Artist Profile: Terry Waldron

Terry Waldron

Anaheim, California

1.  What year did you make your first quilt?    Traditional or art?   I made my very first quilt in 1993, and it was Blanch Young's "Radiant Nine-Patch."  Blanche hooked me on this crazy passion of mine!

2.  What is the first show, and year, that you ever entered your art quilts?  Venue?  The first show I entered was the National Quilting Association's show because it was being held in Riverside, CA right up the freeway from me.  I won "Honorable Mention for Hand-Quilting" with my piece "Early Autumn," and I think it was in 1994.  

3.  What is your artistic style?  My very personal attachment to nature is my style.  I can't remember a time in my life that I wasn't fascinated by the littlest things that grow close to the  ground, and the tallest of the trees, and the movement of water, and bugs!  Never snakes, but bugs and bark and butterflies and branches...   

4.  Have you ever changed your style from when you started making quilts? A year and a half into my quilting life, I made a radical change... I began to make my own art.  To me, it WAS "painting with fabric."  It meant no brushes to wash out after working, just scraps to vacuum after creating!  It was the most free I'd ever worked before in any medium, except drawing... well, and oil painting, too.

5.  What other style in quilt making piques your interest?  My own style is still what excites me, but I am constantly adding new sorts of fibers to my work, and that has broadened my scope, and has kept me invigorated. 

6.  What other medium in art influences your work as a fiber artist?  As an art student in university, I took years of drawing classes, and I do love drawing.  When I was a high school art teacher, I started every class every year with contour drawing, and especially blind contour drawing... it's essential to the artist, in my  opinion.  Now I draw in my head as I work.  If I'm really stumped, though, I will take  to paper and pencil.  Painting, especially watercolor, is essential in my work now, too,  although I use hand-dyed silk organzas instead of tubes of paint.

7.  What do you have coming up?  Shows, Articles in magazines, Books, etc.  So much...  I've just sold another piece to a new hospital here in California, and I can hardly wait for the grand opening!  I will be speaking and teaching at major national venues for the next two years, and at numerous quilt guilds.  The Irish International Quilt Festival somehow found a piece of my work that they requested for their  "Under the Sea" exhibit in one of my favorite places, Galway, Ireland this June!  I just finished as the sole juror of a SAQA exhibition called "Color Wheel of Emotion" that will travel this year and next.  The 268 international submissions were amazing, but, sadly, I could only choose 19 pieces, and soooo many wonderful pieces had to be left out.  What an amazing experience!

   

8.  Where will your art take you from here?  Who knows?  I love the entire process of creating my pieces, from the constant looking at nature to sewing the very last stitch.  It is just as much fun for me to teach other people that they can create, too, though.  Each day brings its own surprises...

9.  Describe your studio space:  You'll laugh...  My "studio" is my guest bedroom!  It's on the second floor overlooking the Chinese silk trees and liquid ambers and the hills behind.  But even the entire wall of closets can't seem to hold all my materials, and overnight guests have all of 3  inches of hanging space in only one of the closets!  

10. What was the biggest challenge you have encountered in the making of your art quilt for "An Exquisite Moment?"  The word "exquisite" made it a very difficult theme, because, by nature I am not an "exquisite" person!  I kept thinking about the koi swimming in the elegant ponds in Newport Beach's Fashion Island.  I had gone there one morning at about 7AM to take photos of those fish before the "exquisite" shops opened.  But I kept thinking, over and over, that every artist seems to have made koi, and what could I add that would make my work seem fresh...  Then I found this piece of blue burn-out silk.  I couldn't afford more than 1/2 a yard, and that turned out to be just wonderful!  It made me have to piece and overlap the bits that I had, and that created the eddies in the pond.  It helped make the koi dance in that water!  

http://www.terrywaldron.com/

Artist Profile: Sarah Ann Smith

Sarah Ann Smith
Hope, Maine

1,  What year did you make your first quilt?    Traditional or art?   Circa 1988, traditional:  a baby quilt of pieced blocks alternating with applique, some of which I designed to reflect the family and location

2.  What is the first show, and year, that you ever entered your art quilts?  Venue?  San Juan County Fair, Friday Harbor, Washington; probably in about 1998

3.  What is your artistic style?  Representational

4.  Have you ever changed your style from when you started making quilts?  No, but it has evolved a bit as my skills improve (at least I hope they have!) and my interests have ranged

5.  What other style in quilt making piques your interest?  Just about all of them!  I love traditional, modern, contemporary, I love them all.

