Alumni

FIDM Alumna Orquidia Violeta Starts Residency At Sitka Center For Art And Ecology In Oregon

Textile artist and FIDM Grad Orquidia Violeta recently began a three-month residency at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, a facility located on the central Oregon coast dedicated to fostering “reflection, inquiry, and creation at the intersection of art and ecology.” Born in El Salvador, San Salvador, Orquidia came to the US when she was seven years old and attended Birmingham High School (now Birmingham Community Charter High School) in the Lake Balboa neighborhood of Los Angeles. 

Aiming for a career in Fashion Design led Orquidia to FIDM, where she completed her A.A. in 1996 and immediately landed a job in the industry as a CAD design assistant. She stayed at the same company for five years, eventually moving up to assistant designer. “I initially did want a career in fashion design, but my personal taste changed during the five years I worked in the industry — my perception changed, my attitude changed. I started making clothes for women that empower them to be confident, eccentric, fearless, and one of a kind. I left to open a store called LaborFruit with my partner and a collective. We sold handmade items, especially wearable art."

Orquidia eventually moved to Portland, where her artistic direction evolved again. “I transitioned to fine art when I moved. I started working with upholstery samples, because fabric was so expensive here. I also was inspired to work with salvaged materials. I even found trinkets and other personal items on the streets to put into my textile artwork.” That work is now the main focus of her career.

We checked in with Orquidia to learn more about her art and the residency.

Please tell us about your residency at Sitka Center: There are six residents here right now at the Sitka Center of Art and Ecology. Writers, visual arts, musicians, and natural science scholars. We are delving deeply into our work. I like it here. It's been two weeks so far, and I feel like I belong.

What does the center do, and how does it connect to your work? Sitka provides space and time to reflect. My residency connects to my textile vision, especially now that I've been working with Indigenous themes. This place is very close to nature, and provides plenty of inspiration and natural materials for me to work with. My residency here at Sitka Center has brought me to finalize that I am a textile artist. The landscapes here on the Oregon Coast are growing within me and encouraging me to share my textile art with the world.

Please talk about your art: I like hand embroidery, knitting, weaving, appliqué, beadwork, fabric dyeing, soft sculpture, painting and drawing. 

Where do you find inspiration for your work? I find inspiration in nature and in the materials I find in the city.

What are your preferred mediums? My preferred mediums are sewing and embroidery,

How did FIDM help prepare you for this work? FIDM was a great start for me. I only took one semester of sewing at FIDM, but I kept learning over the years, and I haven’t stopped learning.

Anything else you’d like to share? I would say to FIDM students to stay true to yourselves, and follow where that leads. Fashion design today could be textile artwork tomorrow. 

You can attend my upcoming artist talk from the Sitka Center on Zoom, March 2nd at 4 PM, PST. Check this website to sign up: https://orquidiavioleta.com/events/sitka-center-for-art-and-ecology

Photo by Micah Fischer | Courtesy of WildCraft Studio School

Explore Orquidia Violeta’s work on Instagram @orquidia_violeta. 

Categories:  Fashion Design Alumni