Independent Texas Western Batik Artist Earns International Fame

Independent Texas Western batik artist earns international fame

Marilyn Salomon’s face glows with joy. In her hands she holds an iron and a piece of newsprint paper, and beneath these two mundane objects lies the mystery of batik artwork, images created with wax and dyes on cloth.       

Salomon has worked on this piece for the past couple of months. A black rim of fabric frames three panels, each showing a different Native American scene. She used at least 15 colors of dyes to capture the details of the figures depicted in her piece.

She made this along with a batik of moccasins for the Western Artists of America show in Corsicana, Texas. The show will start at the end of March and run for about a month at the Pearce Museum on the Navarro College Campus.

Salomon has taken the batik art form to new levels including acceptance into the Western Artists of America, an organization that up until Salomon only accepted painters and sculptors, also participating in events as diverse as the international Fiber Face show in Indonesia, which explored the relationships between contemporary arts and traditional fiber.

From all of her research, Salomon has defined fine art as: non-functional; having aesthetic value enhancing life with beauty; and every creation is one-of-a-kind.

Each of Salomon’s batiks has its own style. Sometimes she uses 25 to 60 colors for a single batik. Salomon has struggled to make sure she captures the deep spiritual meanings in Native American themes.

She spent two weeks studying under her husband’s cousin Miriam Ariav in Israel. As soon as she worked with the fabric, wax and dye, she knew she had found her medium. She’s been doing batik for the past 40 years.

Her love of the Western life inspired her to move to the Rim Country in 1999 from the Los Angeles area. She and her husband, Chuck, settled in Christopher Creek and built their dream home and studio for her work.

Through her friendships and experiences with Native Americans, she has tapped into their culture on a more intimate level, which reflects in her artwork.

In February, she took “the trip of a lifetime” to Indonesia as one of two batik artists selected from the United States to present her work at the International Batik Exhibition, “Fiber Face 3.”

In May of last year, she received the honor of becoming elected to the Western Artists of America organization, even though the organization was closed to new members.

Good to see such successful, diverse types of Fiber Art in Rural Texas!!!

For more information, please see www.batiksbymarilyn.com.

Article derived from excerpts of the Payson roundup.