April Bonasera

Medium: Fiber

Location: TBA

Hello! I am a Birmingham native who practices the art of tailoring, stiching, costume and natural dye. I have spent most of my career building costumes around the country for theatre,Opera, film and tv, while continuing my natural dye textile art practice that I started when I learned of its magic at The University of Alabama earning my Apparel/Textile Design degree. Since moving back to Birmingham during film strikes, I have started a full service bespoke fashion/costume, alterations and dye studio. In my art practice, I 100% make textile goods, such as bags, using locally sourced vintage linens, and I naturally dye them using mostly plants I grow in my dye garden. My pieces are focused on being ethically and sustainably made. I believe the world is full of people selling t-shirts, buying textile goods left and right with no connection or thought to the people making them, (green washing) etc. I also believe quick and dirty construction is just as unsustainable, which is why the fast fashion industry is so toxic. My pieces are meticulously constructed, sometimes a year in the making, from seed to wardrobe. That’s my passion and focus of my art, not to churn out more, but to think about the real craft of textile art.