Artist Profile: Leslie Tucker Jenison

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Co-curator

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? I had to do a great deal of thinking about what imagery best represents an overall theme in my work.  I settled on shapes that represent both natural and man-made elements.

2. Describe your studio space. I am fortunate to have a newly-renovated studio which includes both design and “wet” work areas inside my home.  I was able to re-think this space in a manner that is very specific to my needs as a contemporary quilt artist and fabric designer.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months?  Exhibitions include “Threads of Resistance” at the New England Quilt Museum (& traveling), “Your Brightest Life: A Tribute to Yvonne Porcella” as part of “Sacred Threads” (traveling), and the “Personal Iconography:  Graffiti On Cloth” D@8 exhibit.  'In Death' exhibit at the Wisconsin Quilt and Fiberarts Museum. Work will be featured in 2 episodes of “Fresh Quilting”, a PBS show that will air in the coming months.

4.  Do you ever work in a series?  I enjoy working in a series, and have several that tend to be re-visited periodically when I have more information or ideas to contribute.  There are specific challenges that arise from working inside a stated set of parameters.  Sometimes, setting a few limitations is a great way to push the creative envelope.  I find that I have more ideas than “room” inside one piece and that is often how a series begins to take shape.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I am an avid traveler, photographer, cook, and gardener.  I always have a book nearby.

Artist Profile: Valerie C. White

Valerie C. White
Denver, Colorado

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? I had several ideas to to express the theme, the challenge was to select just one. I have long admired the work of Jean- Michel Basquiat  this work was my humble attempt to honor him.

2. Describe your studio space? I'm always looking to improve my space,this year I tried to add a stackable washer/dryer, combo the wiring and duct work was just too expensive. I'll continue to use the portable until i can figure out a better solution.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months?  The summer issue of Art Quilting Studio Magazine, The Lawerence Art Center in  Lawerence,Kansas and the National Center For Atmospheric Research  Boulder , Colorado.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I find working in a series a great opportunity to fully express an idea or subject. For me a series establishes a cohesive body of work. This current exhibit motivated me to consider expressing additional work using written language as a mark making opportunity. I expect to create 5  pieces in this new series in what I'm calling "Conversations about America". 

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  I'm an avid knitter and belong to a great knit group, as fiber folks there are always great discussions about yarn, fabric and knitting stitches.

Artist Profile: Suzan Engler

Suzan Engler
Houston, Texas

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? Meeting the challenge and staying true to my personal style was the greatest challenge.

2. Describe your studio space? My studio is my refuge and my happy place.  If it had a refrigerator and restroom I would never leave!

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? My work is on display at International Quilt Festival Houston, Festival of Quilts - Birmingham, United Kingdom, The Texas Quilt Museum, and the Copper Shade Tree Gallery, Round Top, Texas,  where my work is featured in the Changing Gears exhibit.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist?  I work in a series of series. I single series can become boring to me. 

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I strive to do everything with my own brand of creativity. I sew garments, crochet, and paint with watercolor, acrylic, and encaustic.

Artist Profile: Robbi Joy Eklow

Robbi Joy Eklow
Third Lake, Illinois

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? After exploring several design ideas, I decided to dive into my “leftover bin” and use some parts from other quilts as a starting point. I found the lovely petals and couldn’t remember why I had set them aside. I worked with them and did remember the stumbling block but I was already moving in another direction. The leafy border on the outside edge was also a good solution to a problem I was having with the space outside the flower.

2. Describe your studio space?  I use one bedroom in my home in Illinois for my “dry studio” (domestic machines, fabric storage, ironing, working wall) and another bedroom for storage of my quilts. And part of the basement holds my APQS Millennium longarm. We are leasing a loft in Omaha, in the Market District and I’m moving into studio space at the Hotshops. I think my longarm and other machines will move there, so I can use it and teach classes there. My small studio in our loft is just the second bedroom, but it has an amazing view out the window, a lagoon, with modern sculptures, and a waterfall. It’s wonderful and I think it will give me some design ideas. The Hotshops space will also be fun, there are lots of other artists there. It’s not so far from the Quilt Museum in Lincoln.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I have been working in a series for over 15 years, I can’t remember which year I started. I keep exploring other ideas and then fall back to the series, to solve a problem in the next quilt, that I couldn’t in the last. I feel like I’ll stay in this series until I have it perfected. Then maybe one more. My last series was of quilts that had a lot of overlapping and transparent images of vases and other vessels.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? My husband and I got a sailboat a few years ago, a 1985 Pearson 303. It’s small, and old, but it’s a beautifully crafted boat. The Pearson brothers literally started building fiberglass boats in their garage. Remind you of anyone? Anyway, we love the boat and sailing on Lake Michigan, from Waukegan harbor. It’s very good to get out there and just sit on the deck by the mast and look at the water rush by. I come home with ideas.

