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| Artist’s
Statement: The inspiration for most of my art quilts is a love of nature. In adapting nature to the quilting medium, I try to distill the essence of the subject, leaving out much more than I put in to uncover the subject’s spirit. Each nature quilt becomes an intense exploration of the natural subject matter. At the same time, I am very interested in using the characteristics of the quilt medium as part of the design process. The construction of each quilt becomes a dialogue between the artist and the emerging image. The possibilities, and the limitations, of the piecing process are integral parts of the design. The quilting stitches complete the transformation of disparate scraps of fabric into a unified whole. Quilts are made from fabrics, and I greatly enjoy employing a variety of cotton fabrics from different sources, different eras and different cultures. The richness they add to the quilt reflects the variety of the human experience with fibers and our connections to the quiltmakers of the past. I work simultaneously in several different formats. Many of my art quilts are constructed from full-size drawings, each line on the drawing becoming a seam line between two pieces of cloth. The drawing is gradually cut up, with each piece of paper being used as a template for a single piece of fabric. The pieces are then joined by machine to form a pieced top. Other quilts are made in a block style, although the blocks are not usually traditional squares. Tessellations, symmetry and my fascination with geometry contribute to my block quilts, producing a surface composed of repeating units. Occasionally, both techniques, freehand drawing and repeated blocks, occur in the same piece. I choose the pattern of my quilting stitches to complement each pieced top. I quilt by hand, by free-motion machine, or both. The process of adding the linear pattern of quilting stitches to the pieced surface unifies the whole, transforming it into a low relief and adding an extra layer of texture to the quilted surface. |