Rebecca Yeomans “Spellbinding Vines” Grapevine, various silk fabrics & thread, 30.75” x 24” x 2″
Art in Bloom Gallery is collaborating with Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts to present the fiber art of Rebecca Yeomans! Discover Rebecca’s botanically dyed creations across the 2nd Floor Lobby and Ruth & Bucky Stein Theatre.
The exhibit will be open daily from 12-5pm, March 28th – June 23rd, as well as most evenings and via tours at 310 Chestnut St.
Stay tuned to preview the works online!
About the Artist
Rebecca Yeomans has lived her entire life centered around making. She learned to knit at eight years old and was considered the “class artist” in school. She studied studio art at UNC-Chapel Hill, receiving a BFA in 1974. After earning an MFA from Auburn University in 1979 she taught there for several years. Rebecca and her husband Tom moved to Wilmington, NC in 1984 and she worked as a scenic artist in the film industry. She was a founding board member for DREAMS of Wilmington and later taught classes. After she and Tom raised two artsy daughters, Rebecca quickly moved into full time artist mode. Her current work combines botanical printing, knitting, and stitching with a painterly feel.
About Her Process
The botanical printmaking process is almost always the inspiration and starting point for Rebecca’s work. Eco or botanical printing is the art of transferring color from natural plant material on to fabric or paper using pressure, moisture, and heat. Beautiful contact plant portraits are captured by bundling vegetation and fabric, either by rolling around a pipe or stacking in layers and binding tightly. The bundle is then steamed or immersed in simmering natural dye coaxing the pigment out of the leaves and on to the cloth. Results depend on many variables: type of fabric, water source, plant species, season, climate, and type of vessel used to name a few. Thus each piece is unique and always a surprise. The process involves many steps: scouring, mordanting, pre dyeing, printing with plant material, post dyeing, rinsing, and perhaps printing again. Rebecca enjoys the relationship with the natural world inherent in the process: foraging walks, growing my own dye plants, the aroma of cooking eucalyptus, and the opening of a bundle to reveal what gift Mother Nature has given. When a piece of printed paper or cloth excites me, Rebecca begin the slow process of embellishing. This involves tearing fabric, arranging and rearranging, pinning, basting, and deciding on a place to start. She approaches this process intuitively, reacting playfully, exploring this or that, asking what if? The piece evolves and its story unfolds. Hopefully a lovely whole is created by the intricate details. In a nutshell, the beauty of the materials and the process of making are what my artwork is about. Rebecca is co-creating with Mother Nature and collaborating with the fabric, yarn, and thread.
In this collaborative Pop-Up Art Show with DREAMS Center for Arts Education, Art in Bloom Gallery is delighted to share the creations of Wilmington’s rising stars! Join us in Mayfaire Town Center for this weekend exhibit, celebrating the artwork of DREAMS Center’s youth artists in our new gallery space.
Join us at 970 Inspiration Drive on Saturday April 5, from 2-5pm & Sunday, April 6, 2-5pm for our Reception Events! Meet DREAMS’ rising artists, enjoy their original work, live music by guitarist Miles Moore, and refreshments. Or visit between 10-6pm on Saturday and 12-5pm on Sunday to see this special Pop-Up exhibit on display.
Gallery events are always free and open to the public. On view along with these exhibits, Art in Bloom Gallery showcases a plethora of fine art by over 30 local artists.
Thank you to the North Carolina Museum of Art for sponsoring this opportunity through its Artist Innovation Mentorship program (AIM). We can’t wait to see where these talented young artists go from here!
About DREAMS Center for Arts Education:
Established in 1997, DREAMS of Wilmington is a youth development organization that is dedicated to creating a culture of confidence for youth and teens, through equitable access to arts education, supported by the values of respect, family, and community.
Today, DREAMS provides free-of-charge arts programming to more than 600 young people and their families each year. It offers more than 40 classes per week at 6 different sites in the Wilmington, NC area, including its newly renovated, 12,000 square foot inner-city center on Wilmington’s North Side. This space features its 4,000 square foot performance venue and multipurpose space, “The Garage at DREAMS.”
You’ll find DREAMS programming at public housing sites, city recreation centers, and in after-school and out-of-school programs across New Hanover County. DREAMS employs more than 20 teaching artists who share its passion of creating a world where every child has the right to self-expression and the opportunity to grow into the person that they are and wish to become. Additionally, DREAMS has the following initiatives: Public Art, Visiting Artists, Teen Council, Family Engagement, Dance Theatre of DREAMS (DTD), The Garage at DREAMS, and The Gallery at DREAMS.
About NCMA AIM:
The Artist Innovation Mentorship program is the signature outreach program of the NCMA, pairing teaching artists with middle school–aged youth in after-school programs throughout North Carolina. During its first year, NCMA AIM provided eight artist residencies that served a total of seven counties. By partnering with community leaders and local artists within those counties, the program served over 100 students and impacted over 5,000 community members. The NCMA continues to work in rural communities through partnerships with the North Carolina Arts Council, Hometown Strong, and local county partners to increase outreach efforts as it enters the second year of a multiyear commitment to the AIM program.
Pilot funding was provided by the Anonymous Trust and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with additional generous support from First Citizens Bank, William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, SECU Foundation, and Oak Foundation.
Judy Hintz Cox “Energetic 3″ Oil and mixed media on canvas, 36″ x 50”
MoMentum Companies & Art in Bloom Gallery are continuing their collaboration in 2025! Join us in downtown Wilmington on Fourth Friday Gallery Nights. We are featuring the original work of artist, John Sharkey, and gallery artist, Judy Hintz Cox.
The opening Fourth Friday Event is February 28, from 6-9pm, and the show runs through April 1, 2025. This exhibit will also be open for the following Fourth Friday events on March 28.
View art Monday-Friday from 9am-3pm at MoMentum Companies at 103 S. Front Street in downtown Wilmington, NC.