6.  What other medium in art influences your work as a fiber artist?  I think everything I see or do influences my work and who I am, but I am drawn to photography and sculpture as well as painting.

7.  What do you have coming up?  Shows, Articles in magazines, Books, etc.  A wealth of goodies!   I was included in the just-published Cutting Edge Art Quilts and the Coffee and Tea challenge in the April/May issue of Quilting Arts magazine. Article in the August/September 2013 Quilting Arts magazine.  Project in the 2013 Quilting Arts Gifts magazine.  Article in Machine Quilting Unlimited, fall 2013.  DVD for Quilting Arts Workshops on Fused Collage and Thread-Coloring.  Quilt in Dare To Dance, a new book by Mary Wilson Kerr

8.  Where will your art take you from here?  To more art, I hope!

9.  Describe your studio space:  Big, well-lit, nearly perfect!  I just need a time-warp so I can spend more time there.

10. What was the biggest challenge you have encountered in the making of your art quilt for "An Exquisite Moment?"   How to interpret something heard into a visual work!  It's hard to create an image of things you heard in the night but didn't really see.

http://www.SarahAnnSmith.com

Artist Profile: Sherry Kleinman

Sherry Kleinman
Pacific Palisades, California

1.  What year did you make your first quilt?    Traditional or art?   My first traditional quilt was when I was expecting my first child was in 1978.  I sewed home dec items, dolls, and the occasional bed quilts in the years following but I was out of the loop in regards to art quilts.  I didn't even discover the whole genre until 2005.  My first art quilt was a result of taking a class with Terry Waldron (now a friend) through a local quilt guild in 2005.  I never liked to follow traditional patterns and instructions,  I was always improvising.  The discovery of the  world of art quilts has changed my world.  I found my passion and my voice that occupies each day with the possibility of new designs and creations.  I work double time to make up for the years I missed.

2.  What is the first show, and year, that you ever entered your art quilts?  Venue?  My piece "Postcard from Guatemala" was the first piece entered and accepted into the annual Road to California Quilt Show in Ontario, CA, 2007.  What a thrill is was to see it on display!

3.  What is your artistic style?  My work falls into two main technique categories:  pieced or fused fabrics OR drawn and painted images that are stitched.  My love is to tell a story through portraiture, be it a person, an animal or a landscape.  My work is most often realistic and sometimes more abstract.

4.  Have you ever changed your style from when you started making quilts? I like to try new methods and experiment, so yes my work has evolved along the way, as I add more techniques to my "Tool Box".  In the past year I have experimented with using the technology of my iPhone and my iPad's art camera and art apps. I print my digitally created images onto fabric for a whole cloth quilt that I then stitch.  My piece "Waiting Expectantly" was created this way.  I also have a series of pieces based on portraits of people actually texting and using cell phones: "Alone/Together" and "Taking Time to Text" are two examples you can see on my website.

5.  What other style in quilt making piques your interest?  Recently I have been doing more hand stitching in addition to machine stitching.  "Waiting Expectantly" is embellished extensively with pearl cotton stitching.  I love the added texture.

6.  What other medium in art influences your work as a fiber artist?  I have a background in the fine arts.  I draw and paint.  Weekly I attend mixed media life drawing classes.  Drawing the human figure helps to train your eye to see lines and shapes, no matter what your subject may be.  I enjoy the feedback from my classmates and my long time mentor and teacher, David Limrite.  I am the only one working in textiles.  Our work is all different, but we continually inspire each other.

7.  What do you have coming up?  Shows, Articles in magazines, Books, etc.  I am one of 21 featured artists in Martha Sielman's latest book:  Art Quilt Portfolio:  People and Portraits (Lark Publishing).  Two of my pieces ("Girl in Blue Stockings" and "Far Rockaway Beach") will travel with the upcoming SAQA Exhibit People and Portraits, featuring work from the book.  The show will debut at the International Quilt Festival in Houston in October 2013.  My piece "Taking Time to Text" will travel with the SAQA Exhibit Text Messages that will also debut at the IQF show in Houston.   

8.  Where will your art take you from here?  I used to tell my three daughters (who are all now adults and artists themselves) that you are only limited by your imagination.   I look forward to exploring things I haven't even thought of yet.  I will continue to take classes from other artists, explore art books, and wait for serendipity to happen.  The solitude of walking my dog Mac and sitting on his favorite bench is often the place where an idea sparks in my head for my next project.