Artist Profile: Virginia Greaves

Virginia Greaves
Roswell, Georgia

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? The majority of my work is in portraits, so when I received the theme for this show, I was perplexed. In order to create a portrait with iconography, the best interpretation that I could find was through tattoos. I have a family member with several, and she puts a lot of thought into each one, In reality, they are little windows into her personality. I do not have tattoos, but if I were to get one, I would probably get a raven, which is on the arm, and the moon was added for balance. I felt that the piece needed the balance of it on the upper back near the shoulder. Models are often an issue, and I am always available, so this is a self-portrait. The graffiti in the background was a nice rounding out of the theme, and it added to the personality of the piece to have it in the background.

2. Describe your studio space? My studio space is in a large room in my house. It has a lot of natural light with two large windows. There is a bookcase for books, one table for extra sewing machines, and another table for cutting. I have a large craft table in the middle of the room that can fold into a small space or be expanded. It has a cover for ironing when I’m working with large pieces. In the back window, I have my Janome sewing machine in a Koala cabinet. Directly behind it, I have an ironing board with a large, padded piece of plywood to expand the ironing area. When I’m quilting a large piece, I bring one of the height adjustable tables over and put it behind the ironing board, and I put the other one to the left of where I’m sitting. I have a closet where my older work is stored and my fabric is stashed.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? I have a piece in IQA’s World of Beauty exhibit in Houston October/November. I also curate a local exhibit at an art gallery in Marietta, GA, The Art Place, and will have work included in that show September 7th-29th. I have a piece that will be highlighted in the September/October edition of Machine Quilting Unlimited, I have an interview in Art Quilt Collector issue 8 that will be available in late August, and I wrote an article that will be in Be Creative that will be available in late January 2018.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I have been making portraits of people and animals since 2006. It has been a tremendous learning journey as I have learned how to refine my skills, and each new piece teaches me something new. I have reached a point that I’m comfortable portraying an accurate representation of a person in fiber, and I’m now exploring the finer points of portraiture, the things that make a portrait successful, such as posture, facial expression, composition, background, and accessories.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  I enjoy photography, and my Instagram account shows a fascination with landscapes, sunrises/sunsets, and cloud formations that are very different from the portraiture that I explore in fiber.

Artist Profile: Sherry Davis Kleinman

Sherry Davis Kleinman

Pacific Palisades, California

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?  I found the theme a challenging one to settle on an idea.  Thinking about the act of “making marks” as the basis for my art, I followed that path to create my Sampler Reimagined.  Historically needlework samplers were created by girls and women to learn and express themselves.  I wanted to create a 21st century sampler using alternate materials (recycled black out curtains) and making untraditional marks with traditional hand stitches to create a personal piece of art.  

 

2. Describe your studio space?  My studio is on the ground floor of my home with a big window looking onto the street, formerly a bedroom for my oldest daughter.  I do use other spaces in the house (mainly my dining room) for cutting and ironing.  Being empty nesters, my husband and I do fill up any empty spaces with our current past-times.  Lucky us!

 

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months?  I have a piece in New Legacies:  Contemporary Art Quilts in Ft. Collins, Colorado until end of August.  In addition to Dinner@8 exhibit at the Quilt Festival, I have 2 pieces juried into the World of Beauty.  I am in 2 episodes of Quilting Arts TV Series 2000 (10th anniversary edition) and 1 episode in Series 2100 in January 2018, both featured on PBS stations and for purchase through Quilting Arts TV.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist?  Yes working in a series is a benefit to me creatively; one project builds upon the previous one.  I have created series that are figurative and bird related in recent years.  Currently I am  exploring creating pieced and stitched canvas, abstract painting, and leaving exposed seamed edges on the RIGHT side.  My Sampler Reimagined is the 3rd in my series.

