MARFA — The Paisano Hotel’s Greasewood Gallery will hold an opening exhibition of Steve Stratakos’ Quilts exhibition tonight, July 3, at 6 p.m. at 207 Highland in Marfa.
Stratakos was born in Chicago and earned a BFA in textiles from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1977. He has been making quilts ever since and has exhibited throughout the United States and in the U.K., Japan, Kenya and Spain. “My inspiration comes from the wide variety of colors and patterns that textiles offer,” he said. “My early exposure to textiles was from my grandmother, who had an entire cake bin full of embroidery thread. The threads’ bright colors inspired me to study fabric art.”
With jobs at the design departments of Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo and Texas Parks and Wildlife, Stratakos was involved in a whole different avenue for creating, from exhibit building to illustration and sign printing. In addition, through his wife, Helen Snook, he was exposed to Kenyan wildlife conservation work which led to the ongoing creative adventure of designing and installing wildlife panels in African national parks. The exhibit runs through August 22.