Alyson Annette Eshelman is an international fiber artist and art educator whose life and work is deeply intertwined with the Ohio region. She graduated from Bowling Green State University near Toledo, Ohio with a MFA in Fiber Arts and grew up in the Appalachian region of Ohio – the bedrock from which she finds artistic inspiration, strength, and a virtuous inner integrity. Eshelman states, “I still call Appalachia my home…the land our family has owned since before the Civil War will always be home no matter where I live. It is a hard emotion to explain, being so connected to the land and place but, I know I am better for it.” Eshelman’s choice of medium, fiber or textile arts, reflects this commitment to heritage and home. Eshelman formally studied oil painting from age 13 through her undergraduate education where she also studied sculpture. She admits that it wasn’t until after college that she realized that the skills and fiber crafts that she had learned growing up could be considered art. Presently Eshelman lives and works in Springfield where she teaches art classes and runs Caterpillar Dreams Studio. There she blends her artistic talents and business acumen to create useful, saleable works of art which are a complement to her museum and gallery work.
See more at: http://www.springfieldart.net/?exhibition=alyson-annette-eshelman-to-spin-a-yarn-chakeres-gallery#sthash.Pq6K28rI.dpuf
