SAQA New York Region: Member Portfolio by SAQA

NY RegionMember Portfolio 2022-23

Member

SAQA is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt: “a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.” SAQA’s core values in connection with quilts as a fine art medium are: excellence, innovation, integrity, and inclusion. Over the past 30 years, SAQA has grown to a community of over 4,000 artists, curators, collectors, and art professionals located around the world. SAQA-New York has over 180 regional members, with 16 juried artists having national and international reputations. This portfolio is a sampling of work from members of the SAQA New York region. 1 Ludmila Aristova 2 Nancy Beckerman 3 Sharon Bottle-Souva 4 Anthony Bowman 5 Alice Brody 6 Cynthia Busic-Snyder 7 Harriet Cherry Cheney 8 Nike Cutsumpas 9 Barbara Danzi 10 Marcia DeCamp 11 Eileen Donovan 12 Rachael Dorr 13 Tamar Drucker 14 Victoria Findlay Wolfe 15 Randy Frost 16 Judy Gignesi 17 Denise Giardullo 18 Denise Kooperman 19 Katharina Litchman 20 Janice Luca 21 Helen May 22 Jean McCreary 23 Barbara Meilinger 24 Cathy Miranker 25 Nancy Mirman 26 Paula Nadelstern 27 Pat Pauly 28 Margaret Phillips 29 Susan Schrott 30 Barbara W. Sferra 31 Sandra Sider 32 Linda Stern 33 Jo Thomas 34 Cathy Thomson 35 Lenny van EijkEditors: ThomasJoandSternLinda Design: Busic-SnyderCynthia

NY Region Portfolio

Ludmila

My goal is to create a unique piece using fiber, hand painting, piecing, pleating, folding, tucking and unraveling techniques as well as hand and machine quilting to explore the relationship between light and color I am most interested to see how different fabrics behave and the emotional feelings that can be expressed But my hallmark is texture, both the visual texture of patterning and the physical texture of stitched, manipulated fabric

Aristova www.ludmilaaristova.com

. Byzantium 36 x 49 inches 1

inches 2

Nancy Beckerman

Eat Your Heart Out x 26

“Unless your work gives you trouble, it is no –Pablogood.”Picasso

Eat Your Heart Out was energized by some fabrics which embodied my love of food!Many of my quilts include a heart, which symbolizes our humanity and our connection to all living beings . We are a part of the whole . My work is hand sewn, hand appliquéd, hand quilted, and hand beaded . This method keeps me close to my art…… and is very peaceful

Eat Your Heart Out includes fabrics which excite me; the colors dance with each other and swirl around in a pirouette The hues enliven each other as they intertwine and create lyrical dances, engaging the imagination The quilting designs create yet another layer of the melody, and then the beading enlivens it all I find that working in fabric is the perfect medium to express my emotions — the fabric is soft and yielding and yet the colors can be vibrant and sharp .

I am inspired by nature and spirituality; color, dance, move ment, and music move me . My art reflects all this .

Growing up on a farm in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains brought about an intimate relationship with the natural world . As a child, I was drawn into the beauty of trees, flowers and rolling hills . Inspirations come from the views in gardens, woods, streams and mountains . I am able to incorporate a sense of realism edged with minimalism to translate the simplicity of nature into myProcessdesignshas taken a forefront in creative exploration . There is an overall idea that emerges from inspirations that appear moment by moment while navigating the work . Each step informs the next, bringing new possibilities There is a measure of immediacy as I work intuitively and spontaneously with the cloth . Exploration of the materials and techniques brings fluency of the language, allowing for more calculated choices, along with a freedom to continue the creative process It is here with fabric that I have found my voice as an artist Birches

“Thread and fabrics are my color palette, needles are extensions of my fingers.”–SharonBottle-Souva

Sharon Bottle-Souva

www.sharonbottlesouva.com

The pure nature of fabric with all its complexities and possibili ties offers a connection to my creative process . I am continually learning the language of fabric to bring it to its full potential .

