Jeannie Palmer Moore - Escondido, CA

1.  What do you call yourself - art wise? A painter and mixed media artist who loves texture.
2.  How do you jump start your creativity when you are in a slump? I will refer to a notebook where I’ve written down or sketched new ideas I want to try.  I’m constantly observing everything around me in my daily life. Looking at anything that could create a texture.
3.  If money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your art?  I’d build a large gallery and studios for all of my artist friends.
4.  Do you keep a sketchbook, journal, etc.? I keep a sketchbook when I travel but are more sporadic about sketching at home.
5.  Where can people see your other work this year?  I show at my local gallery in Escondido, Quilting Arts TV Series 700 and Quilting Arts Magazine.
6.  Do you teach?  where?  I’ll be teaching at CREATE in Costa Mesa in May, as well as, CREATE in Chicago again this August.
7.  Is there a particular artist who had influenced you in your art life? and why? I admire so many artists but the painter; Edward Hopper has influenced me on how he creates solitude and introspection in his paintings.
8. Where or what show do you hope your work will be in someday? I would love to show in Quilt National but do need to make the quilt and enter first.
9.  Describe your studio workspace.  My studio is in my home with 3 big work tables, a design wall, storage and lots of light. My 2 cats reside there too.
10.  What 3 tools could you not live without? I couldn’t be without a paintbrush, my Bernina and my thermo faxes.
11.  What drives you to make the work that you do? I just love to create. I think I have a lifetime full of ideas but am just trying to find time to produce all of them.
12.  How do you balance your life? Balance is pretty easy for me because my husband is very supportive and independent. I guess being happily married for 35 years helps. And I make time for Pilates 3 days a week!

http://jpmartist.com/

http://jeanniemooresblog.blogspot.com/

Susan Fletcher King - Houston, TX

1. What do you call yourself - art wise? I think of myself as an artist first and foremost.  Many years ago I was a graphic designer and illustrator, but even with those titles, I always thought of myself as simply an "artist". 
2.  How do you jump start your creativity when you are in a slump? If it's a bad slump, sometimes I just have to go with it.  I will actually leave my studio, close the door and give myself permission not to return for a few days.  That is usually all it takes, and when I finally "allow" myself to return, I'm excited and ready to create once more.     
3.  If money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your art?  I would probably experiment a lot more and not look at producing my art with quite as much of a "commercial" eye.
4.  Do you keep a sketchbook, journal, etc.?  No.  I haven't ever been very good or faithful with a sketchbook or journal.  I haven't kept one since I was required to when I was in art school.
5.  Where can people see your other work this year?  shows, books, magazines, etc.
I show my work at The Copper Shade Tree Gallery in Round Top, Texas.
6.  Do you teach?   I used to teach graphic design at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts  in Houston.  But now I'm too busy, and very protective of my limited free time.
7.  Is there a particular artist who had influenced you in your art life? and why?
There are so many artists that have influenced me but the one who comes to mind right now is Velda Newman.   Ever since I started with fabric and sewing, I have been amazed and ecstatic whenever I see anything by her.  Each of her pieces is truly stunning.  The scope, size, detail, colors, composition -   all breathtaking.
8. Where or what show do you hope your work will be in someday?  Visions and Quilt National, of course.  But ultimately, I'd really love to say that my work is hanging in a museum.
9.  Describe your studio workspace.  I have a room in our house that we originally called the "Bonus Room". When my husband and I bought the house, we had forgotten about this small  room in the back of the house.  When we moved in, it was an extra or "bonus" space which I originally claimed as a storage area for all my old unused art supplies.  It is now a totally remodeled space with large north-facing windows, excellent storage... and not a square inch to spare!
10.  What 3 tools could you not live without?  I can't live without my Bernina sewing machine, a ruler, rotary cutter and paint brushes.  That's more than three, but in my mind these are a single unit.
11.  What drives you to make the work that you do?  The voices in my head.  Truly!  I constantly have so many ideas filling my brain that many nights I can't sleep!
12.  How do you balance your life?   It is all about priorities.  My family comes first and then my art.  Sometimes I can overlap, but most of the time, I just try to find a few minutes here and there to get to the studio.  Late at night after everyone is asleep is my most creative time.
 
