Art to tie-dye for: Sedley woman takes best in show
Published 11:04 am Saturday, August 11, 2012
BY BRIAN WHITT/Contributing Writer
bmwhitt@mail.roanoke.edu
Jo Ann Blair took Best in Show in the Home Arts Department with her tie-dye piece at the Franklin-Southampton County Fair. -- GWEN ALBERS/TIDEWATER NEWS
COURTLAND—Sedley resident Jo Ann Blair won Best in Show from more than 400 entries in the Home Arts Department at this year’s Franklin-Southampton County Fair.
Her tie-dye wall hanging entitled “Scale” will be on display when the fair continues Saturday, Aug. 11. The Home Arts Department will be open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Tie-dying for six years, Blair considers this piece — a spiral of primary colors with overlapping fish-scale patterns — her all-time favorite.
“I was really happy with winning,” the 58-year-old said. “It is nice to receive a stamp of approval.”
A traffic coordinator for Prime Media Productions in Smithfield, Blair also does tie dying with dresses, baby clothes, bandanas, do-rags, blankets, towels and more.
She sells many of her creations and is working on a website.
Blair also donates her creations, including bandanas and do-rags, to cancer patients, or pillows to people returning home from the hospital.
She often participates as a vendor at anniversary parties, autism fundraisers and the annual Rumble Through the Tunnel sponsored by Bayside Harley Davidson in Portsmouth.
She is also looking to teach others the art of tie dying.
“I want to share my knowledge with someone else who is interested in learning to tie-dye,” she said.
Blair also enjoys carving tree saplings into walking sticks.
