About the Artist
Biography
I am a full-time studio art quilter, primarily self-taught. First in my home studio and later in spaces in artists’ coops (currently in Washington DC), I have spent the past 50 years learning and practicing my art.
After a brief career in social work, I discovered the textile arts in the late 1960s and began to explore as many techniques and materials as I could.I felt I had finally found a kind of work, which would be fulfilling over the long haul. At the beginning I concentrated on weaving and dyeing, making a few quilts now and then; the number kept increasing until I realized that this was my medium. I gradually developed my own way of doing things and a personal style, which involved finding a way to do the types of designs I envisioned without using the precise techniques of traditional quiltmaking. Hence, a sort of overlapping appliqué, leaving the edges raw, was my solution. Since I didn’t know the rules, I was free to break them and to achieve the kind of spontaneity I was seeking.
Artist Statement
I have been asked numerous times why I don’t paint instead of making quilts, since my work seems far from its traditional roots. My answer is that the work would not be the same; there are qualities inherent in art made of fabric and thread: the particular depth of the colors, the layers, and the texture of the stitches, that can’t be duplicated in another medium. Handling and placing the fabric to create a composition is a totally different process than working with brush and canvas or paper. I don’t wish to emulate or compete with painting, but rather to make good quilts, which reflect these special characteristics.
I construct collage-like art quilts using fabrics which I have patterned with a variety of surface design processes, including immersion dyeing, painting with dyes and pigments, screen-, mono- and Inko-printing, chemical resist, and discharge. The surface is layered with dyed organza, which can enhance or change the color beneath it, and with machine stitching and embroidery.