17 x 23½ inches

Anthony Bowman

“When

neighbors.”theiriswhereinitflagandcommunity’stogether,overlayedamapthepridepositwhatmeanstoliveacommunityeveryonefullofprideforLGBTQIA+–AnthonyBowman

Communities of Pride: NYC 24 x 36 inches

Communities of Pride: NYC is the original quilt in my series combining two symbols of community . First, a map, in this case of New York City Maps are two-dimensional abstractions of the three-dimensional spaces we occupy, complex spaces with details and personality too nuanced for us to comprehend on our own Maps allow us to visualize and understand the spaces where we live, work, and play, the places where we connect with family and friends and encounter neighbors and strangers alike Whether printed on paper or pixelated on digital devices, maps are tools that help us organize these spaces, and see the paths we take in our dailySecondlives is a pride flag, created by rows of my modern tradi tionalist pattern, Overlapping Geese . This pride flag is a variation of the Progress Pride Flag designed by Daniel Quasar It adds additional colors to the traditional rainbow pride flag to bring symbolic representation to marginalized persons within queer and LGBTQ communities who identify as people of color and/ or transgender Early advocacy efforts in the LGBTQ community were led by lesbian and gay organizations who organized on principles of respectability politics, conforming to societal gender roles to gain acceptance Despite an understanding of their difference from mainstream society based on sexual orientation, these largely cis-gender, middleclass white groups shared the same racist and gender biases and privileges of their straight counterparts . These organizations collapsed in later decades as younger activists began promoting more inclusive politics in the years following the Stone wall Riots of 1969, long considered the catalyst of the modern gay rights movement, and a call to arms helmed by queer persons of color .

“There is no such thing as abstract art, or else all art is abstract which amounts to the same thing. Abstract art no more exists than does curved art yellow art or green art. “

Into the Depths 40 inches

41 x

I began quilting about 30 years ago when I made a baby quilt inspired by Alexander Calder’s sculpture, Circus (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City) With only a few exceptions for weddings and other baby quilts, I have always been an art quilter Into the Depths began when I decided to use the outtakes of Japanese fabrics I had used in designing a Tree of Life Quilt I had recently completed I had negative space shapes left over from that piece and decided it would be fun to begin a new piece using the leftover shapes . I began by creating a background using already cut full width strips of batiks in shades of blue and hung this on my design wall I then placed the leftover shapes on top of the background I continued to rearrange and add additional shapes until I felt the arrangement was successful . I finished with a layer of dark blue netting over the entire composition to further harmonize the design - and finally Into the Depths was complete

Alice Brody

–Jean Dubuffet

Outside Inside III 21½ x 21½ inches 6

“Art does not reflect what is seen, rather it makes the hidden visible.”–PaulKlee

My formal education and first profession were based on an interest in, and the use of visual language After a number of years as a practicing graphic design er and art director, and having completed co-authoring my first textbook, I shifted to teaching composition, typography, color theory and web design A printmaker by heart, however, I now combine imagery with my hand-dyed fabric using silkscreen, monoprint, and digital techniques, with both machine and handstitching to produce pieced and traditionally-layered art Myquiltscurrent narrative focuses on the visual and tangible manifestation of ideas relative to ones’ own visibility and invisibility, and those barriers to both seeing and being seen usually within a social or ecological context . I mesh both symbolic and representational metaphors into thoughtful arrangements by juxtaposing color and shape, altering the perception of space Enigmatic and sometimes autobiographic compositions encourage viewers to peek at their own [in]visible role

Cynthia Busic-Snyder

cherry

“The truth isn’t a destination; it lies in between. You have to read the cracks like runes.” –Harriet Cherry Cheney Losing Green Each of the three pieces measure 32½ x 18½ x 3½ inches 7

Being an artist—for me—is being a provocateur, medicine woman, and spiritual traveler Now, more than ever, I try to surrender my thinking mind and let my hands take over What comes out is often a complete me to a prehistoric self beyond linear time and beyond any particular reality I work in a spirit of continuity and reverence for those who came before: those who made magic with their hands throughout the centuries . My practice is to embrace the scraggly, overgrown, out-of-control jungle to find the order I believe there’s no way around the chaos except through My work celebrates the through So, I hack away with the machete, paintbrush, or needle to reveal the beauty and truth lurking underneath and in-between

The dichotomy is that it often takes many layers to get to the essence . My pieces often want to grow beyond their edges like invasive plants…like moss or fungus . The layers of beading and stitches are expressions of unconditional love . I am a maximalist, not a minimalist . Native American art and Japanese design are major influences

Artsurpriseconnects

Harriet Cheney www.harrietcheney.com

–Maya Angelou Myths, legends and fairy tales of all cultures are symbolic of life the adventures, trials and tribulations – these are the paths we all have to take to get through life . Some of us do it with difficulty, some do it in spite of adversity, some do it easily and with grace, but we all reach some sort of an achievement or triumph!