 

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  I read blogs (textile, art, sculpture—really anything art related) and visit galleries and museums.  My 3 adult daughters are all artists and we often inspire each other’s passions, a cross pollination of sorts.  I am part of a textile group who meet monthly for “show and tell” and lunch in each other’s homes.  

Artist Profile: Deborah Boschert

Deborah Boschert

Lewisville, Texas

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?

I was excited about the theme from the moment I heard it! I love working with iconography, which I often call personal symbols. The biggest challenge was that part of me wanted to make another bowl quilt -- my last two Dinner at Eight art quilts have included bowls, but I couldn't get the ladder out of my mind, so this year's Dinner at Eight include several ladders, but no bowl. 

2. Describe your studio space? I work in what is designed to be a den or office in our home. It's right off the front entryway behind French doors, which is great for mostly hiding the creative chaos often happening within. I have a small sewing area in one corner. If I'm working on a larger quilt, I move my machine out onto the dining room table. I have two tall shelves with materials, tools and supplies organized in plastic shoe boxes. A counter height table (originally made by my husband's cousin for us as a wedding gift) is my main work surface. There's a red love seat that I often share with my dog, Lincoln.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? In addition to my Dinner at Eight quilt, I have two other quilts at Festival in Houston: one in the judged show and one in the special exhibit A Matter of Time Textiles. You can see me and lots of my quilts at Craft Napa in January and I send out a newsletter twice a month that always includes new work. Sign up here. http://eepurl.com/jU1n9

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I suppose you could say I work in a series. I feel more like I work in my own personal style and that my body of work includes many materials, techniques, colors and symbols that make it clear it's all made by me. I've recently been creating pairs of quilts using the positive and negative shapes cut from one piece of fabric. This is a new direction that feels much more like exploring the idea of a series.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I don't really have other hobbies that are particularly creative, but I have lots of hobbies that generate inspiration that I bring back to the studio. I love to travel and take photographs. I love listening to podcasts about interesting people doing interesting things. I like to explore the children's book section at my local library looking for innovative, humorous and beautiful artwork.

Artist Profile: Kristin La Flamme

Kristin La Flamme

Portland, Oregon

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? With room for such broad interpretation, I had to consider which direction would be most authentic for me -- did I want to focus on the graffiti aspect, or the personal aspect? I suppose setting myself the parameters of using only materials and themes I have used before could be considered a challenge, but to me it was the driving force of the piece. I enjoy the puzzle of making do with what I have at hand.

2. Describe your studio space? I work in what was intended as a "Family Room." It's large enough for me to have storage shelves, tables for both my sewing machine and my computer, plus a large cutting table/work area. The best part is that it's a dedicated studio space and I don't need to clear out when guests arrive or dinner is ready.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? My tessellated gun quilt, 'Murica, is on view with Quilt National '15 until October 10, 2017 at the Historical & Cultural Society of Clay County, Moorhead, MN; "Death Shroud for Democracy" is on tour with SAQA's Layered Voices exhibit and will next be at Oklahoma State University Museum of Art, Stillwater, OK, May 1- August 18, 2018. The Gallery tab on my website is always a good place to look for the widest range of my work: https://kristinlaflamme.com
 

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? Yes, I usually do work in a series, or at least a pretty straightforward trajectory. It's impossible to address all of one's desires in one piece, so a series allows the maker to try theme and variation. Some series are short lived, but I return to others in one way or another for years.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I enjoy drawing, especially from a live model, but recently I bought a fixer-upper house and have been spending all my creative energies working on it. Of course, pretty and intriguing images on Pinterest and Instagram always feed me as well.

Artist Profile: Karol Kusmaul

Karol Kusmaul

Inverness, Florida

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?  I enjoyed this theme, gathering and playing with personal symbols and items meaningful to me.  My piece was challenging because of the varied materials used, and the thickness of the layers I had to hand stitch through. Also challenging was the fact that I only gave myself a few days to get all the applique and hand quilting finished.  Even though I knew about the theme and deadline for a year.  Mea culpa.

