Round Bobbin Springfield Quilting & Sewing Expo
She returned to Little Rock, Arkansas in 2008. She had spent the previous five years in the San Francisco Bay area, trying to become a California Girl, but mostly hanging out with her children and grandchildren who all lived there. This stint included a failed attempt at re-inventing herself as a real estate agent, and the launch of STICKBALL, from a bedroom in Oakland. She was producing large sculptural fruits, cactus, figures and animals of patchwork fabric and paint, somewhat reminiscent of her early work at GRANNY’S FAN. Her designs were sold in artisan galleries, boutiques and museum gift shops such as the Museum of Arts and Design and The American Folk Art Museum in New York City, the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, The Walker Arts Center and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Along the way, Ficklesticks were born. Originally these thicker and heavier fabric and wire sticks served as stems for stuffed cherries and pears, legs on animals, and in some very large wall weavings. In 2007 she discovered a way to produce Ficklesticks that were only about a quarter inch wide. This opened some fantastic new doors. Suddenly, she was a jewelry designer—a fiber jewelry designer, to be exact, whatever that was! These smaller Ficklesticks also worked very agreeably for making baskets, mobiles, flowers, wall weavings, and the Frank Lloyd Wright –inspired wall art she is now creating . In 2008, she published an instructional crafts book for making Ficklesticks titled Fast, Fun and Easy Fabric Ficklesticks (C&T Publishing).This led to teaching workshops and lecturing to sewing and quilting guilds about her work. She has been selling her Ficklesticks art, book and supplies for making Ficklesticks at quilt festivals throughout the US. She also launched a webstite: STICKBALLSTUDIO.COM. In 2009, Interweave Press published three articles featuring Ficklesticks: Cloth, Paper Scissors Magazine April 2009, Studios Magazine July 2009, and Quilting Arts Gifts September 2009. Though not officially educated in art, Diana did briefly pursue a career path in music, even attending Interlochen International Music Camp, as a clarinetist. She earned music scholarships on clarinet, but chose instead to attend Purdue University, in her hometown of Lafayette, IN (without a music school) as a ‘Hoosier Scholar’ on an academic scholarship. She turned her sights toward interior design, having long ago realized that she didn’t have the math aptitude for architecture. Though she never finished college, and only took two art classes, she has visited most of the great art museums and architecture of the United States, Brazil and Europe, and she takes the occasional trek to Burning Man for even more visual stimulation. She spent many years working in print advertising, and operating Granny’s Fan, her earlier art-producing company. She was a founder of Little Rock Wind Symphony, and the restorer of an architecturally significant house in downtown Little Rock. She has raised 4 children and is now enjoying 5 grandchildren. She has recently married again and is happily living ever after and creating art almost every day. Diana has lived in The Netherlands, Spain, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, California, and for most of her adult life, Arkansas. It could easily be said that she has stitched her way across time and space for more than 50 years. She has outfitted brides, Halloweeners, cheerleaders, prom goers, drag queens and herself and her family. She has made hundreds of dolls, quilts, doilies and sweaters. By her estimate, she has also made about 10,000 Ficklesticks. One Stick Wonder |
Diana Taylor