My name is Lydia Rhodes Rolle; I am an artist and an educator my medium is Fabric and Oil. I started at 10 years old making clothing for women in my neighborhood who are pregnant, back in the mid-50s. Back then I was an excellent seamstress. I attended the Highschool of Fashion in Manhattan, Where I honed my sewing, designing and patternmaking skills and earned the title of Tailoress. I attended Queens College, and received a Fine Arts degree, And I minored in education. During my 4 years at Queens College, I worked as a Fashion Designer for a boutique in Brooklyn NY. I also worked with the Renaissance Project in Bedford Stevenson Brooklyn teaching Children to paint and I was selling my paintings. Right after graduating from Queens College, I got married and moved to Sullivan County NY and started a family. I was a part/time teacher and Tailoress while raising my 3 Children. After my youngest graduated from College, I went back and got my Graduate degrees From AIU In education Curriculum development for online learning. And became an associate Professor at SUNY Sullivan Community College for a few years and decided to get my PHD. The 2-year program turned into 4 years of illness and going totally blind from Diabetes for 3 months. I changed my lifestyle and became a partial Vegan and started hiking. Then during the following 3 months my vision slowly came back as blurred vision. So, my PHD turned into a second master’s Degree from Capella University In education. I had to stop making clothes and I started making art quilts, and painting.
Now Hear I am ten years later Creating my Paintings with fabric and thread.
