing, painting, and drawing, allowing for a wholly unique approach to mark-making. My textile paintings include layers of fabric combined with thread “drawing” to develop texture and line.
I am inspired by our many systems for mapping and organizing ideas, stories, data and place. I enjoy the overlaps that exist between art and science – shapes, models, diagrams, formulas, patterns, etc. I am also fascinated by connectors and connections, both physical and spiritual. My work combines imagery and personal symbols to convey my feelings, to share a story of places and experiences.