http://www.susanfletcherking.com/

Pamela Price Klebaum - Ventura, CA

1.  What do you call yourself - art wise?  Since the art world is generally still in the Pleistocene Era regarding the value of contemporary quilts, I avoid the "q" word. "Textile artist" sounds good to me!
2.  How do you jump start your creativity when you are in a slump?  A good credo: "step away from the design wall!" Distance works wonders -- both physical and temporal. Another fresh look comes with photographing my work-in-progress and studying the image anew.
3.  If money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your art? Nothing different, but I would have a whoopdeedoo midarm sewing machine! I do like the feeling that comes with donating my art -- and someone buys it!
4.  Do you keep a sketchbook, journal, etc.? My sketchbook has drawings and magazine clippings, and I have a large digital journal with oodles of inspirational photos.
5.  Where can people see your other work this year?  shows, books, magazines, etc
I had a piece that toured the country in SAQA's "No Place to Call Home" exhibit on homelessness. Some of my work was in a Ventura County Arts Council show, and two of those are now on semi-permanent loan to the Ventura County Government Center. My last Dinner at Eight exhibit piece was featured in Quilting Arts magazine. I'll have a piece at the Pacific International Quilt Festival in October, and some in the second annual Extreme Quilters exhibit at the Thousand Oaks Municipal Gallery in October.  I have an article in the spring issue of the SAQA Journal, which features a piece I mounted on Plexiglas.
6.  Do you teach?  where?  I am a perpetual student!
7.  Is there a particular artist who had influenced you in your art life? and why?  My art professors at the local college influenced me deeply. Hiroko Yoshimoto taught me of the nuances and grace of the human form, and Carlyle Cooper instilled in me what I hope is a keen aesthetic sense of the head and all its complexities.
8. Where or what show do you hope your work will be in someday?   I think we all would be over-the-moon if our work were selected for Visions or Quilt National. I need to have the courage to enter, though.
9.  Describe your studio workspace.  My studio has a view of the Pacific. What more could I want? We are building a detached workshop in the backyard, and I will have space for my fused glass pursuits there. I often combine fused glass with textiles, so this new space will allow me to experiment more with combining those enterprises.
10.  What 3 tools could you not live without?  My iPod,  digital software, and my #6 pencil.
11.  What drives you to make the work that you do?  It's definitely something internal and very basic. My mom was quite artistic, and we are eternally trying to please our moms, eh?
12.  How do you balance your life?  Balance is not really an effort. I married really really well.

http://pamprice.blogspot.com/

Linda Minton - San Antonio, TX

1.  What do you call yourself - art wise?  I started out calling myself a “quilt artist”, followed by “fiber artist”, and now I just say “artist”.  There are too many variations on what I do to pin it down to one narrow definition.
2.  How do you jump start your creativity when you are in a slump?   Ideally, I like to visit art galleries and museums, but if I need a quick “fix”, I’ll go back to some of my old art books and just thumb through them for both inspiration and a review of the basics.
3.  If money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your art?   Travel abroad … anywhere and everywhere … to broaden my horizons, gain insight and inspiration, and to make art “on the road”.
4.  Do you keep a sketchbook, journal, etc.?   I keep many of them.  Mostly because I can never lay my hands on the one I want, and so will start another one.  I like to make some of my own sketchbooks, too.
5.  Where can people see your other work this year?  shows, books, magazines, etc. 
I occasionally show and sell my work at the Copper Shade Tree Gallery in Round Top, Texas.  If you want to look back at Virginia Spiegel's ONE Collage Fundraiser from earlier this year, my 5 mixed media collages are on page 9 of the website.  http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/ONEFundraiser9.html
6.  Do you teach?  where?   I recently read and loved this answer by another artist to a similar question:  “No, I’m too busy learning”.
7.  Is there a particular artist who had influenced you in your art life? and why?   The artist I always think of in terms of philosophical and emotional influence is Susan “Lucky” Shie.  I took a workshop with her at QSDS many years ago, and her sunny and determined outlook on life and art is still an inspiration to me.
8. Where or what show do you hope your work will be in someday?   Quilt National.  I’ve never entered … yet.
9.  Describe your studio workspace.   I actually have two separate workspaces.  One is a large “game room” that has been taken over by my fabrics, sewing machines, and storage.  The other is an adjoining small bedroom/office that has become my wet-work room.
10.  What 3 tools could you not live without?   Now that I have purchased a small machine-quilting frame for my mid-arm Juki sewing machine, I don’t think I could ever again live without the long-arm quilting experience … even though this is a “shorter” version.  My little Janome Gem machine goes everywhere with me, and Photoshop Elements on my computer is an absolute necessity.
11.  What drives you to make the work that you do?    Sheer love of creation … I often wake up with my heart pounding with excitement over a new idea that has come to me.  Thank goodness for the little journal book I keep by my bed, because if I don’t write it down, it’s gone!
12.  How do you balance your life?   This is the hardest question of all.  I’m not sure I do balance it successfully.  Some days the “necessities of life” take precedence, and other days I can concentrate on nothing but my art.  It seems to be quite out of my control, and I feel like Alice in Wonderland … “I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.”

