Ana Lisa Hedstrom

Ana Lisa Hedstrom’s signature Shibori textiles are in the collections of the Cooper Hewitt, the Museum of Craft and Design, the De Young Museum, and the Racine Art Museum. Exhibitions include  Shibori: Fusion and Diffusion at Tama University, Tokyo, and The Box Project at the Textile Museum in DC.

She has completed public art installations in Emeryville, Ca. and the American Embassy in Brunei.

She has received two NEA grants and is a fellow of the American Craft Council.

Instruction experience includes S.F. State University and California College of Art, and she is a frequent instructor at summer programs including Penland, Haystack, Pacific Northwest Art Center, and at Textile Conferences.

“I often say that my textile art is a conversation with cloth. Sometimes the fabric will talk back refusing to comply with what I expect.  Then I look to the surprises in the dye process and develop a different language.

I was introduced to Japanese Shibori resist dyeing by Yoshiko Wada in a workshop in Berkeley, CA in 1976. I was amazed and inspired by the inventiveness and skill found in this tradition. I looked at the concepts of the techniques, especially Arashi Shibori pole wrapping, and began to experiment in my own studio. I looked around me for western tools, materials, and dye applications.  I believe this has always been the spirit of Shibori artisans.

The Japanese artisans produced lengths of fabric for Kimono.  I like to cut and piece my fabrics to create larger graphic images.  When I feel I have exhausted an idea I try a new substrate.  Silk, linen, paper, even industrial felt have all contributed a chapter in my creative work.”