I’ve always had busy hands and a curious mind and have felt the need to make art since I was a child. I began taking fashion design and fashion illustration classes in the teen program offered at The Chicago Art Institute. My love of clothing has never entirely disappeared. In college, my passion for color and texture broadened to include painting and seriography, and a love for ancient art history and classics. I am always aspiring to wed themes from ancient art history with a more personal iconography.

I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to move and travel quite a bit, always gaining a wider appreciation for cultural differences. Wherever I’ve lived, I’ve taken advantage of local art centers, museums, and on-the-job training. While spending a year in rural North Carolina, I took a one-day workshop in silk painting from a visiting Frenchwoman and was immediately hooked on the ways color moves across fabric. The process is meditative, yet immediate, since you must work quickly to keep up with the movement of the dyes.

It has been 20 years since that first silk painting course, and I still love the medium. I lived in India for a year, where I encountered that country’s startling cacophony of color which has influenced my work ever since. Shopping for textiles in India was a wonderful adventure. I’ve experimented with products and fabrics over the years, and have honed a personal style that is elegant and understated.

My work is available for purchase at AltheaP.etsy.com and TalkingDog.etsy.com. I have a portfolio for the trade on Trunkt.

I hope you enjoy my work as much as I enjoy making it!

Exhibitions and Shows:
2008 Art Makes a Difference Show for Autism, Durham, North Carolina
2008 Designers' Downtown Market, Raleigh, North Carolina
2008 Sertoma Instructors and Students Show, Sertoma Arts Center, Raleigh, NC
2008 Silk Painters International Balloon Exhibition Patterns in the Sky, Anderson-Abruzzo International Balloon Museum Albuquerque NM
2007 Boylan Heights ArtWalk, Raleigh, North Carolina
2007 Spark.com Celebration of the Arts, Raleigh DesignBox, Moore Square, Raleigh, NC
2007 SWOOP Auction/Sale
2007 WUNC Festival, American Tobacco Historic District, Durham, North Carolina
2006 Boylan Heights ArtWalk, Raleigh, North Carolina
2006 SWOOP Auction/Sale
1994 An Experiment in Non-Linear Time, Raleigh Fine Arts Society Artists Exhibition, juror: Frank Dabell, Metropolitan Museum of Art
1994 Silk Paintings, Marching On Show, West Side Gallery, gallery owner: Tori Knight
1993 Actual Unretouched Photo of Child Manipulating the Space/Time Continuum, Raleigh Fine Arts Society Artists Exhibition, juror: McDonald Bane, SECCA
1993 Personal Iconography III, Wake Visual Arts Association, juror: Nona Short
1992 Self Portraits, Honorable Mention, Wake Visual Arts Association, juror: Kathleen Rieder
1992 Personal Iconography I, Honorable Mention, Wake Visual Arts Association, juror: Bob Rankin
1991 Alice Walker II, Honorable Mention, Wake Visual Arts Association, juror: Joseph Covington
1991 Nude, ACLU Celebration of Art, ArtSpace, juror: Ted Potter

Education:
1996-2006 NCSU Computer Training Unit, Wake Tech, SAS University, North Carolina Museum of Art Adult Education, Pullen Arts Center, Sertoma Arts Center, Artspace, NCSU Crafts Center, Lucy Daniels Artists and Psychology Program, Meredith College, Randolph County Arts
1977-79 University of Minnesota Graduate School, Art History Department, Museology
1975-77 University of Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts, bachelor of arts in studio art and art history
1969-74 Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, Cleveland State University, Cooper School of Art, University of Chicago, Minneapolis College of Art & Design
1966-68 School of the Art Institute of Chicago High School Program

Memberships:
Silk Painters International
Surface Design Association
Gallery United
Etsy
Trunkt
goZabo
Registered as a Master Craftsman with Printing Industries of America