About

Statement

Color is what delights and inspires me.  Color is what I see first and foremost as I move through the world. My weavings most often begin with a color palette based on place (for example brick reds and sidewalk greys of a cityscape or the chilled blues of Alaskan glaciers); the design follows.

Since childhood I’ve been knitting, crocheting and sewing. I’ve always enjoyed working with fiber and making things with my hands. When I started weaving more than twenty years ago, it was like falling in love, obvious, a homecoming.

Doubleweave— cloth with two distinct layers of fabric—is the weave structure I use to create my images. It has fascinated me since I learned to weave because it suits my imagination, allowing precise and subtle variations of perspective and color within the orderly framework of the loom. I’m excited to see the colors of yarn when they come out of the dye pot and to see an image develop once the yarn is on the loom

Images include: dye pot, dye formula sample cards, dyed skeins, design in black and white , color palette overlayed on design, warps ready for loom, getting wound on to and threaded through the heddles, colored layers of warp, loom with weaving.

I keep track of the formula for the colors with dye sample cards. Once I have my palette chosen, I create the design in black and white using the computer, then I add color to the black and white design. The design is my guide for winding the warp. Using a printout from the design software I hand weave following the color and pattern changes.

CV

Selected Invitational  Exhibitions

2020 Une Exposition d’arts Obsessionels de la Fibre, Gravers Lane Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2015 Integrated Patterns: Structured Abstraction, Alden B. Dow Museum, Midland, MI
2010 7th International Fiber Biennial, Snyderman-Works Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
2008 6th International Fiber Biennial, Snyderman-Works Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
2007 Solo exhibit, Snyderman-Works Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
2007 SOFA CHICAGO 2007, Snyderman-Works Galleries, Chicago, IL
2006 5th International Fiber Biennial, Snyderman-Works Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
2006 Three person exhibit, Butternut Gallery, Montrose PA
2004 SOFA CHICAGO 2004, Mobilia Gallery, Chicago, IL
2004 Fiber Art 2004, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
2002 Structure: Woven, Painted and Sculpted, Lake Wales Art Center, FL

Selected Juried Exhibitions

2023 International Fiber Arts Xl, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA
2022 Small Expressions, UT Downtown Gallery, Knoxville, TN
2022 Art of the State: PA 2022, Greater Harrisburg Art Council, Harrisburg, PA
2020 Mandatory Color, SDA, Museum of Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX
2020 Small Expressions, Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery, Lincoln, NE
2020 Art of the State: PA 2020, Greater Harrisburg Art Council, Harrisburg, PA
2019 40th Annual Contemporary Crafts, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ
2019 Juried Craft Exhibition, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
2018 39th Annual Contemporary Crafts, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ
2017 Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, Philadelphia, PA
2016 Images 2016, Central PA Festival of the Arts, State College, PA
2015 Fiber Directions 2015 Wichita Center for the Arts, KS
2013 Craft Forms 2013, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
2013 Innovations in Fiber Art VI, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol CA
2012 Small Expressions, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach CA
2011 Images 2011, Central PA Festival of the Arts, State College, PA
2010 Craft Forms 2010, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
2008 Focus Fiber 2008, Cleveland State University Art Gallery, Cleveland, OH
2007 Small Expressions, Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery, Univ. of Nebraska–Lincoln
2006 Challenge Exhibition, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
2005 The Essential Substance, Gallery at Mount Ida College, Newton Center, MA

Selected Awards and Honors

2022 Small Expressions, 2^nd Place; Edith Whiteman Memorial Award, Knoxville, TN
2020 Small Expressions, Edith Whiteman Memorial Award,
Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery, Lincoln, NE
2018 Art of the State: PA 2018, 3rd Place Craft. Harrisburg Art Council, Harrisburg, PA
2011 Images 2011, Award of Merit, Central PA Festival of the Arts, State College, PA
2007 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship
2006 Celebration of Fiber 2006, Juror’s Choice Award, Philadelphia, PA
2005 Fiber Celebration 2005, 2nd Place, Longmont Museum & Cultural Ctr., CO

Selected Publications

2016 “SDA Inaugural International Exhibition in Print,” Surface Design Journal, (Vol. 40, No. 4 Winter 2016/2017), p.59
2012 Textiles: The Art of Mankind, Thames & Hudson, (NY, 2012), p.188-189
2011 Fiber Art Today, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, (PA, 2011) p.128-133
2007 Nancy Middlebrook: Selections 1996-2007, Nancy Middlebrook (PA, 2007)
2006 “Magical Weavings,” Edward Sozanski Philadelphia Inquirer (March 3, 2006) p. W36
2005 “Nancy Middlebrook: Strict Pattern and Riotous Color,” Nancy Brokaw Fiberarts (Vol. 32, No. 3, Nov/Dec 2005) p.20-21