MYRTLE BEACH, SC.- The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum presents The Fabric of Jazz: A Tribute to the Genius of American Music, Lauren Camp, Fiber Artist, on view through March 25, 2007. Artist Lauren Camp describes jazz as “one of the most innovative forms of music there is — constantly changing, evolving . . . from salsa to bebop to the cool jazz of the West Coast and the sounds of today.” Those words could describe the artist herself: a fiber artist who creates vibrantly hued, richly detailed portraits of jazz musicians from thread, a creator of art books, and an award-winning poet.

The Fabric of Jazz includes 19 fabric works and three art books from what Camp describes as a ten-year effort to capture the soul of American jazz – and its most stellar performers – in multihued, multitextured works of fabric. Her stunning portraits include such jazz luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman and Ella Fitzgerald.

Along with the greats, she also immortalizes the unknown contributors: the “stride” piano players, the rhythm section, the horn players and other various “sidemen.” With vibrant, occasionally discordant combinations of color and texture, she captures the vitality, complexity and spontaneity of the music – and occasionally the historic context in which it was created.

Her portrait of Billie Holiday titled “Bless the Child,” for example, incorporates images of the singer with lyrics from the title song as well as from a second piece: “Strange Fruit,” which describes victims of lynch mobs left hanging from trees.

Despite her being largely self-taught in the medium, Camp’s work has received recognition and is on display at prestigious locations virtually around the world, from a cultural center in Tulsa, Oklahoma to US Embassies in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and Bamako, Mali. Her work has been included in an invitational Fiber Art Biennial in Chieri, Italy, exhibiting work for the NAACP; and was commissioned for at least one motion picture (“Empty City” by Sony Pictures, Hollywood).

“When I listen, I hear colors and shapes,” Camp notes in her artist’s statement. “The sounds I hear are the designs I make with my threadwork. . . . My art form gives me a way to ‘play’ what I hear — a chance to doodle and delight.”

For Lauren Camp's companion website to the exhibit, visit TheFabricOfJazz.com.