ABOUT
Sarah Lopez spent most of her childhood participating in sports. She was a soccer player, dancer, competitive gymnast, and springboard diver! When she was not immersed in athletics, she loved coloring, painting her nails, and experimenting with old makeup on canvas. As she spent more time with her grandmothers from Poland and Mexico, she became entranced by clothing they made for their families using various plant and animals fibers. Inspired by them, Sarah learned how to knit and then she learned the art of dying, carding, and spinning wool into yarn. She experimented with the construction of garments and created a line of completely hand-knit clothing using her handmade art yarn.
Unfortunately, a majority of her handcrafted outfits sat untouched in her closet. In 2023, Sarah decided it was time to repurpose the beloved textiles. Fueled with curiosity, Sarah carefully unraveled hundreds of hours of work. She cut the yarn, organized it by color, and glued piece by piece onto a canvas her mom had given her. This cathartic experiment allowed her navigate the swirling thoughts in her head. She fell in love with the process and the fact that each piece of fiber resembled a brush stroke. Just like that, fiber painting was born!
BEFORE:
Hand-knit dress made with hand-dyed and hand-spun art yarn
AFTER:
The dress was cut up and individual pieces were glued to canvas to create my first large fiber painting “Emerging”
Sarah’s friend and former diving teammate, Carrie, taught her how to make art yarn in 2020 when the two were living together in Watkins Glen, NY. They made so much yarn, it took over the house, and they decided to start a business together! It was called Fleece & Thank Ewe Fiber Worx and the two sold their creations throughout the Finger Lakes for several years.
Sarah and her friend Carrie at a local farmers market. Both wearing dresses made with hand-dyed and hand-spun art yarn!
A peak at the process….
Dyeing: Adding color to white wool
Using a spinning wheel to transform dyed wool into bobbins full of yarn.
Hand-dyed and hand-spun art yarn just waiting to become a fiber painting…
A small sample of the art yarn Sarah and Carrie made together.
Fun facts:
Sarah was a Fulbright Scholar who lived in Brazil for two years. She is fluent in Portuguese and is a passionate Forró dancer and Capoeirista. She hopes to return to Brazil one day and bring her fiber art with her!
