Saaraliisa Ylitalo

Teaches at The Art League

Textiles have always fascinated me. I learned to sew when I was nine, and everything else followed: knitting, crocheting, weaving, spinning, dyeing, tatting…. By the time I got to college, I was ready to explore textiles as art. In my twenties I studied with Walter Nottingham and taught various fiber arts in Illinois and Wisconsin. Then I began 25 years of travel on four continents--living, teaching and exhibiting in Costa Rica, Japan, Peru and South Africa, with stops in the United States. During five years in Japan, I fell in love with washi paper, and apprenticed with a master papermaker in Kyoto. Paper remains my chief passion, but I combine it with many other textile techniques. For me, paper is non-woven fabric. Since returning to the U.S. in 2007 I have set up a studio in the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC. Though I still feel a bit of a stranger in my own country, I'm enjoying the challenge of establishing my practice in the huge, vibrant art world of the United States.