Artist Statement
To me, successful art works in any medium are a balance of complex forms. I juxtapose active forms with quiet, inward ones, motion with stillness. In music, the silence between notes is just as important as the notes themselves.
I'm happiest with a brush in my hand, and art quilts allow me a large-scale, exuberant canvas. Although visually abstract, my work constantly mines the daily life experiences of family, society and the natural world, with a hefty dose of music to guide the hand. Painterly quilts are abstract, expressionistic arrangements of color. I tend to abstract natural imagery into lyrical compositions.
As a violinist, painting and printing fabrics is a bit like improvising, or playing an instrument. There's an immediacy, a give and take with the process. I may have an idea when I start but I always end up with something different. And I am always listening to music. For me, some composers really inspire color, like Shostakovich, whose music matches the way I like to paint. I think about the crazy and very troubling times in which he was working and realize how powerful the tool was that he used to express his world.
Trained as a printmaker, my interest in fiber art began in childhood, and art quilts are the natural synthesis. I have a family heritage in printmaking (Goltzius, Kalckreuth) and music. as well as business. I received my BFA in printmaking from Indiana University and have exhibited and taught at various locations throughout the country. I've also been a cultural activist, serving as longtime manager and now marketing director of Iowa Artisans Gallery in Iowa City, plus in local business organizations and the Surface Design Association.
BLOG
I'm blogging now about art & life - click here to visit.
BUY ONLINE!
I've started selling some smaller functional items (doodle pillows and such) on the Iowa Artisans Gallery sales website. Click here to visit!
TEACHING
In previous years, I was a Visiting Instructor in Fiber Arts, University of Iowa (1990-91) and also taught workshops in a number of places, including Penland School of Crafts, Earlham College, Iowa Wesleyan College, Cedar Rapids Fiber Artists, Midwest Weavers Conference, Arts Iowa City, plus historical & hands-on workshops on Japanese textile techniques and projects suitable for classroom teachers through the Iowa/Japan Cultural Alliance. After "teaching" customers at Iowa Artisans Gallery for fifteen years, I am currently giving presentations to quilt guilds as well as teaching an assortment of fiber arts classes both locally and regionally. Having served on local nonprofit and business-related Boards, I am also available for presentations on community art & economic development, running an art retail business, marketing & PR, and small business entrepreneurship.