“You cannot use up creativity. The more you use the more you have.”

Jack’s Journey Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales Series 15 x 26 inches 8

Myths and legends give us a sense of hope and satisfaction as chil dren and as adults . Hand dyed fabrics, commercial fabrics, fabric collage, machine pieced, machine and hand applique, machine and hand couching, machine and hand embellishment, machine quilting

Nike Cutsumpas

I am a textile artist working improvisationally to design and construct large scale contemporary art quilts with a focus on abstracting nature .

I was born in Brooklyn, NY, lived most of my adult life in California, and now live and create textile art in New York City I enjoy visiting museums and galleries to experience art in real life . I have studied with many leading quilt artists, and studied design and color through the Rhode Island School of Design continuing education program

I have studied with master quilter Nancy Crow at the Crow Barn in Ohio, and I’m influenced by the abstract expressionist artists from the Bauhaus period . I focus on the figure/ground relationship for her design principles

Shadowy Figures 89 x 87 inches 9

Barbara Danzi

Many of my works are connected to themes of social justice and protecting our environment I design quilts at my design wall, cutting freehand lines and shapes from solid color cotton fabrics, then piecing them together, revealing the hand drawn look in my work . I layer the pieced quilt top with wool and cotton batting and backing fabric, and sew through all the layers to create textile art which is ready to hang on a wall and enjoy .

Marcia Decamp

First and foremost my work is contemporary. Taken immediately with the graphic and geometric patterning inherent in the art quilt medium, I have focused my work on abstract Idesign.enjoyworking with motifs and repetition, but like to employ shape shifts of scale and color to create dramatic compositions. Control of the shapes and colors in my work is derived through my choices of materials and piecing tech niques. In using my own hand-dyed fabrics, the resulting color variations are more predictable and directly my own palette. I respect the quilt medium but vary the result for modern design. Influences for me are the surrounding sky scape and landscape, which I have many times interpreted in my “Jet Trails” series and “Geometrics” series.

Roundabout 68 x 68 inches 10

www.MarciaDeCamp.com

Forgotten Promises

32 x 33 inches 11

I guess I am an observer I watch the world around me Sometimes nature and humanity are spectacular; sometimes solitary and quiet I try to convey the sentiments and feelings that nature and humanity evoke in me through my photography and art quilts . To me, my art is a mirror of my feelings, my understanding of a sub ject or a color and it is this blend that inspires me and the materials and techniques I use .

Forgotten Promises is part of a series done in black and white focused on the idea of inequality and injustice in our world . Often, promises are made to obtain an outcome When the wanted out come is attained the promises once made are often forgotten and people are left waiting and hoping

www.eileen-donovan.com

Eileen Donovan

Splinter 3 40 x 40 Photographer:inches Adi Talwar 12

“The white is just a means of exposing other elements. White enables other things to become–Robertvisible.”Ryman My work is a study of shape, line and texture within the confines of a limited palette I take ordinary discarded textiles and transform them using highly skilled, mediative and rhythmic machine quilting which is at the core of my practice I enjoy the past clinging to these fabrics and the process of metamorphosing them into new, beautiful and highly detailed textural pieces

Rachael Dorr

–Keith Haring

As long as I can remember I was always excited about creating art In 1986 I was introduced to quilting That was the begin ning of my love for textiles and creating original work in fiber and thread .

