Fabric artist Pam Sullivan's work comes from a mix of upbringing and experience. She got acquainted with textiles during her childhood thanks to her dressmaker mother. "I've always been around fabrics and threads my whole life, whether it's been doll clothes or my own clothes, there's always been sewing involved," Sullivan says. But it was traveling with her naval officer husband where she encountered water in its various forms, having lived near a river in Virginia, the beaches of South Carolina and the ocean in Hawaii. Sullivan uses hand and machine stitching on materials like organza, silk screen and copper leaf to recreate the effects of an element that provides her calm and peace. "I think you can love water or you can hate it or you can fear it, but regardless of whether it is calm water or turbulent water, you have to love its beauty and mystery," Sullivan says. "For me, I guess that's kind of where I go." Pam Sullivan's work is on display through April 9 at the Walter Yost Art Gallery at Highland (Kan.) Community College.