Judith Anderson:
This my own take-off on a popular, whip up a quick idea, TV program. I am usually working on large quilts that take me forever. This was a, "Just do it!" wake up call to myself!
Ellen Apte:
My theme is the simple, yet elegant leaf. Each piece uses different techniques and stash scraps.
Giny Dixon:
I have been exploring the effect of whole cloth and/or minimal piecing with various hand and machine quilting combinations.
I dye and paint my fabrics, creating color and texture by utilizing natural and found objects. The whole process of making my art is fun--mixing the dyes, applying the color in multiple ways to white fabrics, waiting during the curing process, and then washing it out to see what really appears! After selecting the palette for a specific piece, I use free form cutting and sewing to build the segments of the design I see in my mind. When I am pleased with the composition, I then add the quilting with various kinds of threads for the final layer of texture. I enjoy the balance between hand and machine sewing, with the meditative process of using my hands to combine materials and techniques to create my own vision.
Pam Geisel:
Some members of the Miami Valley (Ohio) Art Quilt Network decided to meet monthly to work through some of the exercises in the "Art Quilt Workbook" by Jane Davila and Elin Waterston. The book suggests picking a theme, colors and size for all the quilts. I chose "Feathers" as my theme, and a batik color palette of green, blue, brown, rust and cream. All the quilts used a collage format and are all embellished. Meeting as a group allowed us to learn from and be inspired by each other as well as the book.
Monique Gilbert-Oversteyns:
Silk Bars 1+2+3. Double sashing sewn to quilted strips - a technique used for double sided one layered patchwork. Handwoven Indian silk. I wanted a new life for the precious quilted cut-offs of an other project. I am a quilter since 1984. After coordinated Europa Quilts 1 and 2 in Leuven I became a co-founder of www.q-art.be which exists to provide a network for quilt artists living in Belgium. My passion is teaching new techniques to like-minded quilters. Contemporary wall hangings are shown in Europe, USA and Japan.
Lori Gravley:
When my oldest son was thirteen, he had to define what art was. He finally decided, without my help, that art was an attempt for the artist to communicate with the universe. I agree. Whether I'm trying to communicate something about my emotional state-joy, grief, or rage and many other emotions in between, or trying to communicate something about my spiritual state, the quilts I make are messages to myself, to others, and to the divine. Sometimes, all I can do is piece squares together-other times, the work becomes a dervish dance of dyeing, fusing, beading, and couching. I may begin with a rough outline or plan, but what I create may or may not follow that original plan.
Linda Miller:
Hand imagery is the theme of this series. On one level it is the outer likeness of a body part. We can be identified by our hands’ fingerprints. Yet the hand also represents how we reach out and connect, how we defend and protect ourselves, and how we make our mark on the world. It is instrumental in most creative processes. I find it a simple image with intriguing layers of complexity.
Linda Teddlie Minton:
When thinking of creating a "beautiful" art-quilt from something not normally perceived as beautiful, I decided to make a series of insect studies, using mainly thread-painting, with a little paint thrown in as needed.
Ann Louise Mullard-Pugh:
Woman is ...
See individual works for more on the concepts.
Bonnie Ouellette:
I began with fabric using gelatin monoprinting and previously hand dyed. Our small art quilt group "High Fiber" challenged it's members to do a series using stamps. I chose to use actual food for the stamping. Some were perfect, others were not. All in all, a very fun project.
I intend to donate these pieces to a local auction to benefit a "No Kill" Animal Shelter.
Frieda Oxenham:
I first visited Venice many years ago, and her magic has never left me. The light is like no other place on earth and past and present meet up everywhere. Mystery and ornamentation are all around you in this beautiful city and I have tried to capture that in these JQs.
Meena Schaldenbrand:
Abstract concepts of Emotions
Sarah Ann Smith:
I wanted to make some samples for teaching that illustrate color principles AND compositional formats. In each journal, I placed white solid fabric at the top, black solid fabric on the bottom, and a mid-gray for comparison. The back of each journal features solid colorblocks. All also have the white on the top, black on the bottom and gray, but a solid (or several). January, the achromatic month, is chunks of black, white and gray. March is for analogous warm colors: yellow, orange and red and a circular composition. July is a split complementary of violet, yellow and yellow-green and a vertical composition.
Wendy L Starn:
I made three quilts for Quilting Arts' Rock On challenge, and had more than enough ideas for more quilts based on songs. All three quilts feature trees, each done with a different technique. Song/quilt titles are: Yesterday (The Beatles), King of Pain (The Police), and Homeless (Paul Simon). I didn't realize until the third quilt that all the subjects are rather sad and gloomy. No, I'm not suicidal, but the last 12 months have been pretty rough as far as employment and financial issues.
Julie Zaccone Stiller:
I was interested in exploring the edges of the fabric scraps I was limiting myself to using for this series. All of these scraps are from projects that I've completed over the last year. Several had very frayed edges that were texturally interesting to me, so I wanted to learn how to use those irregular and 3-d edges to best effect to convey more than just line at the edge of a shape.
Els Vereycken:
I began with fabric using gelatin monoprinting and previously hand dyed. Our small art quilt group "High Fiber" challenged it's members to do a series using stamps. I chose to use actual food for the stamping. Some were perfect, others were not. All in all, a very fun project. Materials: fabric paint, fabric dyes, embroidery threads, beads, found objects I intend to donate these pieces to a local auction to benefit a "No Kill" Animal Shelter.
Cynthia Wenslow:
This series was undertaken to study how I might use the idea of grids as design elements. I found that I am more comfortable using the grids as containers for the more organic forms I normally use in my work than as rigid forms on their own. The series also documents my second relocation in 8 months, and serves to hold the messiness of that process within bounds.
Kathy Zieben:
My goal for the 2009 Journal Quilt Project was to experiment with three drawings from my art journals that I drew this year. I printed each image on to fabric. Each whole cloth quilt was machine quilted and hand beaded.
I chose to work with the Mandala, a symbol of wholeness, a circle with a center that would reach far beyond a two dimensional art form. Each Mandala corresponds to a sequence of my life this year. The first quilt represents the circle of friends that support me and my art. The second quilt portrays a design of my family name. The last quilt depicts my own sense of self.