Sirpa Yarmolinsky

Sirpa Yarmolinsky was born in Kurikka, Finland, in 1945, and lived six years in Paris (1970-1976) before moving to the Washington, DC, area where she resides today. While attending the Ateneum Institute of Arts in Helsinki, where she graduated in 1962, she studied under the influential Finnish design and textile artists Kaj Franck and Kirsti Rantanen. Yarmolinsky is known worldwide for her textile wall-hangings and woven sculptural forms. Early in her career she worked primarily with fibers, but in 1978 began earnestly pursuing sculptural works made with tar paper, roofing felt, and homemade paper. She gathers ideas for working materials by wandering hardware stores, and incorporates a variety of materials in her work. Her art has been exhibited at the George Washington University Textile Museum, the internationally-known tapestry gallery La Demeure, and in the permanent collection of New York’s Cooper Hewitt Museum, as well as in numerous private collections around the world, including England, Germany, France, and Israel. She won special acclaim at the 6^th International Biennial of Tapestry in Lausanne, Switzerland.