Sandy Edsall attended her first Fiber Artists of San Antonio runway show six years ago. She said she left the show thinking, "I could never do anything like that." But she was inspired to try. On Saturday at Oak Hills Country Club, Edsall won Best of Show for Hibiscus, a fuchsia jacket made of silk, with free-motion stitching, cutouts, appliqué, thread painting and a dyed lining. Joining Edsall for awards on the runway at the end of the show was her sister Sherry Tolar, who won the member challenge to create a version of a tabard, a tunic-length outer garment. Tolar's Whimsy Girl featured a hand-painted woman on the back with appliqués and hand-made beads on the sides.
The sisters' very different pieces demonstrated the range of items in the group's 15th show - scarves, jackets, blouses, shawls, dresses and vests - each made unique by the techniques, fabric and skills of the fiber artists. Pieces were crocheted, knitted, hand embroidered, hand dyed, quilted, felted, airbrushed, silk-screened, stamped, stenciled, rusted, ruched and even made out of soda-can pop-top rings.
Allison Brown-Cestero, president of Fiber Artists of San Antonio, said members "do these things out of passion. We love this sort of work."
The crowd comes seeking "wearable art - creative, innovative garments," Brown-Cestero said, and the people like to see the expression of creativity. The challenge winner and Best of Show were representative of the quality and variety of entries, she said.
"I think San Antonio has an amazing amount of talent," she said about her fellow artists. "A few years ago I never thought I'd have something on the runway. What a distance I've come."
Carol Ikard, executive director of the Texas Museum of Fiber Arts, came to the show from Austin, where she runs the museum without walls, taking the art to "where people thrive." After the runway show, the sales room was crowded with buyers looking for their favorite pieces.
Money raised from the sale of the runway entries, a silent auction and the raffle goes to area high schools, art schools and colleges to support textile programs. To learn more about the organization and its educational programs, go to www.fiberartists.weebly.com
