Artist Profile: Yvonne Porcella

Yvonne Porcella 

Modesto, CA 

www.yvonneporcella.com

1. Did the change in dimensions present any specific challenges for you?   No problem, I have used this size in my work since 1993

2. Describe your design area, specifically your work table:  what is the best thing about it? Add on room, width of the house,

custom made table, 4" x 8" W 39"H cork surface. At one end a 22" x 42"W x 27" sewing machine table. Quiet view of the forest.

3. What set this quilt apart from other recent projects you have been working on? A portion of the design hung on my wall for 2 years, it would greet me when I entered the room. I was tempted to mount it and frame it without stitching. I do not have unfinished projects, Affinity was the perfect time to finish it. 

4. When you get “stuck” how do you deal with a “design block”?  How do you overcome it? I would not call it a block, just take a minute to rethink the project. If needed get out my favorite art books for inspiration. 

5. Do you work on single or multiple projects at the same time? Only one at a time, comes from my years of being an operating room nurse. We only worked on one patient at a time. 

6. What do you hope people take away from your work? Be inspired, want to own it, remember the artists name!

7. What are the best parts of working on an art quilt:  What are your least favorite parts? Just letting it flow intuitively. no rules, no pressure for perfection. Sewing the sleeve on, following IQA rules, clipping threads. 

8. What art/quilt-related organizations do you belong to? SAQA. Alliance for American Quilts, IQA, San Jose Museum Quilts & Textiles, National League of American Pen woman.

9. Do you have a preferred color palette?  Why? Bright with red and black and white somewhere. I have visited many museums, seen fabulous artworks, a bit of red in the paintings draws my attention. 

10. What do you regard as your most interesting milestones along your art journey? Founding SAQA, serving on many quilt related Board of Directors, sharing my institutional memory, Quilter's Hall of Fame Inductee, Honoree of IQA, traveling to teach, museums acquiring my work, having career retrospectives, seeing my name and art work on a large banner outside an art center, having a dealer who sold my work.