About Jean Schulman, artist

For the past forty years, both as an artist and teacher, I have been digging in the dirt. I found my life's work using colored clay as a dye for fabric. Colored clays occur naturally throughout the United States and I use their rich colors in the production of clay-colored batiks. Both scientists and artists have suggested that colored clays may be an undeveloped natural dye medium, and my experience has substantiated that possibility.

My love story began the day I entered a classroom at Florence State University. I was scheduled to do my yearly batik demonstration for a friend's class. There were several jars of colored clay across the room and on a whim I decided to dip my brush into the clay and apply it to my waxed fabric. I was overwhelmed! Like magic the colored clays stained and dyed my design. On my first dig I collected over twenty different colors within a 100-yard area. For at least fifteen years I was having so much fun doing batik that I didn't care how the clay got its color or why there were so many different colors in one small area. I use natural fibers such as cotton, linen and raw silk in my work. Through drawing and design I turn my batiks into works of art. I often cut and tear fragments from a whole "finished" piece and liberate people and landscapes by resolving them in ink.

These newly found images begin to take on a life of their own. As an artist with ever changing colors, I still travel and research new clay sites in the Southeast, enabling me to develop new approaches to old materials.

Jean's work has been selected for the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

"My work does not fit into a single category, however through my research, I feel that I fit into the broader perspective of historical information and contemporary art. Now I am seeking to gather new knowledge, to break new ground and to make the information available to others." - Jean Schulman