Fecho

BIO and Artist Statement

Fecho is a multi-media printmaker/surface designer with an earned M.F.A. from East Carolina University, a botanical illustration certificate from NCBG, as well as postgraduate studies from various institutions including; Jan Van Eyck Academie, Humboldt Field Research Institute, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Northern Illinois University and Penland School of Crafts. Fecho has exhibited regionally, nationally and internationally – and has received numerous awards, grants and residencies. Fecho, born in Virginia and long-term resident of North Carolina, is connected to “place” – she has a deep appreciation for the natural world of North Carolina, her home. Fecho’s images have been accepted into several major collections: the Smithsonian Institution’s American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library; the Word and Image Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England; and the Museum of Women Artists, Washington, D.C. Fecho’s illustrations have appeared in scientific journals such as Nature Reviews Urology, The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, The Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, The Journal of Urology.

“I am a collector of media and techniques – and strive for integration between collaged papers, fabric, traditionally and digitally produced images. Each medium has its own unique characteristics. In work characterized as “sophisticated elegance.” I remain fascinated by the layering and coloration of elements. Layers are left translucent to enhance the textural feel of the surface. Driving the subject choice in my work is historic iconography. I enjoy researching symbols and architectural elements related to culture and genre – and to ponder the content, design, color relationships between them.

My work is inspired by the natural world – while also responding to the vernacular. The focus of my work is often a result of locational surroundings along the winding roads of the Tidewater regions to Appalachia [born/raised Appalachian, long term resident of Tar-Pamlico River Basin]. These sites are filled with sensory experiences that include historic vernacular and indigenous botanicals. My work is most easily identified with the landscape of home – poetic and lyrical archetypal views of nostalgic landscapes – and includes traces of friends, family, and relationships. 

The body is gone but there is a residue, a memory; with something that stays behind to keep these images from being sterile representation of spaces. In these mood pieces, I revisit ideas and actual places to suggest life and memory, to evoke imaged sounds and emotions. My pieces are never static but continue to evolve and change. Both hand and mind manipulate, gather, reshape in effort to preserve and to open a door or a window for the viewer.”

Trained as a traditional printmaker, I am intrigued by the richness and variety inherent in varied techniques. Storytelling is at the core of my work, with the sculptural book as a vehicle for narrative, expressing feelings, and sharing imagery.

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Solo Exhibitions

• No Thought of Time. DeBerry Gallery for Botanical Art ad Illustration, UNC Botanical Gardens, Chapel Hill. 2024.
• Making Quietude, Perquinmans Arts League, Hertford, NC. 2024
• Novelette. Blount Bridgers. Hobson Pittman Memorial Gallery. NC. 2023
• When I Breathe on Air. MCA Art Gallery, Emory and Henry College, VA. 2022
• Sophisticated Elegance: Mixed Media Works, Louisburg College Exhibition, NC, 2021
• Wait Without Thought, Eyes on Main Street Gallery, NC, grp ex. w/Maureen O’Neill, 2021
• Flutterings: Expressions of Nature, Barton College Art Galleries, Wilson, NC
• Vulnerable, Eyes on Main Street Gallery, Wilson, NC, 2020
• To Contemplate What Lies Behind Us, Imperial Centre for the Arts & Sciences, NC
• Drawing and Prints, Francis Marion University Galleries, SC, 2019
• Tracing Shadows, Virginia Graves Gallery, Barton College, Wilson, NC, 2018
• Celebrating Light and Line, English Harbour Arts Centre, Newfoundland, CA, 2010
• Travel Notations, Mims Gallery, North Carolina Wesleyan College, NC, 2008
• Landscapes, Francis Gallery, Rawls Museum, Courtland, VA, 2008
• Landscapes, Commons Gallery, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, 2007
• Landscape Convergence, Barton Museum, Barton College, NC, 2006
• Layers of Meaning, Cary Senior Center, Cary, NC, 2006
• 25-Year Retrospective, Blount Bridgers Museum. Tarboro, NC, 2005
• The Painted Word: Image, Text & Ideology, Durham Arts Council, Allenton Gal., NC, 2005
• Retrospect, Chowan College, Murfreesboro, NC, 2004
• Point of Departure, Theater Galleries, High Point, NC, 1999
• Featured Artist, Evans Street Gallery, Greenville, NC, 1999
• Intrinsic Memories, Mims Gallery, Dunn Center, Wesleyan College, NC, 1998
• Nothing Overlooked, Edna Boykin Cultural Center, Wilson, NC, 1997
• Pen and Ink Drawings, Rawls Museum of Arts, Courtland, VA, 1994
• Celebrating Edgecombe County, Pender Room, Edgecombe Ct Library, Tarboro, NC, 1994
• Drawings, Paintings, and Prints, Rawls Museum Arts, Courtland, VA, 1993
• Life Rhythms, Art Council of Wilson, NC, 1990
• Textures, Rocky Mount Art Center, Rocky Mount, NC, 1989
• Monoprints and Photography, Greenville Museum of Art, NC, 1988
• Portrait of a Town Called Penny Hill, Rosewood Gallery, Kettering, OH, 1998

