Susan Brubaker Knapp
Susan Brubaker Knapp makes fiber art that celebrates the miraculous details of nature, and that explores environmental, political and social issues that affect our world. Most of her work is realistic in style, and starts with original photos of the subjects, or her drawings based on them.
She uses two primary techniques — wholecloth painting and fused appliqué — and often heavily free-motion thread sketches the surface before quilting. Susan is also an author, teacher, and host of "Quilting Arts TV." Her work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally, and is in private and public collections. She is a Juried Artist Member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), and lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.
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I’ll Fly Away
Size: 40'' x 42''
As a new member of Soul Stories, Susan has not yet produced a piece specifically for this exhibition. “I’ll Fly Away” is included to illustrate the type of work she will contribute.
This piece is my tribute to the countless African Americans and people of color who have been killed in incidents of racial violence and injustice. The type on the birds, which was applied with a stencil, is illegible, but is intended to suggest overlapping names of thousands of victims. This piece honors the resiliency and courage of black people in America, who have faced violence, oppression, injustice, generational poverty and racism for more than 400 years in this country of “liberty and justice for all..” The bird imagery references the folktale of “flying Africans” that was passed along by Africans held in slavery in the United States. The story says that slaves who possessed ancient magic words could fly away to freedom. The title references the 1929 hymn of the same name.