arts & life

fashion

The

D

Fabr

Of!

A native-Detroit artist is

inspired by the colors and

patterns of other cultures.

I

Suzanne Chessler Contributing Writer

uring the 1970s,
when Cheri Lasher
was a student at the
University of Michigan and
away from classwork, she
began to explore surface paint-
ing on fabric, wood and ceram-
ics.
Lasher was expanding an
interest stirred while attending
Berkley High School, where
she became curious about
the effects of mixing colors.
Informally, she experimented
with drawing by coming up
with abstract designs in her
Huntington Woods home.
In her college years, students
were wearing sweatshirts and
sweatpants, and Lasher decided
they needed some distinction.
She would buy outfits, paint the
fabric and sell them to family
and friends. What she didn't
know about techniques, she
found in books.
Lasher, whose academic
focus had been anthropol-
ogy and languages, left school
early and found fabric work in
Chicago. She was hired to paint
fabrics for high-end clothing in
a factory that later sent its work
to another country and closed.
Although diverted into busi-
ness jobs in Chicago, Israel
and back in Chicago, Lasher
kept painting as time permit-
ted. In the hours after doing
administrative work for a
U.S. advertising company and
Israeli tech firms, she expressed
her artistry.
A bonus came as friends and
colleagues saw what Lasher
made and asked to buy hand-
made scarves for themselves.
Now, in a break from work-
ing for others, she is estab-
lishing herself as a full-time
artist with hand-painted silk
scarves at the center of her

work. Lasher has bought her
own equipment — a wooden
silk stretcher and a stovetop
steamer — and has extended
her product line.
"I chose to do scarves
for three reasons:' Lasher
says. "I think that most
people like them; they
don't seem to go out of
style; and I can do them
myself in a reasonable
amount of time:'
Plus, "As I work with colors
on fabric, they seem to take
on lives of their own:' says
Lasher, who often sprinkles
kosher salt on wet dye to cre-
ate new shading effects. "I use
foam brushes, and each scarf
gets a singular identity as the
dye meets the silk:' When they
are finished, she wraps them
in organza gift bags and sends
them free of mailing charges.
Lasher uses pre-cut white
silk in two sizes — 11-by-60
inches and 14-by-72 inches —
to fill with a gorgeous array of
colors. All go through a strenu-
ous process that takes about
five hours in her Chicago con-
dominium.
Lasher stretches the mate-
rial, paints the design, rolls
the scarves on paper to set the
paint, applies steam to alter the
shading, removes the paper,
suspends the scarves in textile
detergent, rinses the material
until the water is clear, hangs
each item to dry and does the
ironing. Buyers can maintain
the scarves by hand-washing
and ironing when necessary.
Although silk feels like a fragile
material, it has strength to it,
according to the artist.
"I've sold scarves in small
boutiques around the city and
at art fairs:' says Lasher, who
was recently juried into a show

ABOV : A hand-painted hamsa

lazy Susan. Placemats

can be purchased on their own

or with a runner. Hand-painted

silk

EFT, ABOVE and pashmina

,

(LEFT, BOTTOPP . scarves

sponsored by the Evanston Art
Center.
Since getting serious about
turning her fabric painting into
a business, Lasher has been
extending her offerings with
pashmina shawls, table runners
with matching placemats and
lazy Susans. When she wants
more concrete designs, she
uses stencils.
Lasher, who lived in Israel
for 12 years after being active
with Habonim, refined furni-
ture-painting techniques while
immersing herself in kibbutz
life.
"I've always been interested
in different cultures and their
folk art so I think that enters
into my design leanings:'
Lasher says. "My goal is to
bring more of that into my
work and add more types of
clothing into what I sell. I really
enjoy the flexibility of fabric
and the different looks that
come with fabric paint:' *

"I love watching a plain

fabric take life, whether

it's cotton, rayon or silk,"

details

artist Cheri Lasher says.

For more about Cheri Lasher and her work, visit cherilasher.com .

JN

December 3 •2015

61