2. Describe your studio space? I am so fortunate to have a separate building next to my home.  Skylights, kitchen, bathroom, office space, and a pool – it would make a super mother in law house.  I have room for my 12 foot APQS Millennium.  Hubby wants to downsize, but I’m digging in my heels.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? I’ve formed an online international fiber artist group at:  https://www.clothincommon.com   and my website: http://www.kquilt.com and blog:  http://kquilt.blogspot.com/

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist?  I’ve done series of portraits, figures, still life and landscapes.  The benefits include having work to exhibit, having plenty of teaching samples, working to achieve variety, and having work that plays (or shows) well together.  I also did a series of Journal quilts, which was good, because I had committed to make one a month.  The challenges: getting too comfortable and not wanting to venture elsewhere, not getting stuck in a  rut where your work is predictable.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  Anywhere I go, my creative energy is fed.  A ballgame, a visit to my dad’s assisted living facility, yoga class, vacation trips, church, a bike ride, even mowing the grass is good meditative time.  I so enjoy the visual treats that are everywhere.

Artist Profile: Lyric Montgomery Kinard

Lyric Montgomery Kinard
Cary, North Carolina

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?  This was the easiest theme I’ve encountered so far and as soon as it was announced I had ideas in my head that quickly coalesced into a work. I’ve been working enough recently that I’ve settled into a current set of images and shapes and lines that speak to me as an artist. They are abstract to begin with and endlessly challenging. They have enough variety that I am still enthused and curious about where each new variation might take me.

2. Describe your studio space. Short story? Crowded. Long story? Right now it is more unmanageable than usual. I am in the process of moving from the small (about 16’ x 16’) ground floor room I’ve worked in for the past 16 years into the third floor walk-up attic. All of my inventory from up there is currently down here. So I’m dodging boxes and piles and sorting through bins of stuff to get rid of before I have to haul it all back up two flights of stairs.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months. I am not going to be showing widely for most of 2018 as I concentrate on getting my new studio set up, get my current teenager graduated and out of the nest, and developing a new series of work. You can always follow my doings at www.LyricKinard.com to see if I get anything out there.

4. Do you ever work in a series? If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I absolutely love working in a series! My Personal Iconography piece is a continues exploration of circles and grids, sometimes broken, sometimes whole. Each finished piece leaves me with design questions to be answered in the next piece. It also leaves me with a pile of scraps and materials that often inspire just one more iteration of an idea. I do get bored easily - so my series are rarely created in a linear fashion. I’ll jump back and forth between a representational series and an abstract manner of working to keep myself engaged and interested. A series might run for years with a work added to it only once a year - but eventually it creates a body of cohesive work.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I love watching science shows. I read fantasy and sci-fi literature for pure escapism. I garden now and then.  I especially love teaching and travel. The quilt world has allowed me to go new places, meet new people, and see new things while sharing what I love! I am as energized by helping a student to find their creative spark as I am by being in the studio.

Artist Profile: Susie Monday

Susie Monday
Pipe Creek, Texas

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?  For a change, this theme presented little challenge as an idea but technical challenges to my hand.  Because I immediately saw how I could cut up an earlier piece that appeared in a Dinner @ Eight exhibit I had to figure out the best way to reassemble it. I ended up using my own version of a Boro running stitch to both re-quilt the piece by hand and to reassemble the different elements including new patches.

2. Describe your studio space?  I work in the studio of my dreams: a converted two car garage with a giant design table in the middle. I walk to work across the driveway and look out at the beautiful Texas Hill Country through the windows in the front. My wife retired this spring, so we have a lot of travel on the  calendar this year. Some of my studio time is spent with traveling art, small sections of hand stitch.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months?  I hope to have a piece in the local Fiber Artists of San Antonio exhibit, I currently have a piece in Form, not Function and, of course, with all of you at the international festival! This is been a half year of experimentation and exploration, working more abstractly than I have in the past, so I'm just now getting some pieces finished to submit to exhibits.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I tend to work in a number of series all at once. Go figure. Some of the work I do refers back to series of work that I completed three or four or even five years ago. 

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? We just added a little river cabin to our (small) collection of Airbnb properties, so it seems I'm spending a lot of time, creatively, with chopping Prickly Pear cactus, stalking the thrift stores for furnishings, and a paint roller in the hand. but the kayak early in the morning makes it all worthwhile.

Artist Profile: Sue Bleiweiss

Sue Bleiweiss
Pepperell, Massachusetts

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?  I struggled with the theme at first and spent many hours working through different ways to approach it in my sketchbook.  My original thought was to create a piece that played on the word graffiti but I just couldn’t get anything to come together.  Once I stopped focussing on the word graffiti to drive the content of the quilt the idea for Work In Progress came together quite quickly. I started with a few small rough sketches and then once I had a good vision for what I wanted it to look like, I drew it full scale. 

