judith scott fiber artist

{Judith Scott

Fiber Artist

Who is Judith Scott?

Judith Scott (May 1, 1943 – March 15, 2005) was an internationally renowned American fiber artist. She was a fraternal twin to Joyce Scott, and she was born profoundly deaf, mute, and with Down syndrome

Ms. Scott, who was deaf and mute, was sent away from her Cincinnati home when she was 7 years old. For 36 years, she lived in a state institution, where she had very little stimulation or means for expressing herself.

Then in 1985, Ms. Scott's twin sister, who had been

too young to understand when her twin disappeared from her life, had a sudden realization at a meditation retreat. She found Ms. Scott and brought her to Berkeley so they could "have the rest of our lives mostly together," she told The Chronicle in a 2002 interview.

Joyce Scott enrolled her sister at Creative Growth Art Center, an Oakland art organization for people with physical, mental or emotional disabilities.

Judith Scott then began exploring her creativity at the Creative Growth, the non profit visual art center for the mental and physically disabled located in Oakland, California. Here she experimented with various mediums, until she discovered yarn.

So what does her work with yarn have to do

with Fiber Art?

Fiber art is a style of fine art which uses textiles such as

fabric, yarn, and natural and synthetic fibers. It focuses on the materials and on the

manual work involved as part of its significance.

She was often thought of as an outsider artist. Outsider art means art produced in response to some inner creative urge by those separated from society. It is art made without worry about what other people are making art.

What do you think this piece is about?

She used yarn, cardboard, foam, bits of fabric, wood scraps and a range of objects that caught her eye from an old fan to bike parts, coat hangers, a skateboard, a computer screen. As she worked, often for months on a single piece, the found items would slowly disappear behind layers of colorful tapestry. A documentary film crew from Spain recently had one of her pieces X- rayed to find out just what was inside.

Examples of Judith Scott’s Fiber Art

What do you think this piece is made of?

What textures do you see?

Judith Scott is someone that worked with passion and we can all learn from her.

Student Examples of Fiber Art

We are going to make fiber art designs on paper by using yarn, material, and found objects.

Student Example

Student Example

Let’s get started with

our own FIBER ART