http://fiberreflections.blogspot.com/

Teresa Shippy - Santa Ana, CA

1.  What do you call yourself - art wise?  I'm a fiber artist, I use acrylic paints as my medium to create portraits and landscapes.
2.  How do you jump start your creativity when you are in a slump?  Honestly, my creative juices are always flowing. Coming from a large family I'm filled with thoughts of creative works many times based on family members and I always like adding a touch of whimsy along the way.
3.  If money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your art?   I love to donate to promote excellent organizations. I have contributed my art to great causes and wonderful organizations including Precious Life Shelter, Dana Point Ocean Institute, and Kaiser Permanente, all of which are on display in Southern California.
4.  Do you keep a sketchbook, journal, etc.?   Yes, I often will pen to paper sketches of potential ideas. I love to create unique faces and shapes while doodling in my journal.
5.  Where can people see your other work this year?   I have three pieces in "Featured Artists” Vol II, an international publication available through Amazon Books, I'm the only fiber artist included out of 60 artists. I will also be returning to Tustin CA Fine Art Walk this year, in addition I'm delighted to have designed a book for "The Sketchbook Project" currently on tour. 
6.  Do you teach?   I've been teaching my dye workshops at my home in Santa Ana, CA for eight years. I have a large side yard to accommodate many guests who love to create original painted fabrics from cottons, silks, etc.
7.  Is there a particular artist who had influenced you in your art life?    Without doubt both of my parents, especially my father who painted with acrylics and oils on canvas. From my father I learned patience and how to focus on clarity and realism.
8. Where or what show do you hope your work will be in someday?   I have been very fortunate to have my work displayed in many prestigious venues, with that being said, I would love to have my work in a nearby fine art gallery in which I am the featured artist.
9.  Describe your studio workspace.   I design and create most of my work in my art room in my home, it is filled with my life's memories including my father's ballerina paintings from 1968 and my works in progress. Also did I mention the painted fabrics that hangs down from the ceiling, another story!
10.  What 3 tools could you not live without?   Paint brush, jars for mixing paints, Gingher scissors.
11.  What drives you to make the work that you do?   I love to capture the visions of my imagination in my art.  I incorporate the flavors of vintage, rustic and whimsical in my work, it’s those everyday simple things with just a pinch of imagination that makes my art unique pieces.
12.  How do you balance your life?  I'm blessed to have a wonderful and supportive husband, friends, and family. Now in my 50's, art is one of my passions in life along with my husband and my personal well being. My life is intertwined with a routine that provides my balance and allows me the time to do my art work.  

