Resting Rhino Collage

Averil Stuart Artist Profile: Follow Your Own Path.... My real artistic journey began when I received an unexpected invitation to exhibit at the 2007 Florence Biennale! This ignited my love affair with Italy and I packed up and moved from New Zealand to a small mountain village Introdacqua, near the beautiful, ancient city of Sulmona in the Abruzzo. It was in these mountains where, for 10 years I really knuckled down to hone my various skills and art techniques. Since then, I've been fortunate to have my work exhibited, not only in my own small gallery, but also throughout Italy, USA, Australia and NZ. Coming from a traditional American style quilt-making background 35 years ago, to pushing the boundaries in textile art and textural collage. The past couple of years I've been exploring and discovering abstract art and learning new techniques in painting and or collage. "Life like ART - it's all about taking RISKS" "Trust in yourself and follow you own path, not that of someone else" Textures, vintage textiles, stitch and paint is what I find captivating. I love to include and give new life to vintage cloth, linens and handcrafted remnants from a bygone era. I've also expanded into felting my fabulous New Zealand merino and raw wool collection, into felted wall-art and other interior designs, cushions, bed and sofa throws etc. Moving into eco-dyeing leaves and nature onto silk scarves and merino clothing was a natural progression. You can find my designs here at my Etsy Store.