Layers Upon Layers: Mixed Media Art

Artist Profile: Peggy Dembicer

by Cyndi on August 23rd, 2007

Blue Moon

Artist: Peggy Dembicer
Business name: Fiber Options and Mixed Results
Location: Central Connecticut
Websites:
Peggy Dembicer
Flickr gallery

Peggy, your pieces have amazing color and vibrancy. How do you describe your work?
What others describe as an obsession, I describe as a passion to create detailed and intricate designs. I love to escape into my studio filled with looms, seed beads, fibers, brightly printed papers and mixed materials. I pick up rusty road scraps and beautiful white birch bark because both can inspire me. I glue, stitch, weave, or embed beads in polymer clays depending on the nature of the design. I weave paper in two and three dimensions on loom and off loom. I incorporate beads, fiber and/or wire into the paper weavings to add texture and interest. Most of my pieces are framed, some are sculptural.

Sgt. Peggy’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

What is your creative process like?
I work full time at a demanding corporate job, so I rise very early in order to exercise and work on art before leaving the house. I work in my studio nearly every day. It is easy to work on my pieces in small chunks of time because I don’t have to mix paints and rarely have a messy clean up. I concentrate on art over the weekends whenever I can. I enjoy listening to audio books and easy listening music while I work. Many of my bead pieces have been carefully graphed out. Paper weaving often results in a surprise finish. It’s exciting to see how different papers will intersect with each other and with various mixed materials.

What kind of training did you have which helped you achieve your current level of artistry?
I have had no art school training. I have been taught and mentored by other artists through workshops at art centers. I experiment through trial and error. I joined galleries and exhibited in regional shows and that caused me to grow both personally and professionally as an artist.

Warm Wishes

Is there a tool or material that you can’t imagine living without?
I love seed beads. They come in fabulous colors, they allow tremendous detail, they can be applied in so many ways. I can’t stop collecting them and trying new approaches to using them.

What inspires you to create?
I see potential in every paper I handle, in graphic prints, in vintage designs and pop images. Time is my only constraint, ideas come easily.

Hydrangeas By the Sea

What inspires you to keep going when the work gets frustrating or tough?
I’m not easily frustrated nor hampered doing art work. If something is not working out or I don’t enjoy it, I learn from it and do it better the next time, or I put it aside and never think about it again. That is very rare. I complete nearly everything I start. I do big projects so I work on several at once and rotate between them in order to stay engaged.What is your best piece of advice for those who would like to rise in their level of artistry?
Join a gallery and show your work. It may cost you time and money, but it pays you back with inspiration, support, and it builds confidence.

SaniBelle

What takes up the majority of your time besides your art?
My career and my family have first priority, but now that my children are grown I have so much more personal time. Retirement is a long way off, but I dream about how productive I will be when that life change happens.

What’s your favorite comfort food and activites? I love ice cream, visiting galleries in New York City, leafing through art magazines, and reading great literature.

Girl in the White Dress

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POSTED IN: Artist Profiles, Assemblage, Bead Art & Jewelry, Business tips, Creativity, Fabric & Fiber, Mixed Media, Paper