Artist Profile: Diane Rusin Doran

Diane Rusin Doran
Glenelg, MD

1. What year did you make your first quilt? Traditional or art?  I made my first quilt in 1986 or 1987. It was traditional.

2. What is the first show, and year, that you ever entered your art quilts? Venue?  The first show in which I entered an art quilt was the 1995 Hoffman Challenge. My quilt was accepted, and traveled with the challenge for a year.

3. What is your artistic style?  Some of my quilts are abstract, some are more representational, and some combine the two
styles. Generally I create the quilt top with complex digital imagery, combining heavily
manipulated images from a variety of sources. Heavy machine quilting adds depth and detail to
each piece.

4. Have you ever changed your style from when you started making quilts?  Absolutely! I used to love piecing traditional and innovative geometric designs.

5. What other style in quilt making piques your interest?  I really enjoy other surface design techniques, and have many as yet unrealized ideas for quilts that use them.

6. What other medium in art influences your work as a fiber artist?  Collage, photography, painting, and various print making techniques greatly inspire me.

7. What do you have coming up? Shows, Articles in magazines, Books, etc.  I write a column on quilting filler designs for Machine Quilting Unlimited.

8. Where will your art take you from here?  I love to experiment, and am continuously looking at new ways to incorporate digital imagery and surface design into my work.

9. Describe your studio space:  My studio space is reasonably large but in dire need of organization. It’s in the basement, has great lighting, but sadly no windows.

10. What was the biggest challenge you have encountered in the making of your art quilt for "An Exquisite Moment?"  I was dreading quilting the background, knowing that it would involve numerous starts and stops. I finally decided to quilt as much of it as I could without stopping, and quilt additional details of the flowers over top of the background design. This strategy worked great!

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