Beth Yazhari
Beth Yazhari is a painter and mixed media artist currently living in Lake Oswego, OR. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1998. Initially focused on painting, Yazhari also became interested in fiber arts, not only for their aesthetic but also because they focused on traditionally underappreciated media that were associated with "women's work,” as opposed to the "high art" of painting on canvas. Much of her body of work has sought to challenge this arbitrary distinction of high and low art by rescuing beautiful discarded pieces of lace, doilies, and other fabrics created by anonymous women of the past, and highlighting them in complex layered paintings on canvas that are hung on the wall in a “high art” tradition.
Yazhari incorporates fabrics and beads from a wide variety of cultures into much of her work. Her globally inspired pieces, with their richly layered fields of color and intricate symmetry, reference both abstract expressionist paintings and Persian carpets. For the past several years she has also collected pieces of Victorian Era lace for a series of paintings exploring the historical creation and use of veils. Yazhari’s goal is to convey the idea that the veils that obscured the vision of women of the past, both physically and symbolically, should be removed. Delicately wrought lace garments, which both sheltered women in mourning and confined their movement, are painstakingly cut apart, painted into, and reassembled into new patterns. Reconstructing these traditional articles of women’s handiwork symbolizes a release of female energy and capacity from historical constraints.
