Artist Profile: Loris Bogue

Loris Bogue
Simi Valley, California

1. What is sitting on the edges of your work table? Piles of fabric, a rotary cutter, a ruler, and my TV headphones.

2. If someone looked beneath the surface, what could be revealed that we might not know about you?  That I am a passionate poker player, a killer kegler, and an aspiring artist.

3. What occupies the space between your sewing machine and your cutting table?  A laundry basket filled with 54 rice bags I made for our coming quilt show/boutique.

4. What is the most exquisite moment in your artistic life?  Any time I make a piece that I know in my heart is good art, and someone else recognizes it as being such.

5. Do you have daily rituals in your studio?  Watching and mostly listening to true crime stories on TV while I create.  I have learned from this ritual that the most important rule in committing a crime is never to have a partner.

6. Reflecting on the quilts that you have made, which one stands out to you?  The one I made for Rituals, which was a wholecloth quilt, printed on fabric from a photo of the elevator gears that lift the Eiffel Tower elevator.  I was able to combine my love of photography with my Photoshop skills to create a piece that looks like an abstract watercolor.

7. What do you have an affinity for in your work?  With the past.  My mother taught me how to sew, and I have quilts made by my aunt and grandmother.

8. What kinds of patterns do you use in your work to create interest and texture?  Mostly those created by the use of color and value.

9. What personal iconography is identifiable to you exclusively in your work?  I tend to do graphic designs and to stay away from pastels.

10. What was your inspiration for the Best of Dinner at Eight?  A photograph I took of the gardeners working in the rain at Claude Monet's house in Giverny, France.  I love doing portraits, but in this case, it seemed appropriate to do backsides, since this year is the "end" of the series.