"CITY LIGHTS #4"

I am a contemporary quilt artist. I work with fabric the way a painter works with paint. I hand dye my fabric and create a custom pallet for each quilt top. Using a rotary cutter, I make improvisational cuts to create a geometric composition. But, because I do not use a ruler or straight edge, the shapes are irregular adding an organic quality as if they were brush strokes. I arrange the shapes paying attention to color, line, pattern, and figure/ground relationships. The pieces are sewn together and the result is a “quilt top” much like a painter’s completed canvas.Placing a batting and backing underneath, I join the layers by machine. These stitches add another design element and textural quality to my composition

My finished work is a non-verbal communication of my life experiences, and inner thoughts. I get lost in the process, lose track of time, and my mind is at peace.While I have no agenda, I have a strong sense that anything is possible.

City Lights #4 is part of a series. This piece was exhibited in Art Melt Louisiana Forum 35 in 2010, and hung in the Louisiana State Museum in Baton Rouge.

"MONDRIAN MAGNIFIED #1 & #2"

#1

#1 (Close-up)

#2

#2 (Close-up)

This work was selected for a national quilt exhibit and was shown at the Main Street Gallery in Ithaca, NewYork in early 2010

Another Work in Progress-"City Lights #5"

This is my latest work in progress.
Close-up of composition pinned to design wall.

Work in Progress

The pieces of fabric are cut by hand intuitively without a ruler and then pinned to a design wall. I arrange, re-arrange, re-cut, and adjust until I am satisfied with my finished composition. Then, I sew it together by machine for the quilt top. A batting is sandwiched between the top and a backing fabric. I then attach the 3 layers by machine using a contrasting thread color which adds another design element. This image shows one of my compositions pinned to my design wall.

Composition

This image shows a quilt that has been sandwiched together, but is not complete because a binding or facing needs to be placed around the edges.

"SHORT AND STOUT"

This piece won an Honorable Mention Award at "Art Melt Louisiana" Forum 35 in Baton Rouge in 2010. It then became part of an exhibit at the Louisiana State Museum.

"CRACKPOT"

I first made a paper mache mold over a glass vase, split it, reassembled it and added more paper mache to glue it back together and re-inforce it. (Great way to re-cycle a phone book) Then I did a mosaic collage using iconic images from the 50's to present day.

The joke in my house is "Don't stand still or Mom will 'tile' you"

"MULES" and "GUMSHOES"

My art is intended to bring joy to the viewer by injecting wit and an intrinsic sense of humor. My mixed media sculptures are meant to be fun and light-hearted. The materials used are everyday items, found objects, and recycled materials. “GUMSHOES” and “MULES” are works from my series called DOUBLE ENTENDRE. By definition a double entendre is a figure of speech, similar to the pun, in which a spoken phrase can be understood in either of two ways. This can be a simple word that has two mutually exclusive meanings, and is thus a clever play on words. Hence, this piece speaks to the evolution and nuances of our language. The abstract elements in this series are transparent in their directness. The materials used add a literal sense to an otherwise figurative form. The obvious links between the piece, and what it is made of, inspire a visual understanding of the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

-This piece was chosen to be part of an exhibit in the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts in 2008.

-"GUMSHOE": n.1. A sneaker or rubber overshoe.2. Slang An investigator, especially a deThistective

v. gum·shoed, gum·shoe·ing, gum·shoes Slang1. To work as a detectiveThis.2. To move about stealthily; sneak

"MULES" mule 1. Noun the sterile offspring of a male donkey and a female horse mule 2. Noun a backless shoe or slipper [Latin mulleus a magistrate's shoe]