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April 29, 2015

Salley Mavor’s Beautifully Detailed Fabric Relief

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Birds of Beebe Woods is what first attracted me to Salley Mavor.
And I'm talking about a magnetic attraction.
Not just because I'm a lover of birds,
but because of her meticulous focus on fine details!
Millions of tiny little embroidery stitches - all done by hand!


Here's a close-up of her cardinal to show you what I mean:

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Sewing since childhood, Salley creates collages using what she calls "fabric relief," 
a type of bas relief. (I had to look that one up.) 
According to arthistory.about.combas relief is 
"a sculpture technique in which figures and/or other design elements are 
just barely more prominent than the (overall flat) background.
It is created either by carving away material or 
adding material to the top of an otherwise smooth surface,
a technique as old as humankind's artistic explorations."


In this miniature scene, she incorporates driftwood.
Just look at those beautifully stitched branches!

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While the original fiber art creations are displayed in shadowbox frames for public exhibition,
photographs of them are used to make prints, posters and notecards.
They've also been featured as illustrations for 12 books.

This one, Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes,
is a winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for picture book and the
Golden Kite Award for picture book illustration 
from the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators.


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A love for wee little things drew Salley to make wee little dolls,
fully outfitted with adorable clothing and accessories made from wool felt.
She calls them wee folk and therefore, Wee Folk Studios.


Her latest book is titled Felt Wee Folk: New Adventures,
a how-to book to follow up the great success of Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects.

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Here's the YouTube video of its book trailer:






This fabric relief project, Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion,
documents a timeline of Salley through the years.

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Oh, the details! How about that poncho?

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Face Time is a tree of wreathed cameos of people who represent
the cultures of the world and the changes in them through the years.

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It really is "all in the details!"

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Where to find Salley Mavor and her Wee Folk:


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Images used with direct permission from Salley Mavor.

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