Fine Focus

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:24:00 +0000

Susan Ennis received training in fine arts at Trinity University in San
Antonio, Texas, and graphics at Rocky Mountain School of Art in Denver,
Colorado. She has chosen fabric as her preferred medium. She has pieces in
corporate and private collections and her work has been published in books
and magazines. At Quiltmaker Magazine as Art Editor and at Quilter's
Newsletter Magazine as Art Associate, Ennis designed and illustrated quilts
for publication. Her work has been exhibited nationally and has won awards at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas. She has designed fabric for the apparel trade and is presently under contract designing print fabric for Free Spirit Fabrics.

Wildwood
$300

Silk
Hand appliqued and embroidered, machine and hand quilted

The forest and its creatures have cycles and lives that are complete without human intervention. Wild places are very precious as the flood of humanity threatens to overtake many of them. This quilt is a snapshot of a moment in an undisturbed private place in a wild wood.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:23:00 +0000

Judy B. Dales started quilting in 1970 and since then has built an impressive career as an exhibiting artist, author, international teacher, respected judge, juror and curator. She has served as co-Director of the Fine Focus Exhibitions since 1999 when Fine Focus 02 was envisioned. Judy’s book, Curves in Motion (C & T, 1996), has introduced a generation of stitchers to the joys of working with curves and her classes taught around the world have inspired a whole new style of art quilts. Many of her quilts are in corporate collections and museums, including The Newark Museum, The Morris Museum of Arts and Science, Chubb Corporation, Squibb, and the White House Craft Collection. Her commission work includes three quilts incorporated into a donor panel for the National Institute of Health, and in 1999, one of her quilts was chosen as one of The Hundred Best Quilts of the Twentieth Century. Her quilts have won numerous awards at shows such as International Quilt Festival, Houston and the AQS show in Paducah, KY, and she has received two Fellowship Grants from the New Jersey Arts Council.
Moon Dance
$425

Silk and nylon chiffon, tulle, rayon thread, metallic fabric
Stitched

I combine my distinctive curvilinear style with an unusual palette to create dynamic art quilts that are full of complexity, movement and dimension. The undulating shapes create a rhythm that is enhanced with a painterly flow of color, and the dense stitching emphasizes each flowing curve. My quilts begin with spontaneous and intuitive drawings. Translated into fabric, these designs have an intimate, spiritual quality, but their abstract nature leaves much to the viewers’ imagination, providing a universal appeal.

My fascination with curves and circles continues. The endless roundness of circular forms combined with the delicate nature of transparent fabrics creates a dreamlike effect that has strong appeal. Our world is full of hard things: rocks, guns, jails, landslides, war, and attitudes. I prefer to escape to the softness of fiber.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:54:00 +0000

Kim H. Ritter, M.ED., holds her City and Guilds Certificates in Patchwork and Quilting and in Design from the London Institute of the Arts. Her work has been awarded recog-nition internationally. She has art quilts in private, museum and corporate collections worldwide including the Quilts, Inc. Corporate Collection. Her work has appeared in publications such as Fiberarts Magazine, American Craft Magazine and FiberArts Design Book Six. Kim is the author of Quick Quilting, a book for beginning quilters that has been published in many countries and also translated into German and Cyrillic Russian. She has been serving as Co-Curator and Co-Director of the Fine Focus Exhibitions since 1999 when Fine Focus 02 was envisioned. She is also on the board of directors of the International Quilt Association and serves on the Exhibition Committee for Studio Art Quilt Associates. She has work currently on tour with Women of Biblical Proportions, and in Quilt National 05.
On Hold
$225

Giclee prints on cotton, enhanced with Tsukineko inks and Prism colors
Machine quilted

I have learned not to be too specific in my artist’s statement beyond the title, which is often tongue in cheek; a cliché, joke, double entendre or irreverent observation on the human condition. Intended to evoke open-ended responses that are associative rather than literal, the title and image are enough to spark the inner dialog that I want to create between the work and the viewer. Part of the fun for the viewer is discovering the punch line through his or her own wit and sense of humor.

With a cheeky look inspired by comic books, anime and cartoons, the wry witty images are most often of women involved in every day activities. These images reflect my sense of humor and tendency to laugh in the face of adversity, yet they explore complex human emotions and social issues.. Wit is a mighty weapon; comedy is a useful tool; laughter is a universal healer.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 19:50:00 +0000

Carolyn Dahl's passions are painted textiles, nature prints, and handmade paper baskets. Beginning with ideas from her journals and poetry, she explores the many possibilities of each medium. The resulting artworks have been show in museums (New Orleans, Mint Museum, Santa Fe), art centers (Chicago Textile Arts Center, Brookfield Craft Center, Arrowmont), in numerous commercial galleries, and in Holland and Italy. Magazines such as American Craft, World of Embroidery (England), Fiberarts, and Southwest Art have featured her work as well as Fiberarts Design Books, The New Photocrafts, Paper Sculpture, and Guild 7 in which she was an American Crafts award winner. She has also been a featured guest on Home and Garden Television (The Carol Duvall show and Simply Quilts) and PBS (Creative Living and Sew Creative. She is the author of TRANSFORMING FABRIC: 30 Creative Ways to Paint, Dye and Pattern Cloth (Krause Publications/F&W Books) and the nature printing book NATURAL IMPRESSIONS: Taking An Artistic Path Through Nature (Watson-Guptill Publications).
From Flower, to Eye, to Garden of Memories
$490

