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We’ve got our eyes on these up-and-coming creatives.
Having spent her childhood on Cape Cod, textile designer Rebecca Atwood has always looked to the ocean for inspiration. “I’m forever drawn to the colors and impressions of salt water,” she says. After attending the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, Atwood joined Anthropologie’s home design team, where she learned to craft such stylish goods as bedding, dish towels, and shower curtains. From there, she launched her namesake line of artisanal textiles and accessories. For Atwood, it’s been a full- circle experience: “So much about dyeing fabric,” she says, “reminds me of how the tide comes in on the beach and leaves its distinct pattern.”
Atwood in her Brooklyn studio.
Jeffrey Gibson
“My life has been very global,” says painter and sculptor Jeffrey Gibson, “but my Native American heritage has always been present in my work.” During his childhood, Gibson moved frequently for his father’s career, and his art can be seen as an attempt to balance a sense of uprootedness with a longing for home. “There are references from all over the world in my pieces,” says Gibson. “They’re all part of my experience and my aesthetic.” But his cultural legacy is also unmistakable—rawhide-covered ironing boards, hand-beaded punching bags, and even a totem pole made of cowboy boots bespeak his parents’ Choctaw and Cherokee backgrounds. Gibson is that rare artist who combines native pride with a cosmopolitan sensibility.
Gibson’s creative inspirations include such performers as Nina Simone, Leigh Bowery, and Prince.