Fiber Artist and writer, Nancy Robb Dunst
Sedona AZ--As a child artist, Nancy Robb Dunst was always designing clothes for her dolls and creating plays for them. At the age of twelve, Nancy took a bed sheet from home, dyed it black and created a dress, “…and to the horror of my teachers, I wore it to school, hanging threads and all!” laughs Ms. Dunst. As she grew older, Nancy put her dolls away, went to college to be a therapist and earned a Masters Degree in Counseling, but life had other plans for her.
In her early thirties Nancy lost her job, her husband abandoned her and her father died, all in a span of two weeks. She was devastated and certainly not able to counsel anyone. At that time she took a job as a waitress, and in the evenings started healing by knotting fiber wall pieces. A friend took one of her works to a gallery where it immediately sold, and the gallery wanted more. It was not out of choice but out of tragedy that Nancy Dunst became an artist, and has stayed an artist for over 30 years.
“Now, I can’t imagine doing anything else and it is a process that keeps me centered,” she muses. Ms. Dunst creates works for corporations, cities and towns. Much of what is seen in her public work is impossible to duplicate because of the different technology that she uses, for example, when creating the landscape weaving, ”Silent Moments…” for Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Nancy designed a machine that wrapped rope. Covering over 50,000 feet of rope with a golden yarn provided a strong contrast to the red and purple mountains in the “Silent Moments” work. Her artist’s desire was to suggest the warm glorious ambiance of Arizona.
In Dunst’s studio, you will see fiber art installations such as a J-John that she converted into a little home titled “THE AMERICAN DREAM………Downsized!” Also displayed in the studio is Nancy”s favorite work from an exhibition titled “THE RESTROOM” where she created satin embroidered pharmaceutical products to cure emotional ills, such as “MENTAL FLOSS: For Morning Fuzziness and Afternoon Cobwebs” or “WAMPAX! For Rape of the Soul and Other Aggravating Assaults.”
One hysterically funny performance was the manner of installation of this exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum, and a video of that funny installation performance will be playing in the studio (as well as at the gallery). Presently Dunst is working on new art installations for a 6- person exhibit at the Mesa Contemporary Art Center in June 2011, and a 3- person exhibit titled: “Dirty Laundry….” (date and time yet to be determined).
Nancy Robb Dunst is a member of “Fiber Arts Sedona” (FAS) and will be showing her studio and art work, along with four other fiber artists in the community during October. FAS is presenting a “Fiber Crawl” better known as an Open Studios Art Event on the weekend of October 2nd & 3rd, daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
The public is invited to visit and see the artists creating in their work spaces. A fiber art exhibition will open October 1st at Kinion Fine Art Gallery, 361 Forest Road, in conjunction with First Friday as the “teaser” for the Open Studio Event. The show will be in the Vault during the month of October. Maps will be available at the Gallery. For more information contact Margaret Anderson at 928-203-4355.
DUNST STUDIOS, 251 Bear Wallow Lane, Sedona, Az 86336
928-282-0776 0r 928-221-3202
sedonaartistscoalition.org
artistsregister.com/artists/az84