9.  Describe your studio space:   I have two main rooms I use for my studio, both former bedrooms of my daughters.  My main studio holds my sewing machine, my art books, my computer, my fabrics, my paints, and supplies.  My design wall works double duty as a painting surface and as a design wall.  It is a bright cheery space; I work next to a window where I am entertained by busy hummingbirds and bees.  I have a mid-arm machine in another room and use the dining table for my cutting area.

10. What was the biggest challenge you have encountered in the making of your art quilt for "An Exquisite Moment?"  Learning new computer skills to achieve my vision of what I saw in my head.  I started with a photo of an artist model named Rosie who was 8 months pregnant.  Using my iPhone photo, I drew and painted an image on my iPad with art apps.   My  graphic designer daughter Stephanie became my teacher working with Adobe Illustrator to create the background images based on repeats of my painted skirt designs.  The finished design was then printed in a 2 yard piece at Spoonflower.  I love the challenges of trying new techniques.

http://www.sherrykleinman.com/ 

Artist Profile: Gerrie Congdon

Gerrie Congdon
Portland, Oregon

1,  What year did you make your first quilt?    Traditional or art?  In the 70's, I tried my hand at quilting and made a pieced table runner with a traditional motif. The colors were typical of the era — orange, beige and brown calico prints. It had no batting, and it is not quilted. I did not enjoy the process of tracing around templates and cutting with scissors. It was not until the late 90's that I tried quilting again, after the advent of rulers and rotary cutters!

2.  What is the first show, and year, that you ever entered your art quilts?  Venue?  I entered the Marin County Quilt show which was put on by a group that did all sorts of fabric work - embroidery, weaving, etc.  I received an honorable mention on an art quilt and the judge said the minimalist quilting I had done was perfect.

3.  What is your artistic style?  I am not much of a planner. I work intuitively and I prefer doing abstract or non-representational designs.

4.  Have you ever changed your style from when you started making quilts?  I have tried just about every thing, but my work has always had a simplification of forms whether representational or abstract.

5.  What other style in quilt making piques your interest?  I can't really think of anything that I would want to pursue.

6.  What other medium in art influences your work as a fiber artist?  I love abstract paintings. I love to go to museums and galleries and get ideas from fine artists.

7.  What do you have coming up?  Shows, Articles in magazines, Books, etc.  I will have a piece in the Sacred Threads exhibit this summer. The 2012 quilts made by the Twelve x Twelve group will be on display at quilt expo in Portland in September.

8.  Where will your art take you from here?  It is always exciting to have my work in exhibits that travel to far away places. I hope someday to take a trip to an exotic place with my quilts.

9.  Describe your studio space:  I have a daylight basement in our home with wonderful lighting for the long winter months in Portland. I have a paint/messy work table, a large ironing/fusing table/ a cutting table and a sewing area. I have a small room with a sink where I do my dyeing. One long wall is set up as design walls - black felt on one side and gray on the other.

10. What was the biggest challenge you have encountered in the making of your art quilt for "An Exquisite Moment?"  At first I could not come up with an idea that I thought I could execute properly. Then, my sweet little granddaughter was visiting, and I realized how exquisite it is to get hugs and kisses from my grandchildren.

Artist Profile: Cindy Cooksey

Cindy Cooksey

Irvine, California

1. What year did you make your first quilt? Traditional or art? I made my first quilt in 1973, but I didn't know what I was doing yet. I just wanted to use it as a table cloth, like they were doing back then in Country Living Magazine. It was a cream, rust and navy 9-patch that fell apart in a few years. I didn't get into real quilting until 1991. 

2. What is the first show, and year, that you ever entered your art quilts? Venue? In 1992, I entered what I then considered an art quilt in both Pacific International and Quilt Visions. Guess which one accepted it.
 

3. What is your artistic style? Colorful, playful, sometimes whimsical, often paying homage to traditional techniques such as hand embroidery.

4. Have you ever changed your style from when you started making quilts? Color pallets have evolved, and I like to experiment with different techniques, but my artistic style as described above has remained fairly consistent.

5. What other style in quilt making piques your interest? I am attracted to Modern quilts and Zakka style; at least I drool over the fabrics. It's a fresh look.

