PJ Cobbs, Fiber Artist
Breakout Speaker, Saturday, April 26
Speaker Website: www.pjcobbsarts.com
Patricia Jacobs, aka PJ Cobbs, is a former fashion columnist who gave up the Prada for a paintbrush.
In 1994, the British-born, New York-dwelling fiber artist, travel and style writer and outdoors enthusiast quit her Retail Rap fashion column and Page Six contributor job at the New York Post (where she worked for eight years) to travel and pursue her art.
After covering the fashion shows in Europe, Cobbs decided to relocate to Paris and explore creating with fabric. Returning to New York in 1996, she began her Portraits and House Portraits—capturing the essence of the sitter and home in living, breathing silk for wall hangings, oversized pillows and throws. She creates paintings on silk that are loved for both their form and their function, whether it’s a graphic scarf that can be mounted as a wall-hanging or pillow (as featured in the August 16, 2007 New York Times Home & Garden section), or her “Comfortable Paintings” (as coined in the June 1999 House & Garden magazine), featuring images taken on her travels around the world and turned into functional art.
A lover of recycled clothing, Cobbs has turned a collection of vintage trench coats into works of art with hand-painting, appliqués and beads, selling at Gallery of Wearable Art in New York and through private clients. Clients include actress Queen Latifah, supermodel Heidi Klum, TV personality Daisy Fuentes, best-selling author Harriette Cole and many other fashionable sorts. She has also produced a successful line of custom hand-painted fabrics for Seventh Avenue designer Sylvia Heisel. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Essence, Continental Airlines magazine, Uptown, New York Post, New York Daily News, Cigar Aficionado, House & Garden, Black Enterprise, Look Online.com, Fashion Wire Daily and Fiberarts.
Today, she spreads the love though her signature PJ’s Painting Party, which brings silk painting to private events; clients have included Altria (formerly Philip Morris) at Cipriani 42nd Street and for K-Y Liquid Gel; for TheLunchClub.com and the Virgin Islands Hotel & Tourism Association. She has teamed up with best-selling author Rona Berg to create Art+Beauty, an interactive event company.
“For me, painting on silk for fashion and function is a passion. In a time of fleeting, throwaway fashion, it transcends trends and it provides beauty to both the wearer and the observer in its perfect, colorful form.”
