I came to art quilts in a roundabout way. In elementary school I was just “satisfactory” in art classes, and in high school I didn’t have time for art classes – I was way too busy with academics and music. Music was my artistic outlet, and I even took my freshman year at the University of Michigan School of Music before deciding that, while music might be my thing, music education definitely wasn’t. So I transferred over to major in English and then went on to law school (also UM) and to practicing law for longer than I care to think about.
But at the same time I was always doing something with fabric and yarn. I learned to sew in junior high, and I learned to knit and cross stitch from my mother, and I learned to do crewel embroidery and needlepoint from books. I loved the the colors and the textures, and I loved making things with my hands.
I also loved quilts – my mother had half a dozen or so dating from the 1930’s – but I didn’t have the time or opportunity to learn to quilt until the fall of 2000. I took a hand piecing class and then a hand applique class at the local community center, and then discovered the local quilt shop and the local quilt guild, where I took more classes in traditional techniques and made more traditional quilts.
But with traditional quilting, I never quite felt that I was making my own quilt. After a few timid attempts at art quilt techniques, I finally encountered Pamela Allen at Fabrications Retreat 2006. That workshop with Pamela truly introduced me to art quilting and convinced me that this is the kind of work I want to pursue.
Awards:
Studio Channel Islands Art Center: “Small Art Quilt Open”, part of “Focus on Fiber II”. Camarillo, CA 2009. First place.
Nativity Church (Michigan) Festival of the Arts, 2008. First place, fiber arts division.
Jo-Ann Fabrics/Save the Children Quilt Challenge, 2005. Third place (national contest)
Juried exhibits:
Ohio Craft Museum: “Conversations in Fabric”. Columbus, OH September-October, 2009
Fabrications 2009: “Blurred Boundaries”. Kalamazoo, MI 2009 (two works)
National Small Art Quilt Works Exhibition. The Main Street Gallery, Groton, NY, 2009.
Northville (Michigan) Art House: “Art In Stitches”. February 2009.
Studio Channel Islands Art Center: “Small Art Quilt Open”, part of “Focus on Fiber II”. Camarillo, CA 2009.
Nativity Church (Michigan) Festival of the Arts, 2007 and 2008.
Invitational exhibits:
Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational: “The Art of Nature” Touring 2009-2011
Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational: “Ciao, Italy!” Touring 2008-2010.
Studio Art Quilt Associates: “Balancing Act.” Lawrence Street Gallery, Ferndale, MI. September 2007
Group exhibits:
Art Quilters Unlimited. Exhibit at Cummings & Lockwood, Bonita Springs, FL. April-October 2009
Running With Scissors: “Botany.” Livonia Public Library, Livonia, MI. November 2008.
Breaking Traditions 2008: “With One Voice”. American Sewing Expo, Novi, MI. Touring 2008-2009.
Breaking Traditions 2007: “Connections”. American Sewing Expo, Novi, MI. 2007.
American Sewing Expo: “Art of the Quilt”. Novi, MI. 2006.