Artist Profile: Gayle Simpson

Gayle Simpson

El Dorado Hills,CA

www.gaylesimpson.com

1. Did the change in dimensions present any specific challenges for you?  Previous D@8 vertical rectangles were an easier format, but a square was perfect this year for my Musee d'Orsay clock image.

2. Describe your design area, specifically your work table:  what is the best thing about it? I use a pub-style table 36" high with a machine platform of plexiglass and 2x4's at 40" high; both at home and at a family cabin. A Bernina 440QE tops both. 

3. What set this quilt apart from other recent projects you have been working on? It was special because I could use photos from a visit to France; I was inspired to create the clock from inside the d'Orsay Museum, and I love Roman numerals and cloc kfaces.

4. When you get “stuck” how do you deal with a “design block”?  How do you overcome it? If I need to, I let a piece "marinate" and work on my other art; then I come back to it. Viewing photos of it, looking at it in reverse in a mirror, or just being patient are all strategies that I use.

5. Do you work on single or multiple projects at the same time?  Multiple, and sometimes a series.

6. What do you hope people take away from your work?  When viewing my work, I hope people see an alternative way of considering the subject matter of the art that I create.

7. What are the best parts of working on an art quilt:  What are your least favorite parts? Best; creating a visual representation of something refined in my mind, developing it, using "called-for" techniques, and then translating it into cloth.

Least; repetitive technical sewing, and binding aka "grunt work."

8. What art/quilt-related organizations do you belong to? SAQA, Q6 (a group of 6 artists and we have a 7 week show coming up at Gallery 48 Natoma in fall,2016),Quartz, the Folsom, Quilt and Fiber Guild, and the Crocker Art Museum.

9. Do you have a preferred color palette?  Why?  Yes; I like strong colors, though some of my landscapes require more subtlety. If you look at my art on my web site from the last 35 years, my color choices are consistent. It has always been my style.

10. What do you regard as your most interesting milestones along your art journey?  Milestones for me are receiving awards, being published, and IQF Faculty in 2008, 2009. A "Guest Artist" week at Yosemite, a Yosemite Renaissance cash Award in 2013, starting Artwalk in 1988 (a large suburban continuing outdoor show,) and starting an annual Extreme Quilters show in 2010 are great milestones for my career/journey.Oh wait... and surviving non-smoking lung cancer , a bilobectomy, and Chemo last year.