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RECENT INVITATIONALS/ JURIED EXHIBITIONS

• Please Touch the Art Exhibition [juried group exh.],ArtsAccess Gallery, Raleigh, NC. 2024
• 2024 Mixed Media Exhibition [juried group exh.], Imperial Center, Rocky Mount, NC.
• Winter Corridors Exhibition. Work by Susan Fecho + Erin Ives, Artspace, NC.2024
• 2024 Handcrafted [juried group exh.],, Imperial Center, Rocky Mount, NC. Juried Exhibition.
• Time Memory Mythos,Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL. 2023
• Carolina Roots Exhibition, Artspace, Raleigh, NC. 2023
• Contrary and Remote Things. Dare County Courtroom Gallery, NC. 2023
• Viewpoints. Wilson Arts Council. NC. 2023
• Living Mentors: A Teaching Artist Exhibition,Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory and Educational Foundation, Cleveland, OH. 2023
• ArtSpace Fresh. National Juried Exhibition. Raleigh, NC. 2022
• 2022 Frank Stick Memorial Art Show, Dare County Arts Council, NC
• (EM)power (EM)brace (EM)body. SDA’s Winter 2022–2023 Selections online exhibition.
• Woman Made Gallery. Small Works Exhibition. December 22
• Let Your Hands Speak of Love. A Handkerchief Project. Organizer/curator Beatriz Schaaf-Giesser, 2020 [http://global-texture.com/project/let-your-hands-speak-of-love/]
• ECU Alumni exhibition, Greenville, NC, Trails, Mixed Media. 2021.
• Fine Arts Celebration Benefit, Greenville Museum of Art, “Escape”, 2021
• Healing Through Art: Mental Health Awareness Art Show.  The Greenville Museum of Art. Collagraph and Mixed Media. 2021
• ’21 Odd Barbie Group Exhibition, Emerge Gallery, 2021.
• Pocosin Arts Annual Benefit – Artist highlight, “Betty’s Creek Red” 2021
• Craft to Art Series: Fiber.The Bascom: A Center for the Visual Arts, Highlands, NC. 2020
• National Fine Art Show, Lincoln Gallery of Loveland, CO. 2020
• 10th National 2D Competition and Exhibit, Cape Fear Studios, Fayetteville, NC. 2020
• LOSS, A Virtual Exhibition, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, 2020
• Self in Flux, SEFEA member’s traveling exhibition, James Madison University, VA, 2020
• Form Line Shape Space Exhibition, Middle Tennessee State University, 2020
• A Feathered Trail, Andrejev Galleries, Louisburg, NC, 2019
• Celebrating Nature, Botanical Art and Illustration Graduates, NC Botanical Gardens, NC
• Self in Flux, SEFEA member’s traveling exhibition, East Tenn. State University, 2019
• Art of the Mind, Imurj Creative Collaborative, Raleigh, NC, 2019
• 22^nd International Opening, Women Made Gallery, Chicago, IL. 2019

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ARTIST RESIDENCIES

• WILD ACRES RESIDENCY PROGRAM, NC, 2023
• RESIDENT ART INSTRUCTOR, “The Traveled Landscape: Connecting Art, Nature & Surface Design,” Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, TN, 2019.
• VILLA COMUNALE DI TAORMINA, Sicily. 2018
• VERMONT STUDIO CENTER FELLOWSHIP, 2013
• ENGLISH HARBOUR ARTS CENTER FELLOWSHIP, Newfoundland, Canada. 2010
• HAMBIDGE CENTER FOR CREATIVE ARTS AND SCIENCES FELLOWSHIP, Rabun Gap, Ga. 2006.
• POUCH COVE FOUNDATION’S RESIDENTIAL ARTS PROG, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. 2006.
• RESIDENT ARTIST, Studio One Studios, Wilson, NC, 2001 – 2013
• RESIDENT ARTIST, Tarboro Artesian Center, Tarboro, NC, 2013 – 2015
• VISITING ARTIST, Sierra Leone, Africa, Sponsored by Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board: Scarcies Secondary School of Mambolo; St. Joseph Catholic Vocational School of Lunsar; Freetown Secondary School for Girls; American International School of Freetown. 1986

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Contracted Instructor for Visual Arts Programming

• Arrowmont School of Crafts, TN. Textiles
• Barton College, NC. Visual Arts and Graphic Design
• Bertie County Schools, NC. Visual Arts
• Blount Bridgers Museum of Tarboro. Visual Arts
• Cary Academy, NC. Visual Arts
• Chowan University, NC. Visual Arts and Graphic Design
• Edgecombe Community College, NC. Art Appreciation, Visual Arts
• English Harbour Arts Centre, CA. Visual Arts
• Emory and Henry College, VA. Visual Arts
• Francis Marion University, SC. Visual Arts
• Greenville Museum of Art, NC. Visual Arts
• Morgan Papermaking Conservatory, OH. Visual Arts
• North Carolina Botanical Garden, NC. Botanical Art and Illustration Programming
• N.C. Governor’s School. Area I Visual Arts Instructor 
• Penland School of Crafts, NC. Studio Assistant for Textiles. 
• Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft. Visual Arts, Mixed Media
• Rawls Museum of Arts, VA. Visual Arts
• Roanoke Chowan Community College. Visual Arts
• Sampson County Arts Council, NC. Visual Arts
• Walter Rawls Museum of Courland VA. Visual Arts
• Visiting Artist, Sierra Leone, Africa, sponsored by Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board: Scarcies Secondary School of Mambolo; St. Joseph Catholic Vocational School of Lunsar; Freetown Secondary School for Girls; American International School of Freetown.

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Link to PDF of CV