2. Describe your studio space?  My studio is on the third floor of my home.  It's about 500 square feet - one side is my office and the other has my sewing machine, workstation, ironing station and all my supplies.  It’s a well lit space with a window at each end and two skylights so I get a good amount of natural light.  I have a separate wet studio in the basement where I do all my fabric dyeing.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? I have several pieces on display at the Brigham City Museum in Brigham City UT.  You can also see my Inside Out quilt on display at the Houston International Quilt Festival in the Modern Quilt Showcase and in the traveling exhibit 'Threads of Resistance.'

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? A good portion of my body of work is part of a series.  Working in a series helps you avoid those painful “what do I do next” slumps that we all fall into at some point.  It helps you circumvent those moments because it gives you the answer to the what’s next question.  I have a sketchbook filled with pages of ideas for quilts in my tutti frutti series so if I’m not sure what to do next I review my notes, an idea is sparked and I’m off and creating again.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  I live on the East Coast so I spend a lot of time outdoors in the warmer months enjoying the break from the colder winter months when there is snow and ice on the ground.  My husband and I spend a lot of time canoeing and hiking and I always have my camera with me.  Birds are one of my favorite subjects to photograph and the river that we live along provides me with lots of subject matter. 

Artist Profile: Terry Grant

Terry Grant
Portland, Oregon

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? To choose a beautiful, appealing subject that I could render using all my favorite, personal marks, symbols, and techniques on. I wanted something that is recognizable and would demonstrate that even a common, universal image becomes personal when it takes on an artist's personal visual language.

2. Describe your studio space? I am fortunate to have a small studio, built just for me, in a wooded area just steps from my house. It is filled with light and I am surrounded by my fabrics and tools. There is a small loft upstairs, with storage and guest space.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? I am very excited that one of my pieces is part of the SAQA Concrete and Grasslands exhibit that will be at the 9th Asia Quilt Festival, Shanghai, China: September 22 - 24, 2017. I also hope to have work in the local Beaverton Arts Mix in September and will have my studio open for the Washington County Open Studio tour, October 14-15. 

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I have several series that are ongoing. Each gives me an opportunity to explore a theme or concept in depth and pushes me to continue to see things in new ways. I love it when my "series" suddenly overlap or intersect—always an exciting surprise and evidence that our brains are constantly working behind the scenes, making connections that we aren't even aware of!

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I started knitting a couple years ago, and am learning bookbinding techniques, but I find that travel is the thing that most feeds that creative urge. Creativity is part of every culture and seeing that universal love of color and design is so inspiring. We are currently planning a trip to Morocco and even just looking at photos and reading about it is giving me new ideas!

Artist Profile: Susan Fletcher King

Susan Fletcher King
Houston, Texas

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?  For once, I had too many ideas!  It took me far too long to settle on just one idea and even then, I couldn’t resist and changed and changed again!

2. Describe your studio space?  My studio is very small.  I have compared it to being inside a space capsule.  I tend to work on multiple projects at one time so this small studio space gets very cluttered.  From time to time I have to shovel things out and start fresh.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months?  My work will be shown at Quilt Festival this year.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  Funny you should ask!  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist?  I realized that my current D@8 piece is my subconscious telling me to work with particular imagery and explore those images.  I am now consciously exploring series work in a few different ways.  This is a very rewarding process since it pushes me past the obvious solutions and into uncharted waters.  This can be a painful process but growth is never without some discomfort.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  There are many things that feed me, not all of which seem creative on the surface.  Many times, mundane or repetitive tasks (like folding laundry) allow me to become meditative and my creative mind steps in and the design ideas start flowing.

Artist Profile: Martha Wolfe

Martha Wolfe
Davis, California

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? This was a pretty accessible theme for me as I focussed on "artistic expression based on personal style". I have several recurring images in my work, and seabirds are probably the most common. From a distance, the flock appears to be a lot of the same bird - but as you look closer, personalities emerge, individuals. No two are the same. Each has a story.

