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Meet Ira Kennedy, Moda's Newest Designer
Meet Ira Kennedy, Moda's Newest Designer
Though Moda’s newest designer Ira Kennedy is a painter, he can “follow the threads” of fabric throughout his life.
From babyhood, when his Grandma Rosa made him a beloved scrappy blanket, to New York in 1966 when he worked as a fabric cutter for Kristina Gorby Apparel, to his painter’s easel constructed from pieces of an old quilting frame, textiles and the memories they evoke loom large in Ira’s life. “Age has a way of clarifying events,” he says. “Seemingly insignificant threads become woven into a tapestry which combines all of the aspects of a life.”
He uses the "handles" of old paintbrushes to create them.
Today, his paintings are largely commissioned pieces—when we talked he was completing one of the largest pieces he’s ever done, a 3’ x 6.5’ painting that will take about six months to complete.
He and his wife Kathy live in the Texas Hill Country, where Ira paints in his studio and Kathy, an avid quilter, stitches and handles the business side of life.
“Kathy and I have become an ‘art couple,’” says Ira. “We are very busy, but at 5 p.m. we quit work and in the evening our time is devoted to each other. There is no place like home, and no feeling like knowing you are sharing it with the love of your life.”
Art is in the family, as Ira paints with his grandson, Tyler.
Welcome, Ira! We look forward to Dreamscapes!
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