I started working on a series of Sabra Cacti before the Covid Pandemic and continued it throughout the crisis . Each of the 14 pieces in the series led me in a new direction . The Sabra Cactus grows wild in Israel where I am from, and the subject made me happy and nostalgic . I worked in different sizes, some small and some larger pieces that took a metaphoric voice to current events, and social justice issues . This piece August was chosen for SAQA :ViSion 2020, but sadly because of the Pandemic, was only exhibited online . It is about the tragedy of gun violence and uses fabric collage, and free motion quilting August 20 x 20 inches

www.tamardrucker.com

Tamar Drucker

“Art should be something that liberates your soul.”

www.vfwquilts.com

“I make art exclusively for the experience the process gives me.”

The language of trees is fascinating and can certainly teach me a thing or two about staying present, looking deeper, and listening to what is happening around me visually That dance with my design wall when creating, grows by being able to receive the conversation artistically . This helps my The Language of Trees 68 x 87 inches Quilted by Shelly Pagliai art work greatly, as I look deeper within patterns, find secondary designs, and once again be inspired by Mother Nature . Trees must be protected for our general health, our mental health, and our earth They have much to say

–Victoria Findlay Wolfe When I was in Africa, I learned about Acacia tree leaves and how they communicate The trees send out “warning” pheromones downwind to other trees that then emit toxic tannins that will taste bitter to protect themselves from being eaten by giraffes Since quarantine, I relocated from NYC to my home on Long Island where I am surrounded by trees, and it has helped calm me I find my best inspiration is always from nature, even more so since covid - taking in the elements that bring me the deepest joy One day when my daughter was little and looking pensive, I worried what was wrong as she stared out into the park She said, “Just look to the trees, Mama,” reminding me to enjoy the moment

Victoria Findlay Wolfe

“To the three things about which I am passionate, quilting, gardening and cooking (in that order), I have one approach: improvisation.”–Randy Frost

Randy Frost

Renewal XIII is part of a series which I created in the aftermath of breast cancer surgery and treatment The medical treatments were successful, but an unan ticipated and difficult issue was creative block . Early work was frustrating, none of it was completed . Nearly a year later, efforts to work finally paid off, like a cloud being lifted overhead A very new series of images which defied being squared off emerged . Small at first, they grew to the size of this quilt, 34 .5 x 38 5 inches . I was overjoyed with the magic and accepted it without any questions .

Renewal XIII 34½ x 38½ inches

After many years of quilting, I discovered the fun of using fabric and scissors as if they were paper and pencil Choosing a composition, auditioning fabrics, cutting out lots of shapes to find where they might fit in . In this piece, I’ve used one piece of blue umbra I cut out different size circles from two other pieces of blue with tiny circles . After deciding on the composition, I played around with the different colors to create a structure, and finally decided to use the gold fabric . Playing with fabric this way is indeed playing . And the designs are endless The ideas begin to form as you play on your design wall The end result is yours

Judy Gignesi

“Life is a Journey.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson Circles and Lines 18 x 36 inches 16

As Cityscape evolved the shape began to suggest a banner, with the top section added to anchor it Originally trained as a painter and a collage artist, I often squint my eyes so that I can see objects, colors, patterns come into the foreground (positive), while other design ele ments recede (negative) . Designs on my hand painted fabric, as well as the metallic washers, stand out, giving movement to the piece

“If you can believe in what you are and keep to your line —that is the most one can do with life.”

Denise

Cityscape

33 x 32 inches

Giardullo

–Georgia O’Keeffe Fabric is a fascinating medium for me I begin my improvisational constructions by combining small sec tions of fabric, slicing them, and reconfiguring them until they form a cohesive unit . I keep adding addi tional sections until I intuitively decide it is finished

–George Bernard Shaw

When we are young, time seems to move so slowly as we age, time rushes on, moments are fleeting, memories can fade . My work with wet-felting papers (in the Korean technique known as “joomchi”) expresses the effects of time, experiences both positive and negative, and the aging process I wet down, roll, and manipulate the papers until they all bind together . Some grow stronger and more resilient in the felting process while others partially deconstruct and give a weathered, textured look In this way I can express both the fragility yet resilience and beauty of the aging process

Denise Kooperman

Fragments of Time is wool and paper felted and stitched

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”

Fragments

of Time 68 x 34 inches 18

Katharina Litchman

For hours, I just floated, about 20 feet above . Only 20 feet or so separated us I, on the surface, in mask and snorkel, the natives of Caribbean reef below, oblivious of me peering down Physically not so far apart, yet we inhabited separate worldsHere sunlight pierced the water, illuminating the colors . There clouds cast shadows, muting them .