2. Describe your studio space? Currently, cluttered….but in general, it’s a bright space, with a shelf unit along one wall, filled with my favorite things - fabric, books, pictures and memorabilia. Another wall is a design wall. My cutting table and computer desk are on cinderblocks so I can do most activities standing (which is great), with the exception of actually machine sewing. There's music and podcasts and friendly cats. It is my portal to peace these days.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? My work can be seen in the NorCA/NV SAQA “Strata” exhibit at the Pence Gallery in Davis, CA; NorCA/NV and CT SAQA “Local Color” exhibit at the Slater Memorial Museum in Norwich, CT; NM SAQA “Natural Healing” exhibit at various locations - currently at the Inova Cancer Center in Fairfax, VA; Global SAQA exhibit “H2Oh” at various locations - currently at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY; Artist Circle Alliance’s “Threads of Resistance” exhibit at various locations - currently New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA; Viewpoints 9: Word exhibit at IQM/IQF in Houston, TX; and, of course, Dinner @ 8. 

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? While I don’t feel I work in a series, I do have certain imagery with personal significance that frequently inspires my work - birds, fish, bicycles, to name a few. Consequently, people associate them with my work, which can be both positive and negative - I never want to be limited to these subjects.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? Photography feeds my creative energy, capturing new things when I travel, or using a macro in my back yard. Beyond that, printmaking, visiting museums and exhibitions, and talking with friends that share my passions, all feed my creative spirit and keep me imagining what is next. Confession: I deliberately shy away from new endeavors, like knitting and painting and glass-blowing and all those other things that beckon…...I haven’t enough time as it is.

Artist Profile: Sherri Lipman McCauley

Sherri Lipman McCauley
Lakeway, TX

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? Quilting to a specific size is always a challenge. Coming up with a cohesive idea was daunting at first, but once I selected the fabrics, the design easily came together.

2. Describe your studio space? My studio is a large room off my kitchen, with a glorious door that can be closed to hold in the creative chaos. Sewing tables, a cutting table, ironing board, and design wall take up the floor space. Way too many yards of fabric, spools of thread and sewing tools cover most of the surfaces. I try to keep my paints and dyes corralled on shelves and in drawers. My view out the window is of Lake Travis, and it is just glorious!

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? My first solo show, Painted Threads, will be coming down at my local library, Lake Travis Community Library in Lakeway, Texas at the end of July. Early in August, I will be hanging a solo show, Threaded Journeys, at the Austin International Bergstrom Airport in Austin, Texas. I will have a piece hanging at the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell, Contemporary Art Quilts 2017, Massachusetts August 5-September 1, 2017 and Visions Art Museum, Interpretations: Conversations, October 21, 2017 - January 7, 2018 in San Diego, California.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? Yes. Locating the same materials to use in the series is sometimes a challenge. I have been working intermittingly on painted cloth with gentle lines of stitching, adding a touch of color. This has given me an opportunity to explore different types of paint and methods of application. The testing of new techniques is an exciting aspect of working in a series. Just by changing one element, the entire focus can be shifted, yet all pieces are related.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I like to enter local shows and take photographs of interesting trees and plants. I like to think that these photos will become a part of an upcoming series. Getting together with like-minded art friends also feeds my soul.

Artist Profile: Judy Coates Perez

Judy Coates Perez
Sacramento, California

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? None, I just thought about the types of imagery that inspire me and pulled out a photo from my iPhone that I loved.

2. Describe your studio space? Chaos? Its a large room off the back of my house with a 4’ x 8’ work table in the center and shelves around the sides that never have enough room given how many different types of supplies I keep on hand for teaching.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? I have a quilt traveling with the Threads of Resistance exhibit, other than that online on my website or my Facebook page or Instagram.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? Not intentionally, but I suppose it happens at times.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I go to galleries and museums and see other types of art, I love spending times in nature or all kinds and am never with out my iPhone ready to photograph things that I see. My archive of photos are a great source of visual imagery for me to work from.

Artist Profile: Linda Anderson

Linda Anderson
La Mesa, California

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?  I looked at my personal artistic history and what elements consistently showed up in my work as iconic concept images.  When I came up with those elements, which I could condense to 4 (people, places, perspective, photography),  then it was fun to think of an image that would independently represent each element for me and my work.  Surprisingly those visual symbols came easily.  I usually tell stories of other peoples and cultures.  I loved being able to tell something about my story this time around.

