July 25 - August 20

"Silk Comes to life"

In the relatively uncommon art of silk painting, silk is the canvas and liquid, transparent dyes are the paint.  Silk painting has traditionally been used for wearable art, but Deborah Younglao prefers to see her creations hanging on the wall. Not satisfied with only two dimensions, she sometimes adds extra texture to her painted pieces with machine quilting and beading. She has also developed a technique for creating three-dimensional collages with painted silk. “Silk Comes to Life” showcases about 20 pieces of Younglao’s work.

Her background is a diverse one:  in addition to her native Caribbean island of Trinidad, Younglao has lived in Barbados, Ireland, Canada and 4 states in the US, including her current home of North Carolina.  Always a nature-lover, Younglao switched careers from Marine Biology for a more creative path as a painter of flora and fauna. In 1997 she tried silk painting and was hooked. Most of her work is inspired by her Caribbean roots, and her paintings reflect the vibrant colors and exotic flavor of the tropics. Judith Meeks, editor of ‘The Silkworm’, the globally distributed magazine of Silk Painters International (SPIN), describes Younglao’s work as “…happy and calm with thoughtful complexity …you feel like you can step right into her lush scenes”. Younglao was the featured artist in the First Quarter 2008 issue of ‘The Silkworm.’

Artist Statement: I am constantly in awe of Mother Nature and the exquisite beauty that She presents us with every day. I paint simply to express this feeling. Silk is the perfect medium for this expression… the movement of the dyes on the silk is like a mesmerizing dance, and the brilliant dyes echo the hot colors of the tropics. The silk itself becomes part of the process in that its texture, weight and weave dictate how the dyes interact with it. Since the dyes are impossible to control completely, the end result is quite unpredictable, but that’s exactly what I love about it – each painting is an adventure. I want people seeing my work to share that adventure with me… to smell my flowers, hear my birds... to revisit some exotic place that they have been, even if only in their imagination.

To view more of Deborah Younglao's work, please visit her WEBSITE.