Artist Profile: Cynthia St. Charles

Cynthia St. Charles

Billings, Montana

1,  What year did you make your first quilt?  1974   Traditional or art?  My first quilt was for my first dorm room at college.  I made it from scraps leftover from clothing I'd made during my high school years.

2.  What is the first show, and year, that you ever entered your art quilts?  Pacific Northwest Quilt Fest 2004, Seattle Center near the Space Needle

3.  What is your artistic style?  I consider myself a printmaker.

4.  Have you ever changed your style from when you started making quilts? For many years I experimented with a range of styles and techniques as I searched for my artistic voice.

5.  What other style in quilt making piques your interest? I love building a fabric collage and overprinting it in layers.

6.  What other medium in art influences your work as a fiber artist? I have been studying abstract painting in depth lately.  I am also influenced by collage and primitive indigenous designs and patterns.

7.  What do you have coming up?  Shows, Articles in magazines, Books, etc. In fall 2013, Quilt Life (the magazine by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims) will feature an article about my current series which includes handwritten passages from both of my grandmother's screenprinted as a design layer.  My "An Exquisite Moment" piece "Winter Walk II" is part of the series.

8.  Where will your art take you from here? I've just completed a 3 month solo show at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, Colorado that was very successful.  I plan to seek out new venues for future solo shows. 

9.  Describe your studio space: Spacious but cluttered in the daylight basement of my home. 

10. What was the biggest challenge you have encountered in the making of your art quilt for "An Exquisite Moment?"  With a theme like that - I initially felt the quilt would have to be "exquisite"!  I don't feel my work can ever be described as exquisite, so I focused on creating something that was meaningful in a deeply sentimental and personal way.

 

www.cynthiastcharles.com