In Fins and Friends I aim to capture the palette of that near-but-distant world of color and texture and living creatures I used hand-dyed and commercial fabrics The fish are painted or dyed . The vegetation reef is built with nuno-felted pieces and hand appliquéd then machine pieced and quilted on a domestic Pfaff machine . Fins and Friends 46 x 35 inches

www.artquiltsbymietzi.com

My first experience with art quilting was viewing the CoLaborArt quilts at the Cooperstown, NY quilt show a few years ago I looked through the photo graphs of the participating artists and decided I had to give it a try! Since then I’ve studied work by different art quilters, and am developing my own voice

Detective Steven Blackwell is a character in the Blackwell & Watson Time-Travel Murder Mystery series that my sister, author Carol Pouliot, writes . I loved the idea of going back in time to Syracuse, New York in the 1930’s riding in Steven’s beautifully shiny Chevy! Getting to see the Erie Canal right in the middle of main street, the clothes, the cars! What a trip that would be!

Steven’s Car 12 x 12 inches

Janice Luca

“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.” –May Sarton

I like to explore the relationship between line, shape, and motif and am especially influenced by color and repetitive pattern Working with thickened dyes, silkscreens, stencils, and discharge affords me the opportunity to experiment and create new relationships By using both opaque and transparent areas I can add depth and focus When that is completed, I draw directly on the fabric with the thickened dye or acrylic paint to unify and define my image Finally, using free motion quilting, the image I am trying to create is revealed I hope my work will leave the viewer with visions of new possibilities Graffiti I is part of my NYC series The walls open to the possibilities available in the larger world the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an–Pabloartist”Picasso

Graffiti I 40 x 33 inches “Learn

Helen Nash May www.helennashmay.com

Jean McCreaRy

The

The Matriarchs is inspired by a photograph I took during a visit to the Jabulani rescue herd which is South Africa’s first elephant orphanage The matriarchs in the herd gently nurture and protect an adopted or phaned elephant calf The herd roams in the wilderness daily, sometimes socializing with wild herds, but the matriarchs and the calf return to the orphanage each night for safety This is my own design, appliqued with tulle, freemotion quilted on my home machine . “I come into the peace of wild–Wendellthings…”Berry

Matriarchs 53 x 42 inches 22

Barbara Meilinger

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce is one of my heroes He and his tribe were located in what is now the Northwestern United States . In 1877, the American military wanted to take away the land of the Nez Perce Chief Joseph hoped to lead his people to freedom in Canada, and began the long journey . But the tribe members became so tired of traveling, they didn’t have enough to eat, and the children were dying of starvation and cold After three months passed and 1400 miles traveled, Chief Joseph ultimately surrendered to the United States military and he and his tribe members were moved to a reservation . I wanted to acknowledge their bravery and persistence in this artwork Chief Joseph’s words upon surrendering are considered one of the great speeches in our history, and a part of that speech is put into text onto this piece . “Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more–Chiefforever.”Joseph Where the Sun Now Stands 34 x 36 inches

From

inches

I am a modern quilter . Since modern means some thing different to every quilter, let me explain that my modern is all about abstract design, minimalism, mostly solids, and improvisation . I love starting the day with a sense of adventure, not knowing how a quilt will look until it’s done . (And as a new grandma, I also make a lot of baby quilts ) I often also try to convey a sense of place in my work . In Betwixt & Between, I wanted to suggest the seaside, contemplative, wild, and mesmerizing But because I’m predisposed to the pleasures of geometry, I see shapes and angles everywhere … even in the lovely disorder of the bay and ocean and sky Betwixt & Between x 31½ Photographer: Douglas Sandberg

Cathy Miranker color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different–Oscarways.”Wilde

www.cathymiranker.com “Mere

“Make visual decisions visually.”

