A longtime FGP member, Delli Speers shares information about her life, her approach to art, and her innovative, community-building fiber work:
About Me
I prefer to think of myself as a craftsman, like my relatives and ancestors. I was surrounded from birth with family, all creative, who emigrated from Poland: cinematographers in the silent era; scenic artists who designed, built, and painted movie/theater/World’s Fair exhibitions/sets and at least eight of one another’s summer homes on Long Island; an artist who restored a Polish church mural; a film editor/animator; a marquetry specialist for Steinway pianos; a Jacquard silk loom programmer for WWII parachutes; a silk screener, a silversmith, a dressmaker. Growing up exposed me to multiple disciplines, explaining why I’m all over the place, trying so many materials and techniques.
I learned weaving in 1962 in New York. After moving to Harrisburg in 1967, I joined the Harrisburg Craftsmen, which, at that time, was a chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen. I participated in many arts & crafts festivals and American Crafts Council’s early fairs. My work was in many juried exhibitions at the Wm. Penn Museum, which is now called the State Museum, with honorifics. My work led me to Chicago and then to Los Angeles, where I left my last loom. Been there. Done that.
Yarn Bombing
I moved to Pittsburgh and took a knitting class at Contemporary Crafts in 2012, where I met members of the Fiberarts Guild. Amanda Gross was kind enough to ask what I did on my own. She said what I called my hokey side was called yarn bombing. Who knew? I had been attaching “hat mistakes” to an 80 ft fence opposite my apartment as planters, created tableaus of 1/2 chairs wrapped in yarn with bas relief tables, table settings, etc. I immediately joined the Guild and made a very small contribution to the Knit The Bridge project. That was when I got to meet so many wonderful members.
I really enjoyed the Pop des Fleur project in 2016. The colors all over the city during winter months were wonderful. My South Side library still has a bouquet in a vase. I continue to yarn bomb the library, neighborhood trees, parking/light poles, downspouts, gas meters, etc. — weather and age permitting.
The Fence
About 2009, Goodwill’s original fence was rusty, deteriorating. Knowing their budgetary restraints, I asked them to consider replacement. A new fence appeared a year later. That gleaming new chain link was the inspiration to start using it. I asked, and was given permission, as long as no damage would be done. Hence, no metals, lots of bird netting, cable ties. For starters fiber friends brought knitting, crochet and tatting pieces. I started knitting holiday and seasonal outfits for a pair of pink plastic flamingos. Neighbors and strangers taped all sorts of projects onto the fence, left shopping bags on my doorstep, in the mailbox. I properly hung everything. The Fence has become a part of the South Side Garden Tour. A few years ago a heavy duty curtain material was installed on the parking lot side. It was akin to having a gallery wall to work with. It also blocks the sun that was bleaching the fibers from the slope side. What the sun does to certain acrylic yarn dyes is interesting. Paddy green bleaches into teal.
Exploration & Process
Around 2013 I began exploring fabric, fleece, feathers, polyethylene, paper, bark, beads, laces, etc. I’m not interested in finishing a piece, but in exploration. I have placed exhibited pieces outdoors to examine deconstruction — sometimes leading to another process, another exhibit, the landfill. No thing is precious. My annoyance is an artist statement. I do it because I can.
I just took Nancy Langer’s wonderful embroidery workshop. It has inspired me to take the basic teeny tiny stitches, execute them hugely on very weathered jute coffee bean bags from Columbia. Being creative is easy when you wing it…..difficult when shown how. It took me almost nine decades to learn that.
Delli Speers, “Unraveling of Reason 2” (shown right)