Judith Scott was an internationally renowned American fiber artist who was born deaf, mute, and with Down syndrome. She lived in an institution with little stimulation for 36 years until her twin sister found her and brought her to an art center. There she discovered her passion for working with yarn and other found objects to create intricate, textured pieces of fiber art that were later thought of as outsider art. Her works incorporated materials like yarn, cardboard, fabric, and found items wrapped and layered together.

1. Judith Scott
{ Fiber Artist

2. Who is Judith Scott?
Judith Scott (May 1, 1943 – March 15, 2005) was an
internationally renowned American fiber artist. She was
a fraternal twin to Joyce Scott, and she was born
profoundly deaf, mute, and with Down syndrome

3.  Ms. Scott, who was deaf and mute, was sent away from her
Cincinnati home when she was 7 years old. For 36 years, she
lived in a state institution, where she had very little
stimulation or means for expressing herself.
 Then in 1985, Ms. Scott's twin sister, who had been too young
to understand when her twin disappeared from her life, had a
sudden realization at a meditation retreat. She found Ms. Scott
and brought her to Berkeley so they could "have the rest of
our lives mostly together," she told The Chronicle in a 2002
interview.
 Joyce Scott enrolled her sister at Creative Growth Art
Center, an Oakland art organization for people with
physical, mental or emotional disabilities.

4. Judith Scott then began exploring
her creativity at the Creative
Growth, the non profit visual art
center for the mental and physically
disabled located in
Oakland, California. Here she
experimented with various
mediums, until she discovered yarn.

5. So what does her work
with yarn have to do with
Fiber Art?
Fiber art is a style of fine art
which uses textiles such as
fabric, yarn, and natural and
synthetic fibers. It focuses on the
materials and on the manual
work involved as part of its
significance.

6. She was often thought of as an outsider artist.
Outsider art means art produced in response
to some inner creative urge by those separated
from society. It is art made without worry
about what other people are making art.

7. What do you think this
piece is about?

8. She used
yarn, cardboard, foam, bits of
fabric, wood scraps and a range
of objects that caught her eye
from an old fan to bike
parts, coat hangers, a
skateboard, a computer screen.
As she worked, often for months
on a single piece, the found
items would slowly disappear
behind layers of colorful
tapestry. A documentary film
crew from Spain recently had
one of her pieces X- rayed to
find out just what was inside.

9. Examples of
Judith Scott’s
Fiber Art

10. What do you think this
piece is made of?

12. What textures do you see?

13. Judith Scott
is someone
that worked
with passion
and we can
all learn
from her.

14. We are going
to make fiber
art designs on
paper by using
yarn, material,
and found
objects.
Student Examples of
Fiber Art

15. Student Example

16. Student Example

17. Let’s get started
with our own
FIBER ART