Born on the island of Hawaii, Joan Shipman Blackshear has an island family history dating back four generations. The seeds of her art were sown early while playing hide and seek among Banyan roots, torch ginger, and wild orchids.
Upon obtaining a degree in Fashion Design (Woodbury University, Los Angeles, 1973), she worked the next 15 years for several up-scale fashion houses including her own, Joan Blackshear Designs, Inc. and the legendary Jean Louis (Jean Louis Couture, Beverly Hills). Her designs have appeared in numerous national and island publications.
“To create different effects, I constantly experiment with various surface design techniques such as stencil, block print, resist, discharging color, watercolor, and Shibori, the traditional Japanese art of “shaped resist dying”, whereby fabric is folded, bound, tied, pleated, or wrapped and compressed before it is dyed. The palette of hand mixed paints and dyes ranges from sorbet pastels to rich jewel and deep vegetable tones. My goal is to create a mix of stylized Island art while maintaining beautiful composition and impeccable quality of product.”
With exciting new patterns and palettes on combinations of silk, linen, palm fiber, and more, Joan Blackshear creates an eclectic and richly visual feast for the eyes, spirit, and soul.