Shirley Neary Omaha, NE email: shirley435@aol.com http://www.growneb.com/members/neary.htm

Artist’s Bio Studio art quiltmaker Shirley Neary is passionate about expressing her daily midwestern, and univeral, life, and spends hour at it every day -- sketching, drawing, cutting, sewing, thinking, dreaming. Her quilts have been bold and dramatic, thoughtful and evocative, pastoral and scenic, and humorous. A lifetime interest in art and art history led Shirley to a degree in Art Studio-Drawing from the University of Nebraska, Omaha. A beginner's class in quilting in 1994 rekindled Shirley's love of fabric, texture and design. The majority of her studio time has been spent on fabric works ever since. Today, her business, Shirley Neary Art Quilts, is part of the current art quilt movement in the world of fine and decorative art, enriching home, corporate and gallery environments. Shirley is a member of the local Cottonwood Quilt Guild, Nebraska Women's Caucus for Art, Studio Art Quilt Associates, International Quilt Association, Surface Design Association, and Impact, a group of 16 Nebraska artists working in various media, who exhibit, and promote their art all over the world. Click on images for larger view

"Spring" 47" x 73" An actual sketch of my gardening plan for the comingyear, a Spring paper napkin, and an abundance of troublesome rabbits in my backyard inspired this piece. It is hand drawn, reverse appliqued, and quilted. Again, the influence of the arts and crafts era is shown in this work's connection to nature, and the value of home. The standing rabbit photo is by my brother, Ed Thelen, a wildlife biologist for the state of Iowa.   detail

"Camera Study" 51" x 65" A friend's camera collection was the starting point of this quilt. He gave me one that I particularly admired for its sculptural qualities, (the yellow flash model). I drew the shapes on the hand dyed muslin, and reverse appliqued the solid, neutral colors by hand. Some phototransfer of negatives is included in the design. It is simply quilted, by hand, in alliance with my fondness for the arts and crafts design era's philosophy of eliminating all that is unnecessary.   Detail

Return to the Quiltart Gallery