Self portrait, layered fabric & thread
24"x 36 " © 2024
Mary Ellen Sinclair was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She has an MFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn NY and a BFA from Rhode Island College.
She lived in New York City for thirty years exhibiting her art, maintaining an art studio in Chelsea, and working as an illustrator for Simplicity Pattern Company. Her creations made of fabric and thread have been shown extensively in the US and NYC galleries such as OK Harris, Louis Meisel, Gallery Henoch, and the Fashion Institute of Technology. Magazines such as Fiber Arts, Surface Design Journal, Threads, and the NY Times have published articles about her art, and many of her works are in private collections.
Sinclair and her husband moved to the Hudson Valley twelve years ago where she continues to exhibit her work and experiment with fabric in her Milton, NY studio.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
OK Harris Works of Art, NY
2001 "Feminine-Masculine Thread"
1999 "Hand Stitched Portraits"
1997 "Illusions with Thread"
1989 "Take a Closer Look"
1986 "Everyday objects stitched"
2003. Two-Person Exhibit: Sinclair/Shipko
Emerging Collector Gallery, NY
1994 "Works in Fabric &Thread"
Selected Group Exhibitions:
OK Harris 2003 Subject-Object, Invitational Exhibition
2001 (Robin Hood, I Love New York Benefit,
for victims of September 11)
SOFA Chicago- (Sculpture Objects & Functional Art)
SOFA New York- (Sculpture Objects & Functional Art)
Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA "The Teapot Redefined II'
1998 Rare Art Properties, NYC "Where There's Smoke,"
-Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, IL" Prelude to Cigar Art 3:"
-Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, California
1996 Editions Line Gallery, Marlon, N.J.
-Penn Mutual Building, "Holiday Exhibition,"
Philadelphia, PA –
1994 Fredholm Fine Arts, "Small is Beautiful,"
Asheville, NC
1993 Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, N.Y.
"New Ends Exhibition"
1990 Louis Meisel, N.Y. "Convincing Illusions"
-Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
-Gallery Henoch, N.Y.
-Museum of Holography, NY "Illusion Between Life and Art"
Capricorn Gallery, Bethesda, MD
- North Miami Museum, Miami, FL "The Real Thing."
Helander Rubinstein Gallery, Palm Beach, FL
Fashion Institute of Technology, NY Artisan Space
ARTICLES/REVIEWS
Fiber Arts Magazine- Paterson, Sunita- "Current and Coming" Pg. 63
Surface Design Journal- Malarcher, Patricia. "Seeing Double, "Spring, 1998 Pgs. 18-22
The New York Times- Freudenheim, Betty "Illusions and Allusions Fill a Show of Fiber
Art, "May 9, 1991 Arts and Leisure
Staten Island Sunday Advance, Arts and Leisure- Fressola, Michael. " A Tangled Web
Indeed. April 26, 1991
Fiberarts Magazine- McCann, Kathleen - "Going Over the Fine Details. "Nov/Dec 191
-Pgs. 56-59- Altamont Press, NC
Fiberarts Magazine- Scheinman, Pamela, "New Ends: The Medium as Message "Nov/Dec
1991 -Pgs. 56-59- Altamont Press, NC
Threads Magazine- Maryellen Sinclair - "Illusions With Thread. "Aug./Sept 1989 Pgs. 89- Back cover Taunton Press, Conn.
The Hoboken Reporter, NJ Arts and Leisure- Mitchell Chris, "Don't You Be Recycling
That Trash" September 27, 1987, Pg 12
Holosphere, NY Barileaux, Renee Paul- "Exploring Perceptions of Reality"- Volume 31 #3 Summer 1987 Pg. 16
WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
Ellen Stewart, Hoboken NJ
Kristin Mortensen Hudson Valley NY
Scott Hamilton, Topeka Kansas
Raymond Zimmerman, Boca Raton, FL
Phil Owen, Santa Fe, NM
Sonny Kamm, Los Angeles, CA
Dr. Anthony Terrana, Wellesley, MA
Lance Richbourg, VT
Marilynn Gelfman, NYC
Robert Rothchild, Matawah, N.J.
Dr. Joseph A. Chazan, Providence, R.1.
Howard Dubin, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Bruce Gold, Nashville, TN
Gerry and Ronnie Schwam, Phila, PA
Fred and Bren Waldin, NYC
Pamela Joseph, Aspen, CO
Ivan Karp, NYC
Richard & Ruth Shack, North Miami, FL
Martin Edelston, NYC
Minna Zielonika, Hoboken NJ
Bonnie Erickson, Wayde Harrison,
Brooklyn Heights NY
John Baeder, Nashville, TN
Marlene Cohen NYC
James Reiger, Kansas City, MO
Household Finance Corp. Chicago IL
Books
Lark Press. "Venidia Hair Net" published The Fiberarts International Design Book Six,ooks
Oct. 1999,
Lectures:
1998 Art in General, NYC
The Women's Textile Study Group, NYC
"Art doesnt have a finish line"
George Carlin
"But Life Does"
ME