Artist Spotlight: Josephine Dakers-Brathwaite
SOMA Celebrates Women and Female Artists for Women’s History Month
March 19, 2021
Josephine Dakers-Brathwaite, also known as Josie Dakers, is a fiber artist/quilter. Descendant from a long line of seamstresses and tailors, including her mother and grandmothers, Josephine learned to sew at a young age and made clothes for herself and family members. Josie was also inspired by her father, a stone mason who was very creative in his field.
After completing a degree in Fashion at The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City, Josephine’s focus was on global sourcing for over 25 years.
Josephine worked with design teams, fabric mills and factories around the world to develop and secure production for apparel. Yearning for more creativity, Josephine began quilting in 2004. Her natural ability for needlework led to a new pastime and an increased love for experimenting with colors and patterns. In 2014, Josephine created her own label, Josie’s Colourful Journey, to showcase and market her quilts, fiber art, cloth art dolls and needlework.
Josephine approaches her craft with both the precision and professionalism of a seasoned expert and the inspiring enthusiasm of a dynamic artist. She draws her inspiration from a variety of sources including nature, colors, and other elements of everyday life. Josephine’s skillset as an artist encapsulates both learning and excelling in new art forms and teaching others through comprehensive workshops. Her work has been displayed in felting art and quilt shows, and most recently in the Museum of Early Trades & Crafts. Josephine’s scarves are beautifully vibrant and texturally dimensional. In and of themselves, each piece is a unique masterpiece to love, display, gift and wear.
Josie is currently working on a mixed media collection titled ‘See Me as I Am’. She also teaches needle sculpting and fiber arts to children at several after-school enrichment programs and hosts her own felting workshops remotely. Due to Covid-19 the after-school programs are on hold. Today, Josephine’s main focus is hand-felted wearables and accessories. Working with sheep fiber, she enjoys combining texture and color to create one-of-a-kind art scarves and small accessories. Her wearable art collection can be found on Etsy.com.
Josephine approaches her craft with both the precision and professionalism of a seasoned expert and the inspiring enthusiasm of a dynamic artist. She draws her inspiration from a variety of sources including nature, colors, and other elements of everyday life. Josephine’s skillset as an artist encapsulates both learning and excelling in new art forms and teaching others through comprehensive workshops. Her work has been displayed in felting art and quilt shows, and most recently in the
Museum of Early Trades & Crafts. Josephine’s scarves are beautifully vibrant and texturally dimensional. In and of themselves, each piece is a unique masterpiece to love, display, gift and wear.
Josephine’s scarves are beautifully vibrant and texturally dimensional. In and of themselves, each piece is a unique masterpiece to love, display, gift and wear. Josie is currently working on a mixed media collection titled ‘See Me As I Am’.
She also teaches needle sculpting and fiber arts to children at several after-school enrichment programs and hosts her own felting workshops remotely. Due to Covid-19 the after-school programs are on hold.
Today, Josephine’s main focus is hand-felted wearables and accessories. Working with sheep fiber, she enjoys combining texture and color to create one-of-a-kind art scarves and small accessories. Her wearable art collection can be found on Etsy.com.
Josie’s stitch work is detailed and elaborate. As part of an amazing community of global stitchers from 48 states and 30 countries, Josie participated in 25 million Stitches with her piece ‘Peace Hope Humanity’ totaling 45,000 stitches on a 15” by 35” panel. The 25 million Stitches project is an art installation with striking fiber arts display with a dazzling tapestry of each stitcher’s personal expression of solidarity and support for refugees which launched in May 2019. Upcoming installations will be hosted by: Verge Center for the Arts in Sacramento, The Fuller Craft Museum in Massachusetts, and Texas Technical University in Lubbock, Texas.