http://blog.teresashippy.com/

http://www.teresashippy.com/

Terry Waldron - Anaheim, CA

1.  What do you call yourself - art wise?  I consider myself a representational artist, but I represent the world as I see it... and, hopefully, that is not like anyone else sees it.  I've been called "quirky," too.  I'm not sure what that means.. but I do like the sound of it!  
  2.  How do you jump start your creativity when you are in a slump?  Truly, I'm rarely, if ever, in a slump.  I jump- start every single day by going outside and looking at the trees and the flowers and birds that surround me... and I sing!  Nearly every single day of my life I sing... but not in front of people, mind you!
  3.  If money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your art?  Because I'm retired now, money isn't really a big issue to me.  Of course, I dearly love to sell my work, and I love having them in large buildings' permanent installations because I can go visit those pieces that way!  But I have given pieces to special people who love them and will give them good homes.  And recently, I swapped pieces with an artist whose work I greatly admire and who I love as a person.  That's really special.  I've also donated many pieces over the years to worthy causes for their auctions to raise money, and that makes me happy, too.     
  4.  Do you keep a sketchbook, journal, etc.?  No, I don't do either one.  Actually, I guess I do, but it's an invisible thing because it's inside my head!  When an idea comes to me, I start designing it in my mind's eye...  it comes bit by bit until I "see" enough to begin the real thing.  Like any sketchbook, this is only a rough draft and not a finished thing, though.  I drew so much in advanced drawing classes at university and then as I taught high school art that drawing has never left me.  I do love to draw, and occasionally when I'm not sure of how to cut a shape, I do draw it first.
  5.  Where can people see your other work this year?  shows, books, magazines, etc.  As a member of the California Fiber Artists, I will have my work hanging in many museums and galleries throughout California for the next two years.  I just co-curated a show at the Bakersfield Museum of Art for CFA with Sherry Kleinman, and my work is there now.  I will also have 3 pieces at the Long Beach IQF show this July.  I have been asked to submit art to various galleries and shows nationally, as well, but you will have to see my Facebook site as these venues happen.  Happily, I have also been approached about writing a book... but, for sure, you won't see that this year!
  6.  Do you teach?  where?  I do teach, and I love that I do!  I've taught from California to Florida and up to Washington state.  I'm looking forward to teaching at Asilomar, and "Quilting in the Desert" in Phoenix, as well as at AQS in Paducah, Kentucky, all next year.  This year I've been to many quilt guilds, and soon I will be in speaking and teaching in Lincoln, Nebraska (so I get to see the Quilt Study Center, too!), and in the fall I'll be up in La Conner, Washington teaching 4 classes for Quilt Fest at the La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum. What fun!    
  7.  Is there a particular artist who had influenced you in your art life? and why?  There is more than one artist who's influenced my work, mainly because I nearly took a degree in art history... loved it!  Raoul Dufy was an early influence on me.  His paintings are bright, happy, and his color never stayed inside the lines.  His work still inspires me.  Always Japanese artists, from the oldest to the newest, have been inspiring to me because their composition sense is completely unique, not based on the European view of what composition should be.  But for use of fabric, it's Edrica Huws, the English artist, who used cloth like Dufy did his paint.   But she could use slices of plaids and strips and flowers that Dufy never had. I bet he would have done, though, if he'd had plaid paint!  
  8. Where or what show do you hope your work will be in someday?  In my wildest daydreams my art hangs in New York City!  As a high school student and later a university coed, I commuted into "The City" nearly anytime I wanted since we lived in Stamford, Connecticut and my dad worked in NYC.  Imagine... the Metropolitan, MOMA, the Whitney, the Guggenheim were all there for me to wander through!  That will never happen, of course, but I'd be happy with a piece permanently installed on a hospital wall there, or in a small art gallery, or The Folk Art Museum...  oops!  Somebody wake me up... I'm dreaming again!  
  9.  Describe your studio workspace.  That's easy.  It's my spare bedroom, complete with its own bathroom and an entire wall of closets, which are not enough!  The work table with my sewing machine is right next to two large 2nd-story windows that look out over our backyard with two African thorn trees just beyond the fence.   They are precocious trees, covered with huge pink orchid-like flowers before the leaves pop out. After summer is over, they have large hanging green pods that explode handfuls of cotton all over our backyard.  By the way, all our over-night guests have to give us at least a month's warning before they come so I have time to turn my studio back into a guest room!  ... and they always know that they have only 3 inches of closet space to hang their own clothes...
10.  What 3 tools could you not live without?  My two eyes and my finger tips are the most important tools of my trade, but that's not what you mean, I'm sure.  The 3 tools I couldn't live without are scissors, a straw needle, and my portable, handy-dandy thread holder full of every solid color of thread that Mettler makes!
11.  What drives you to make the work that you do?  Gratitude!  That's what drives me...  When I was 4 1/2 years old and sitting in my kindergarten class drawing a picture of a log cabin in front of a lake with flowers surrounding a log and pine trees, I decided right there that I wanted to be an art teacher.  Well, it happened!  I loved every single day in the secondary classroom, even when I switched to teaching English literature.  Now I get to teach people across the country that they really CAN make art!  Who wouldn't be grateful for a life like that?  I'm just plain lucky!
12.  How do you balance your life?  I can't balance it... it's as simple as that.  It's like trying to stuff an octopus into a plastic bag!  Something is always sticking out, waving at me that it's not going to happen the way I'd hoped.  And please... please don't look inside my closets!



http://www.terrywaldron.com/

Cindy Cooksey - Irvine, CA

1.  What do you call yourself - art wise? I am an artist.
2.  How do you jump start your creativity when you are in a slump? Taking a long walk is a tried and true method for me to get my creative ideas flowing. Going to good art museum works, too.

3.  If money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your art?  What a question!? Okay, how about I'd put images of my quilts up on the big screens in Times Square?

4.  Do you keep a sketchbook, journal, etc.? I do, but fitfully, when I'm in the mood.

5.  Where can people see your other work this year?  shows, books, magazines, etc. 

I have a quilt in the traveling exhibit called "Noble Seasons-Fall" that's in several places, including some of the Mancuso shows. I have two quilts in Simply Mini Quilts by Lark books. I have a trunk show in Visalia in late April. A number of other possibilities are in the works but not sure things at this point. 

  6.  Do you teach?  where?  A little bit, here and there, locally. I would like to do more.

  7.  Is there a particular artist who had influenced you in your art life? and why? There are many. Gabrielle Swain, for her beautiful handwork. Yvonne Porcella, for her love of color. Therese May, for her playfulness.

  8. Where or what show do you hope your work will be in someday? I'd love to get into Quilt Visions again. 

  9.  Describe your studio workspace. I have a medium-sized room that is getting rather full of stuff. That's where I do my machine work, cut out fabric, store fabric etc. I do all my handwork in my chair in the family room, with all my handwork materials kept nearby.
10.  What 3 tools could you not live without? That's a tough one. Seam ripper, Bernina stitch regulator, rotary cutter.  

11.  What drives you to make the work that you do? Mostly I do it because it makes me happy.

12.  How do you balance your life? It's not easy, is it? I try to set priorities. I try not to get over scheduled. I try to have some quiet time in a busy day.

http://www.CindyCooksey.com/

http://Cookseyville.blogspot.com/