2. Describe your studio space?  I have a 4 1/2 foot by 6-foot table working space with a set in mid arm sewing machine in one corner of the table.  Everything gets done on this table space…. painting, cutting, drawing, all the myriad steps.  On the wall next to me are all my threads.  There is a cubby behind me with fabrics and next to it a small table with my computer.  And of course, an ironing board nearby.  This is a spare bedroom that also is my husband’s office.  I like being able to spend time together in the same room.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months?  I have a piece at Southern Utah Museum of Art in Cedar City, Utah, till August 26 where I just won Best in Show.  I have a piece at Sacred Threads in Herndon, Virginia, until July 23. I will have a piece in the Houston Quilt Festival in Quilts: World of Beauty in November.   I have a piece touring with SAQA in Australia through November and another piece touring with SAQA in Birmingham, England, on August 10-13.  And I hope to have 1-2 pieces in Road to California next January.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist?  It seems all my work is consistent in representing stories of peoples and cultures, so that in essence is a ‘series in theme’ that always grabs me.  I am also working on a ‘China series’, based on photos I took on a trip there.  I intersperse working on that theme with creating other pieces that have stories I feel compelled to tell, such as an Oaxaca piece I’m working on now.  We have a trip next year to India, so I know I will be gathering more photos for an India series.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  I spend an hour each morning exercising.  After that, I’m pretty narrowly focused.  Working 6 days a week on my art feeds my creative energy.  Doing the daily work with all the myriad steps involved in how I create continually feeds me to do the next step.  I know what the end piece will look like, since I create a finished drawing at the front end of how I want it to be.  The reverse engineering needed to get to that end image is a daily challenge I love to solve.  My mind is always active.  I love waking up to do what I do. 

Artist Profile: Gerrie Congdon

Gerrie Congdon
Portland, Oregon

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? It took me a bit of thinking. I decided that my line dancing series embodies the work that I most love to do: creating small motifs that are then fused together to create an art quilt.
2. Describe your studio space? I share a lovely space with my daughter, Lisa Congdon. She does fine art painting there twice a week. It is a large room with high ceilings, a wall of windows and a cool concrete floor. It was once a dairy building and this is the original floor. I have a print table and cutting table and storage units for my fabric and supplies.  I do my sewing and finishing at home in what I call the multi-purpose room. I have my sewing table, storage of some supplies, printers, computer and thermofax.
3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? I don’t currently have work that will be exhibited except for this piece.
4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I never thought that I worked in a series. At least I was not consciously working in a series. I took a class on Working in a Series with Kathleen Probst where I analyzed my work and was able to see that I actually have 3 - 4 series. The benefit of that was realizing that one of the series was more successful and made me happier. I think it helps to focus on what you do well.
5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  I love to go to art museums and galleries. Taking walks and photographing the world around me. Taking workshops. Just hanging out with other creative friends.

Artist Profile: Heather Pregger

Heather Pregger
Houston, Texas

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?  As an abstract quilt artist, I don't always work with a concrete theme in mind.  And, honestly, if I AM trying to convey a message it is often discernible only to me.  But I do have a symbol, or icon, that I return to again and again in my work, the tuning fork.  It has great meaning to me.  It has changed recently into something more primitive and graffiti-esque, which I felt made it a good fit for the exhibit.  It was a very interesting challenge.
2. Describe your studio space?  I work in a large, airy L-shaped room with lots of south and west facing windows.  It contains my sewing table, an ironing surface, my cutting table, my design wall and my ancient Gammill longarm machine.  And a loveseat by the west windows, where you can almost always find my cat, Boomer.  He does let me join him for naps there occaisionally.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months?  I have a quilt in Textile Posters, a SAQA show debuting at International Quilt Festival in Houston.  I have a quilt in the IQF "World of Beauty" show.  One of my pieces is in "Live your Brightest Life", a show honoring the memory of Yvonne Porcella.  It can be seen currently at Sacred Threads.  I am in a group show with Sue Benner, Barbara Oliver Hartman and Carole Trice October 14 through November 9 at North Lake College in Irving, Texas.  


4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist?  I am working on two series right now.  One is the tuning fork series, the other is the geological series, based on sketches of microscopic mineral thin sections I drew in college.  When working on a piece, I almost always have a "what if" moment.  What if I changed this or added that -- my mind moves on to the next quilt while I'm working on it's predecessor.  I find that working this way allows me to expand and refine the series and allows me to grow as an artist.  When I run out of "what ifs", the series is finished.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  I love to work in the garden.  I love to walk, mostly around my neighborhood or in the Fort Worth Botanical Garden.  I love to travel.  I love to read.  I love to paint in watercolor.  I'm not very good at it, but I love it!