–Judy Warren Blaydon

Fractured Fabrics 40 x 60 inches

I started quilting in 1984 and worried that I would run out of projects . After almost four decades, I have grown from quilter to quilt artist to fiber artist and no longer have that worry; my passion which borders on obsession is still thriving . I love developing a unique design and the joyful experience of combining fabrics until they form a unified whole My love for hand-dyed fabrics was the inspiration for Fractured Fabrics Scrunching up a fabric and cutting straight across produced the jagged edges . The edges were couched with yarn, and beading was added to some of the fabrics The piece was hand quilted and a beaded black ribbon was used as a binding .

Nancy Mirman

Paula Nadelstern www.paulanadelstern.com “Before I met quilts, I thought I was creative but not talented. To find something you love to do is a gift. To achieve recognition for it is a –Paulamiracle.”Nadelstern

XLIV: Continue to Continue 46½ x 56¾ Photography:inchesAdi Talwar 26

KALEIDOSCOPIC Continue to Continue is my quarantine quilt When the world shut down in mid-March 2020, I escaped into a barely begun quilt, relying on the design strategies that are the heartbeats of my quilts—symmetry and serendipity laced with abundant color and pat tern—to lead me, however long it took, to a happy Theendingimage loosely references the mirror system of a Scalene triangle, meaning the triangle has no equal sides and no equal angles This creates an image that is fragmented and not reflected perfectly

XLIV:

KALEIDOSCOPIC

“Just keep –Patgoing.”Pauly

www.patpauly.com

Composed of my own printed fabric, Oregon Rain came after visiting the fall landscape in the high desert area of the state The colors of the landscape are in stark contrast to the verdant and rain-plentiful upstate New York that I call home The landscape I saw there has an edge, a clarity, and an expanse where land forms jut out of the plain, the sky stays solid blue, and the ground is covered by rolling grass punctuated with pine needles and cones I wanted the images of that covering to meet the torrential rain that sometimes touches down on that earth; the sight of which is so very different from the gentle rain that sweeps across Finger Lakes that are announced in the far distance Oregon Rain x 102 inches

Pat Pauly

Margaret Phillips

Flying Over Connecticut is the eighth in my series of airplane quilts based on a drawing by my dad, John J Phillips, as a basis for the airplane design . Dad was interested in aviation his entire life From trips to New York’s Floyd Bennett Field as a boy in the 1930’s to building and flying radio controlled airplane models in his retirement, airplanes were always his main interest . He followed Aviation High School in Brooklyn with a stint in the Navy as an airplane mechanic during WWII When we were kids, he took my siblings and I to all the small airports on Long Island . This quilt series, over a dozen other airplane quilts, opportunities to exhibit, and being published in maga zines and books are all a result of his sharing his love of aviation with us . I modified his drawing, carved the design, and printed the blocks It is block printed and machine pieced and quilted . Commercial cottons, cotton and polyester threads, cotton batting, and fabric ink were used to construct the quilt

Flying Over Connecticut 30 x 40 inches

60 x 60 inches

The Seven Sisters

Susan Schrott

www.susanschrottartist.com

Whether working in my clinical psychotherapy practice specializing in the treatment of eating dis orders or creating alone in my studio and garden, my greatest desire is to connect with the world in a meaningful and compassionate way My intention is to move people and instill a sense of hopefulness that is dormant within themselves until they realize that they possess the energy to inspire others

My artwork is deeply personal, inspired by my family, my work as a psychotherapist, love of the sea and garden coupled with my spiritual life Driven by an unrelenting passion for authentic self-expression, I use my own hand dyed and surface designed colorful textiles, threads, and mixed media to create my work I celebrate and create images of women who are coura geous, joyful, and inspirational

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way”

Half

The Log Cabin block is one of the most basic and often used of traditional quilt blocks . Simple and geometric, a square center is surrounded by strips of fabric that create a larger square . Improvi sational quilting has become a new and appealing way of working for me No pattern, no rulers, no measuring can create a more pleasing and spontaneous effect . With this approach in mind, I decided to adapt the log cabin block by first using centers that were not always square or the same size The centers in this piece are of hand painted canvas The strips were added to only 2 sides of the center, (in alternating, log cabin fashion) and in a variety of colors and sizes I limited the color palette to mostly reds, yellows and blues to create a sense of cohesion . Each half block was created without regard to the size and dimension of the others When I had enough half blocks to begin the design, I started to fit them together, rather like a puzzle The completed design came together with only a few extra strips inserted and my improv log cabin became part of my series on color .

