Ruth Simon McRae - The Collage Project
textiles
The Collage Project
Ruth Simon McRae and Ann Hurley joined their talents in 2015 to form the Collage Project. Their mutual affinity for color, pattern, and textiles, created a common ground for their collaborative exploration into hand printed and dyed textiles. The textile artists utilize multiple resources/mediums for their products – from paper, yarn, and antique wood blocks, to custom carved patterns.
Ruth Simon McRae is an artist living in North Georgia who works in in a wide range of mediums, including textile arts, painting, printmaking, mixed media, and ceramics. She experiments with materiality and layering by merging complex color combinations, pattern designs, and textures.
Her interest in textiles stems from a childhood surrounded by fabrics, from the fabrics in her father’s interior design studio to the fabulous clothes of the 1960s. She studied painting at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the Philadelphia College of Art and received a BS in textiles at Philadelphia University and an MS from Georgia Tech. These experiences provided her entrée into the field of industrial textile design, where she has enjoyed a long career in the floor covering industry.
In 2015, Ruth and Ann Hurley joined together to form The Collage Project, a workshop where they continue to explore dye techniques and different ways to make pattern design, such as shibori with indigo, freehand dye painting, printing of vintage, handmade blocks and found objects, enhanced with complex stitchery. The Collage Project is thrilled to offer silk, tencel and wool blend scarves / apparel, tabletop textiles and wall hangings at The Copper Fox Gallery.
In addition to the Collage project, McRae also creates and shows Judaic textiles such as prayer shawls and challah covers, combining her love of the practical and material with her spiritual life. She also is working on a series of memoirs in the form of fabric artist books, using visual language to express memories, thoughts and emotion.
Available Works
Featured
The Collage Project ~ Ruth McRae hand dyed, stitched, and printed mustard paisley table runner. 53”x 13”