Artist Profile: Cindy Cooksey

Cindy Cooksey
Irvine, California
cookseyville.blogspot.com

1. Did the change in dimensions present any specific challenges for you?  I had a hard time with the new format. It has been a while since I made art quilts this big, plus I was getting comfortable with the formerly tall and skinny format.

2. Describe your design area, specifically your work table:  what is the best thing about it? I need a bigger one.

3. What set this quilt apart from other recent projects you have been working on? This quilt required more thought and planning than other recent projects. Other art quilts I've been working on are smaller and more spontaneous. But I am working on a baby quilt that will probably be about the same size as this one.

4. When you get “stuck” how do you deal with a “design block”?  How do you overcome it? Different strategies have worked for me: take a long, thoughtful walk, or clean the art studio, or journal about it, or all of the above.

5. Do you work on single or multiple projects at the same time? Usually multiple projects at the same time. I often have one project in handwork mode, while another is at construction or quilting stage. The deadlines just keep coming, whether official or self imposed.

6. What do you hope people take away from your work? I don't have any control over that, but I love it when my quilts bring a smile or a "wow."

7. What are the best parts of working on an art quilt:  What are your least favorite parts? Favorite parts: planning, gathering fabrics and other materials together, doing the handwork usually, and finishing it. Least favorite parts: sleeve, binding, label, doing the handwork if there's too much of it.

8. What art/quilt-related organizations do you belong to? SAQA, Visions, First Friday, Flying Geese Quilters, and of course Dinner at Eight Artists.

9. Do you have a preferred color palette?  Why? I like vivid colors (usually), but I don't think I have one preferred palette now. I love just about every color, depending upon the context!

10. What do you regard as your most interesting milestones along your art journey? Selling my first pattern design to Jukebox in 1995. Going to Quilt Expo in Lyons, France in 1996 to receive a prize. Participating as an artist in Quilt Visions in 2002. Seeing my quilts published in books or magazines whenever it happens.