Barbara W. Sferra

–Georgia O’Keefe

Color Block V: Log Cabin 18 x 36 inches

Sandra Sider www.sandrasider.com

The Purkinje effect, named after

Czech physiologist Jan Purkinje (d 1869), is the tendency for the human eye to perceive light in low illumination toward the blue end of the spectrum . This tendency is why the color of moonlight often looks bluish, especially in rural areas without artificial illumination at night My Past Present series repurposes traditional vintage quilt tops via cyanotype imagery and stitching, creating contemporary statements . I combined Cyanotype photograms, a vintage quilt top, cotton fabrics, cotton embroidery thread, cotton backing, cot ton/polyester batting, and thread using machine piecing, hand embroidery, machine quilting, and hand stitching . Past Present: Moonbeams in the Purkinje Effect 38 x 45 inches Photography: Deidre Adams 31

www.lindasternfiberart.com

18 x 36 inches “Ideas must be put to the test. That’s why we make things, otherwise they would be no more than ideas.” –Andy Goldsworthy 32Linda Stern

inspired by art that allows me to view something from a new perspective and often cut apart my hand made fabrics and sew the fragments together in a different configuration I enjoy enhancing a piece by adding layers and stitching

Barns & Branches

As an artist and an art educator, I like to use experimentation as a starting point I create my own fabrics using an exploration of mark making and layering techniques My process developed as I investigated materials, combining fabric paint, thickened dyes, and resists with traditional printmaking techniques Taking photo graphs of the natural and built environment often serves as the inspiration for my work, some which I digitally alter and print on fabricIam

Jo Thomas

Deep into the Woods began with random improvisational piecing using my low-water immersion dyed and mono- and screen printed textiles . However, without conscious planning an awareness of trees began to take shape At that point Deep into the Woods became an intentional landscape depicting the forest edge Color, value, and contrast and overlapping, layering, and size were used to create the depth I now stand at that place where open space meets autumn birches and summer brambles gone wild, outside looking in . Deep into the Woods 44 x 21 inches

Cathy Thomson

–Emily Dickinson

‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers . . .”

I am strongly influenced by the style of the Pop Art movement: Andy Warhol’s brightly colored screen printed images of celebri ties and mass produced objects, Robert Rauschenberg’s use of mixed media and collage, and Roy Lichtenstein’s comic strips and advertisements .

Poetry is also compelling to me and I find that using words and symbols in my artwork brings greater context to thought for the viewer A few years back, I visited Emily Dickinson’s home in Amherst, MA I was fortunate to see the small wooden table where she wrote I marveled at how her genius with words came from such a humble place Themes of her work resonated with me friendship, love, and hope . It struck me that during the last few months of 2021, under Covid restrictions, that my life had become much like hers I would spend hours at my desk every day making things with my hands and thinking about what they meant to me and the wider world . Also, like Emily I kept thinking about the resilience of the human spirit and hoping things would getThebettertitle, Misquoting Emily, comes from a mistake I made in programming the embroidery machine to stitch the first line of her poem, ‘Hope’ is the Thing with Feathers Instead of the I instructed a What would Emily think? Would she disapprove or would we have had a delightful conversation about the importance of the substitution of one word and the new meaning it creates Which brings me back to the Pop Art movement that is humorous and thought-provoking .

Misquoting

Emily 18” x 24” 34

Lenny vanEijk www.modernstitchwitch.com

“Creativity takes–Henricourage”Matisse My approach to quilt making is grounded in a love for bright colors, and large scale abstract forms that invite the viewer into a world where anything can be anything, and imagination allows inventing your own story . Abstraction gives me the freedom to create without adhering to a norm or visual reality, and to subcon sciously express feelings and emotions I cannot put into words I work intuitively, and largely from my imagination, without taking many direct cues from the outside world . My most recent work is largely improvisational and marked by flowing lines, curves and texture; bright colors paired with black and white accents are a returning component . I’m rooted in a strong feminist ideology that stems from per sonal experiences in an unequal world for women . With my work I hope to inspire other women to express themselves and take agency through their own art

Resilience 55 x 70 inches 35