Artist's Statement

  Patricia Bravo has worked with fabric all her life. She started sewing at 9 years old in her native country Argentina. When she came to the United States she fell in love with quilts.
   She is a self-taught artist and she never took any quilting course, so her process of learning was different than other artists who have taken them. She started quilting traditional quilts; later she began to use the quilts as a medium for a vibrant self-expression. She has studied many books and tried varied techniques. "Serene River" was her first piece when she began working on art quilts. So expressive was her work that by advice of many people to whom she showed them, she began to expose her work in many "Home Decorators Shows" in New York and New Jersey and she has been selling many of them. "They are art pieces, like paintings".
   The process of transition towards "Art Quilts" and "Landscape Quilts" or Pictorial Quilts was maturing slowly, attracted mainly by nature itself and by the desire to express her vision of it. Rivers, lakes, jungles, flowers, are all concepts of the same idea. She considered perfect the combination of fabric and drawing in order to recreate a scene. "The fabric is a tool, as well as the drawing." "My passion for fabrics is so big, that I consider it the most versatile medium that exists."
   Her use of shapes and brilliant colors is outstanding, as it is her vision of the design as well. She started cataloging her work in collections: Nature, Impressionism, Abstract and Watercolor styles. She also loves working on Pictorial Quilts.
   As a deep admirer of the painter Kandinsky, she reflects abstract for us in some of her work.
   The techniques mainly used in her last quilts are: "freestyle applique", also called "fabric collage" and extensive free motion machine quilting and embellishment. The fabrics are chosen with an eye towards how well they fit her inspiration.
   She started working in a new collection she has fallen in love with: animals, and "Butterfly I" is her first attempt.
   All her work is impeccable, deep, inspiring, and very expressive, and currently is being admired in shows in Miami (Florida), where she recently moved, with her husband Walter and her son, Alexander.

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detail

Materials and Techniques: "Purple Afternoon" is an exquisite painting in fabric. It has been done with 100% cotton fabrics, and a technique called fused "freestyle applique". It was heavily machine quilted in cotton and and mono filament threads. It's a very relaxing scene.

 

detail

Materials and Techniques: "Serene River" was my very first art quilt. It was also the first one on the landscape series that I designed. 100 % cotton fabric fused with a technique called "freestyle applique". Machine quilted in cotton and mono filament threads.