ARTIST STATEMENT

Creating textile collages with free-motion machine embroidery connects the past and present aspects of myself. Fabric delights me and has brought joy throughout my life. My earliest memory of being bonded emotionally to fabric as a comfort, connection, and support is with my pillow - a dark blue and white striped ticking with just the right amount of roughness to the touch. While resting in bed, I would hold the fabric between my fingers and rub the surface rhythmically, which focused my senses and spoke to me in a way nothing else had the power to do.

Fabric unfolds to me early on as clothing. A pretty pink and white cotton gingham dress, a red satin jacket with a black velvet collar, a wool pencil skirt, and my mom’s black velvet coat all brought feelings of excitement, joy, and, pleasure. These memories literally weave the fabric of my past while inspiring my present work. Later, My keen interest was stirred by my brother, who worked in the textile industry as a salesman. He brought home samples, swatches, and yardage of patterned fabric. I then discovered the opportunity to revel in the variety and diversity of materials in a fabric store. Then the idea of sewing urged me to create a skirt and poncho without a pattern or sewing machine. My mother taught me how to sew running stitches and whip stitches. And that is how the journey of sewing began.

There was a hole in the tapestry of my life for a while where no work was being done. I had to stitch that up. Happily, when I retired from teaching art, art quilts entered my world. I learned techniques and exciting ways to use scraps, fat quarters, and yards of woven, unwoven, soft, hard, painted, dyed, used, and new fabrics.

I build raw edge collage quilts fusing materials and memories to imbue the work with meaning. With complete freedom, I sew, create, pick, and choose materials. A liberation not often found in everyday living. When I work I am whole, just like when all the small pieces of fabric are woven together and become a unified piece of art, so do all parts of myself. Chaos becomes order and all is right with the world.