Vicki Essig

Asheville, NC | Exhibiting Since 2000

Vicki Essig is a full time artist living and working in the mountains of North Carolina. Studio work includes weaving and paper making, collecting and observing. Her work is quiet, contemplative, and deliberate. Vicki’s professional career began over two decades ago when she studied hand weaving, textiles, and design. She later became proficient at working with uncommonly fine yarns and slowly developed a body of work that incorporated intricate patterns with remnants of nature and Fragments of old books. She recently built a new studio where she will continue her exploration of textiles along with paper, book arts, photography and printmaking. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and can be found in the collections of North Short University Health System in Chicago, Illinois, Fidelity Investment Bank in Raleigh, North Caroline, Baylor University, University of Washington, and the Universities of California at San Diego and Santa Cruz.

“I walk. It calms my mind. I know just what to do next. My feet carry me forward. Mostly it’s routine, tranquil, and quiet. Occasionally I flush out a bird, a deer or two. Sometimes I come around a bend in the land and am delighted to see a dried pod, a tree full of galls, or a vine that is particularly beautiful that day. I am in this place of meditation, not quite lost in a brown study. This is how my weaving is to me. It too is quiet and methodical. One thread after another carry me forward. On a good day, I am surprised by the time that has slipped away as I witness where I have been and where I am going, traveling by foot or on the space in front of me at my loom. In viewing my work, my hope is that, for at least a moment, you become lost in the discovery of the minute, the quiet of repetition, and the beauty of nature and pattern.”