Artist Profile

Look for a vibrantly colored banner on North Beach Road in Eastsound and you will find the entrance to Rozwear, the new studio/store of Roz Van Maren, fabric artist and custom clothier. The banner is a clue to the colorful and unique clothing, which Roz designs and creates, each garment an original “art-to-wear.” Her goal is to create durable and playful fun in people’s wardrobes–somewhere between wacky and stuffy–clothes that are different and make you feel good.

Roz describes herself as a rule breaker. She doesn’t like traditional interfacing, so figured out an alternative. On a black wool jacket with five buttons, she strengthened each buttonhole with an embellished and fringed small square of material, giving interest and zest as well as durability. This jacket paired with black rayon pants makes an elegant outfit–both machine washable, as are 99% of Rozwear garments.

Vests of bright hues of polar fleece caught my eye, some with Haida designs. She has just finished a commission for a very beautiful red fleece coat, a realistic bald eagle on the back with contrasting trim and a collar-scarf. She makes reversible jackets with stitched and pieced edging, each a different combination of solid and print rayon. When I met Roz eight years ago, she worked almost entirely in polar fleece. She commented that her own wardrobe needed a lift so started to experiment. Roz considers herself blessed with a creative spark and is self-taught via trial and error. In the midst of her creative fun, she says her challenge is to create things that sell and be cognizant of being a business woman as well as an artist.

Growing up in Oregon, she spent summers at the University of Washington Labs on San Juan Island where her father, a professor of marine biology, did research. She helped collect jellyfish specimens, etc. and grew to love the islands. She enrolled in interior design at the University of Oregon but after two and a half years her rebellious nature reacted to the academic program and she quit college, feeling she did not need a degree for her goals.

After a variety of jobs and creative hobbies, she moved to Orcas Island. There she met and married Mark Van Maren and they have two sons, ages 10 and 12. She discovered Artworks and thought perhaps she could help earn a living for their family with her creativity and also be at home while the boys were very young. For a year she displayed her hand-knit sweaters at Artworks–much admired but not purchased. When she and Mark needed new jackets, she designed them from polar fleece, constructing them on her kitchen table. Soon friends asked her to make jackets. So she decided to make vests, jackets, and children’s clothes and try displaying them at Artworks.

They were a four-year financial success. Then Roz decided to try new options and have a working studio/store; she has been in Eastsound in various locations for the past nine years.

Roz schedules her hours from11-4 during the school year and closes during school vacations, for her family is first priority. Mark is a carpenter and also an EMT and volunteer fireman. They both feel the community resources available for children are of huge importance to working families; their boys have been at Children’s House and in Camp Orkila summer programs.

Eight years ago, two women came in to Roz’s shop in the old Carriage House and one of the husbands asked for her “mission statement.” His crotchety manner was not pleasant but it got her thinking, and for a year she wrote and re-wrote but finally scrapped the endeavor. Then one night, the following statement evolved:

“So why do I do this? Well–the easy answer is that it’s just “what I do,” it’s what really energizes me ... There isn’t anything else I can imagine doing ... The harder answer, the real one, has been unfolding for the past 14 years. I do this because it’s become my job ... It’s my job to help awaken a sense of wonder in people–a sense of wonder at how good it feels to be having fun, to be proud, stand tall, walk with purpose and be seen. Because one cannot help but be seen in one of my creations ... To be seen in the sense that one is no longer anonymous. That accountability and responsibility are truly how one shows the world that you walk your talk ... That intention is everything ... That joy and strength are to be shared ... It is in creating these garments that I feel strong and joyful ... My sense of wonder is unleashed, fulfilled and rejuvenated, again and again.”

Roz Van Maren, 360-376-3788, e-mail: seahorse@ rockisland.com, Rozwear 365 N. Beach Rd. Eastsound Hours: Mon-Fri 11-4 (closed for school vacations). Call for summer schedule.

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