Quilts

While my usual studio practice comprises installation, sculpture and artist’s books, I have also been designing and making quilts. Quilting is a meditative practice that starts with solving visual puzzles in my imagination. Color, shapes, and textures layer into rhythmic patterns. I begin with a fabric that draws my eye, and I spin out the design from there. I do all piecing and quilting on standard domestic sewing machines: my grandmother’s 1933 Singer Featherweight, my mother’s 1970s Kenmore, or my Bernina 5300. Because the harp on all of these machines is small, I design the quilts to be pieced and quilted in sections, and assembled invisibly afterwards. This reduces the bulk that has to be fed through the harp. All the quilts are designed, pieced and quilted by me. All of the quilts are donated to benefit the Karen M. Wirth Scholarship Fund at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, benefiting students of merit and need; a selection is included in the annual MCAD Auction.