Artist Statement

I work in fabric and paper, approaching fiber arts from the point of view of the common – quilt, book, household linens – exploring the layers of meaning and conflict imbued in these objects. While I also work on paper and in artist’s book format, art quilts - sewn and quilted fabric works - are my main focus of expression. In additional to commercial fabrics I also use found textiles: scraps of worn fabric or industrial material I pick up while walking and biking the city. I dye fabric using organic and occasionally synthetic dye methods. I incorporate image transfers on fabric using various methods, add found objects and beads or embellishments as needed, and incorporate other materials for mark-making.  I build on the layered quilt structure using traditional piecing techniques as well as fabric collage. Hand- and machine-stitching serves both practical and expressive goals. 

The Studio Art Quilt Associates Inc., a professional association with an international membership, defines an art quilt as “a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.”  

Fabric is personal; it’s tactile, infused with physical presence, sensual. It can be sculpture, drawing and painting at once.

I am mindful of the traditional purpose, history and inherent properties of materials and forms. The viewer’s perception of age in an object, of layers in narrative and in time, are important. I’m drawn to what is worn, frayed, deconstructed, abandoned, desecrated, mended, re-used, re-purposed, treasured and ruined. And I want to use the overt or implied narrative in an art object to draw in the viewer; I want them to see that narrative dissolve as they go deeper into perception of the materials themselves. It’s important too that I do this without clever titles or too much didactic support.

Tackling diverse subjects such as alcoholism, the insurance industry, ageing, depression, hunger, forgiveness, religion, and desire, I seek to evoke the resonant in human experience.