“I create my artwork to encourage you to stop and linger, to take in all the details of the stitching, texture and dimension, to pause and in that pause to appreciate the incredible beauty of life”
All my work starts with fabric. Fabric has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My mom taught me to sew as a child and I began designing and sewing my costumes for Halloween and school “theme” dances (Luau or Sock Hop anyone?) which led me toward my years in theater as a professional costume designer. I remember feeling giddy the first time I was paid to watch a rehearsal. Before long I was working for the Los Angeles Opera, ultimately becoming their Assistant Costume Director. I had a fabulous job. I would organize the shows, run the fittings, supervise the building of new costumes, design smaller shows, and attend all the rehearsals. I loved the feeling I would get being backstage, running around answering questions and putting out fires. At the opera I had the opportunity to work with world class singers, directors and designers like Placido Domingo, Franco Zeffirelli, and David Hockney.
Pulling all the pieces together of the large puzzle that is a stage production is one of the reasons I love this form of textile art.
“I find working on an art quilt is as much an exercise in problem solving as it is an artistic expression”
Each new project is an intricate puzzle of fabric, paint, thread and theme. Finding the exact right combination of technique and material to bring my vision to life is different for each piece and keeps the work endlessly exciting.
My art quilts, like a theatrical production, begin with a theme or vision that inspires me. I have been blessed to be personally invited to participate in wonderful exhibits over my career which have set a framework for my pieces.
People appear in my artwork often and I have been able to return to my costume design roots, designing the “costumes” for these characters. My art quilts demonstrate my experience communicating characters through their clothing and my extensive stash of costume fabrics find their way into my pieces as well. I love giving you, the viewer, a myriad of details; fabric layers, stitch, texture, dimension and more to draw you in and to reward you for stopping and really looking at my piece, and I’m hoping you will be intrigued by all the depth and layers.
My role at the Los Angeles Opera had another major perk, TRAVEL! Those opera trips ignited in me a passion for travel which still burns and ultimately led me to move to Porto, Portugal in 2024. My life and travels have given me a vast supply of photo inspiration and mental images from which to draw on for my artwork. My piece “White Lace on Red Velvet” came directly from one of my travel photos of a handmade handkerchief in The Lace Museum in Bruges, Belgium. Using netting, gym short material, couched cording, buttons, and hand embroidery I meticulously recreated the lace edge as a one-meter square enlargement. My piece “Too Soon to Tell” was inspired by Van Gogh’s “The Potato Eaters” which I saw at the Van Gogh Gallery in Auvers, France and “Cue Orchestra, Curtain up!” is a direct tribute to my life in theater.
There are so many ways travel has inspired me and expanded my artistic voice, all of which sprang from my career as a costume designer.
My process varies with the project but I usually start by creating a drawing of my piece on copy paper. When I am satisfied with the drawing, I enlarge it to the full scale of my final piece. From there I trace the elements onto freezer paper or fusible web depending on the applique method I will be using. I then select fabric pieces in the appropriate colors, add the fusible or freezer paper patterns and cut them out. Elements can be stitched together to form a unit, kind of like a fabric “Paper doll” and added to the background or individual pieces can be sewn directly to the background fabric. I frequently add stitching or paint to individual pieces before applying them to the background. Some pieces have extensive painting or ink shading added to applique fabrics, some are images entirely painted onto white fabric, Thread painting, using stitch as a form of “sketching”, is done before the batting and backing are added and the final quilt stitching is completed.
My materials range from the more traditional quilting cottons, to silks, nettings and items as unusual as mailing envelopes and polyester gym short fabric. These materials are enhanced with quilting, couching, paints and inks. I use pleating, stenciling, and stitching which add layers and create textured, multidimensional works that invite viewers to explore both the surface and the depth of my pieces. The imagery in my artwork is an extension of my life and the joy I take in my travels, my experiences and the beauty I see in things as simple as a dandelion or a pile of vegetables. The purpose of my artwork is joy, to remind us that the world is a beautiful place, and that living is a beautiful thing. I hope these images inspire you as well.