6. What other medium in art influences your work as a fiber artist? sketching, painting, collage.

7. What do you have coming up? Shows, Articles in magazines, Books, etc. ---  My quilt, "Ravioli di Verdura," will be part of the upcoming "What's for Dinner" special exhibit which makes its debut at Quilt Festival in Houston.

8. Where will your art take you from here?  I do what I enjoy and have no future blueprint at this time. Part of the fun is being surprised by what's around the corner.

9. Describe your studio space: It's an open room upstairs, used as a weight lifting room by the previous owner. Originally it was sleek and simple, with a drafting table, tabouret and bookshelf. Over the years it has become a constant challenge to fight the clutter.

10. What was the biggest challenge you have encountered in the making of your art quilt for "An Exquisite Moment?" Committing to one idea was a challenge. Several ideas came to mind at first. Later, it was very challenging to make recognizable portraits (of my husband and granddaughter) using primarily embroidery stitches.

http://cookseyville.blogspot.com 

Artist Profile: Stacy Hurt

Stacy Hurt
Orange, California

1.  What year did you make your first quilt?  Traditional or art?  1999. Is there a category for “A mess!”   I had no clue how to make a quilt so I just sewed all the fat quarters together as they were. 

 2.  What is the first show, and year, that you ever entered your art quilts?  Venue?   2005.  International Quilt Festival, Houston.  A series of journal quilts.

 3.  What is your artistic style?  I am a mixed media artist who employs a heavy influence of hand calligraphy in my surface design.

4.  Have you ever changed your style from when you started making quilts?  I would have to say yes, when I started making quilts I was making more traditionally pieced ones.  Now I feel I have finally broken free of my fear and have been working on painting and hand lettering the elements and using fiber and alternative materials to create more depth. 

 5.  What other style in quilt making piques your interest? I love, love, love the new Modern Quilt designs.  I am so inspired by the color palette & simplistic designs which in turn leave lots of room for free motion quilting!  

 6.  What other medium in art influences your work as a fiber artist?  Street art, Graffiti colors, Calligraphy

.   

 7.  What do you have coming up?   I currently have two works in the Sacred Threads exhibit. I also have two lectures coming up for local guilds and a Calligraphy workshop.  I look forward to teaching more next year. 

8.  Where will your art take you from here? The possibilities are endless & I am excited to follow the path.

 9.  Describe your studio space: I have a small 8 x 10 foot room dedicated to my work. 

10. What was the biggest challenge you have encountered in the making of your art quilt for "An Exquisite Moment?"  The biggest challenge was overcoming my fear and hand painting the images directly without using stencils. 

http://stacyhurt.blogspot.com 

Artist Profile: Rachel Parris

Rachel Parris
Birmingham, Alabama

1,  What year did you make your first quilt?  Traditional or art?  I made my first quilt in 2006. It was an art quilt

2.  What is the first show, and year, that you ever entered your art quilts?  Venue?  My first entry consisted of my journal quilts at IQF in 2006. Houston at the International Quilt Festival

3.  What is your artistic style? Pictorial, personal, and story based.

4.  Have you ever changed your style from when you started making quilts?  See number one. LOL  No, I don't think so.

5.  What other style in quilt making piques your interest? I am fascinated by crazy quilts and might have a go at that someday. I especially like the ones that have a digital image in the middle.

6.  What other medium in art influences your work as a fiber artist? Photography, block printing.

7.  What do you have coming up?  This exhibit, An Exquisite Moment  Otherwise, I want to just work at my own pace for a while and see where it takes me.

8.  Where will your art take you from here? Who knows? I hope it takes me to new friends. I hope it continues to lead me to confidence in myself. I hope it leads to a deeper appreciation of the beauty that is all around us.

9.  Describe your studio space: My studio space is divided. I have a guest bedroom upstairs that serves as my "work/design" space. I use folding tables from Costco set up on risers, and I mostly work standing up. Supplies and fabric are stored in the closet in plastic bins or folded on the shelf. My "design wall" is a piece of insulation board that I can wiggle in between the toilet and the tub in that bathroom. My sewing machine is in the dining room downstairs.  Oh, my computer, which I use a lot is in the master bedroom. For me, quilting is a very active sport.

10. What was the biggest challenge you have encountered in the making of your art quilt for "An Exquisite Moment?" My BIGGEST challenge, aside from coming up with an idea,  was my decision to work with felt as my batting and backing on a piece this large. My machine only has a 6" harp and I struggled.