Sewing, free form quilts, by the rules quilts, folk quilts, free applique quilts ( later to be know as collage quilts), art quilts, painted fabric quilts, digital work. Ah, the progression of a fabric artist. Reading a online list, I have been forced to remember my roots. It has been a journey from piecing whatever I had on hand and machine quilting- in 1973 or 74- I just didn't 'know' any better to digital printing and inventing my holographic fiber work.
My first books were the Noank Quilt Factory by Sharon McKain 1974, a nonconventional yet informative book, the Gutcheon books that I still have for some reason, to Yvonne Porcella and the grand dame of the wearable art movement, Virginia Avery. I was into antiques, still am, and those timeless treasures of antique quilts drove my interest.
This paralleled my partner's and my move 'back to the land' to a farm in NH in 1979. He and I raised all sorts of animals, vegie gardened, put it all up, and heated with wood he cut. Mind you, this actually went on for 15 years or so, while I birthed my 3 children. Prior to that in 1975, when I was a Home Economic 's teacher, I taught sewing to the lucky boys and girls. We did NOT make aprons, oh no THAT! We designed our own patterns, sewn and quilted soft sculpture. WHO remembers that! We hung them from the ceiling and invited the principle for tea. He was bug eyed! Nice, the kids loved it!
Here are a couple early pieces, most are still on slides- what a ball it's been!
Pieces noted here are Molly modeling a vesting, 198?. Forest for the Trees- 1989?, Beyond Gender-1985? , and Amethyst Summer, 1996.
1 comment:
Thank you! I remember discovering quilt designs. I remember being blown away by Yvonne Porcella's A Colorful Book. I kept it at my desk (I was a secretary) for emotional and visual support.
As teacher once said about her work: "Looking back, the path looks inevitable, but actually at each step I was walking through a marsh in the dark, just feeling for the next strong place to put my foot down."
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