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With a background in fine art, B. J. Adams current work is realistic and in some instances surrealistic. Her images are first drawn on paper. She then uses a sewing machine to create that exact image with thread.
Adams work has been shown in many international art exhibits including The 9th International Triennale of Tapestry in Lodz, Poland, Nos Plus Belles Histoires Brodees at the Folk Art Museum in Paris, and Art of the Stitch in London as well as the Art in Embassies programs. Nationally her work has been exhibited in The Textile Museum in Washington, DC and in three Quilt Nationals, Celebrating the Stitch, The Full Deck and many other venues.
B. J.'s work is in the collection of many public buildings including The Art Institute of Chicago, Disney’s ESPN Zone in D.C., Bellsouth Corporation in Atlanta, Kaiser Permanente in Washington, DC, and Alabama Power and Light in Birmingham, Alabama. She has been awarded two grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and several awards for individual works in various exhibits.
Her artwork has appeared in many publications including: FIBERARTS, SURFACE DESIGN JOURNAL, TEXTILEFORUM (from Europe), FIBERFORUM (Australia), THREADS (New Zealand) magazines and three QUILT NATIONAL catalogs, Full DECK, and CELEBRATING THE STITCH books.
My artistic life began with painting and drawing. And, I always designed and made my own clothes. These two pursuits found a common end with fiber art. When I discovered fabric and thread as a medium, a whole new textural world opened and ideas poured forth. The sewing machine has become my brush and pencil; hundreds of colors of thread have become paint for realistic and abstract images set on various backgrounds.
My artwork began with representation, developed into abstraction, and now goes back and forth between the two, sometimes combining elements of both, as well as surrealism, in the same work. I want this realistic or surrealistic work to give the viewer a surprise, an out of context image, size, or viewpoint.
While working on one piece, another concept often emerges, and it is this constant, stimulating flow that causes my work to evolve. The unusual or commonplace materials and techniques I use, the focus required by the slow process of this art, and the infinite available subjects, keep my work ever-changing, challenging, and always interesting.
As Jacob Lawrence once said, “All artists are constantly looking for something, and they don't always know what.”