Hand-painted and dyed cotton, prints from real flowers, beads and buttons
Machine and hand embroidered

If we will but look at the world closely, lovingly, reverently, everything that
exists in nature can be ours forever, imprinted in our memories through
the magic of our collecting eyes. When we crave to see the beautiful, the
cherished object again, we need only remember.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:46:00 +0000

Kathy York is an art quilter with roots in traditional quilting. Her real passion for quilting began with the birth of her first child. Kathy’s quilts are typically bright and whimsical pieces with a bold, graphic appeal. She frequently embellishes her quilts with beads or hardware. Her quilts have been juried into IQA’s A World of Beauty; AQS Quilt Show and Contest; Quilts for Change 2004; Husqvarna – Viking Masterpieces: ColorCouleurColoreKulör; and Small Wonders VII. She has also participated in Journal Quilts – A Page from My Book for three years. When not playing with her two children, Kathy also enjoys doll making, scrapbooking, and gardening. Her whimsical art can be seen decorating her children’s furniture, the walls, and even the outside of their home in Austin, TX.

Visions of Grandeur
$500

cotton fabric, cotton batting, buttons, beads, tyvek, copper adhesive tape, fabric paint, copper wire, copper foil, embroidery thread, cotton craft thread, fusible web, copper metallic thread, washer,m pearls\Machine pieced, machine and hand quilted, fusible applique

I was inspired to create this little quilt during a brief obsession with a celebrity. Hence, the sleeping fish dreams of a better, somehow, more glamorous life. I love the fish’s beautiful dream and it has helped me appreciate everything I have during my conscious hours.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:44:00 +0000

After receiving her MFA in Costume Design, Elin Waterston worked as a wardrobe stylist in film and television, and in costume shops, building costumes and masks, painting, dyeing and manipulating fabrics. Eventually, that evolved into quiltmaking, which in turn, evolved into art quilting. Her award winning art quilts are in many public and private collections and have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums. Elin is a member of the Studio Art Quilt Associates and Fiber Revolution. She teaches at The Country Quilter in Somers, NY and Katonah Art Center in Katonah, NY. She lives with her husband and son in South Salem, NY.

Mind & Memory (Aerial)
$175

Cotton fabric, photo transfer, paper
Fabric collage, photo transfer, painting, machine quilting

Mind & Memory (Aerial) is part of an ongoing series of small fiber art inspired by city photographs. The central image of this piece is an aerial shot of Manhattan.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:43:00 +0000

Martha Warshaw was born in Nebraska and raised in Michigan. She went to school in Wisconsin and later lived for a number of years in North Carolina. She now lives in Wyoming, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. She has been making art quilts since 1997, the year her eldest child graduated from high school.

Portal 6
$150

Fabric, paint, ink
Stitching, rust stains, layers bonded together

This work is one in a series which in which I attempted to make several small, very simple compositions having to do with the (sometimes intense) moment before a change takes place.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:42:00 +0000

Ineke van Hasselt was born and raised in the Netherlands. She has a degree in Creative Therapy that covers every kind of Arts and Crafts except Fiber Arts. After moving around the world she settled with her family in Canada. The first couple of years were a productive time for wall hangings and character dolls. A family project for the 60th anniversary of her parents sparked her interest in quilting and resulted in a number of quilts for special occasions. Since “retirement” Ineke divides her time between travel and working in her studio on Salt Spring Island. She loves the challenge of restrictions, special requirements and deadlines that contests and commissions give her.

Ode to Valerie Tudor II
$375

Hand painted silks
Traditional quilting, machine embroidery

The fabulous fabrics of Valerie Tudor, a Salt Spring fabric designer who hand paints her silks, velvets and Egyptian cottons, were the inspiration for this quilt. Combining the traditional quilting technique with the bold modern design created a number of windows. I could also have called this piece “Windows on the Past”.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:39:00 +0000

Sherrie Spangler is a fabric artist from Rockford, Illinois, whose work is largely inspired by the natural world's weather, rocks, rivers, forests, light and other wonders. She has always been involved with art and sewing, but it wasn't until she left a career in newspaper journalism to raise a family that the two interests came together. Her many years of editing also influence her work as she strives to make
sure each piece is clean, concise and has a strong structure. Her work has appeared in many international exhibits and publications and is in corporate and private collections.

Katrina: Flood and Fire
$350

Cotton, silk, cotton batting, metallic and cotton thread
Painting, stamping, foiling, raw-edge collage, machine quilting

I worked on this piece as Hurricane Katrina ripped into New Orleans. I used colors of stormy skies, fires and floods. I tore the fabric and peeled back layers to expose the quilt's interior, much as the hurricane peeled apart buildings. Sweeping quilting lines symbolize wind and rain.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:38:00 +0000

Ellen Scott says “I grew up in the Midwest longing for the bigger world, so during my childhood I traveled in my imagination. I found my home in the world
of Art. Whatever I could create with my hands was my pride and joy.
When the opportunity of college came I chose to experience the Art
History academics of Boston while also majoring in Fine Arts. From
there I moved to San Francisco where my world completely opened up in a Master's program where I delved into canvas as fabric. I began to
dye and stitch onto my narrative images. For the past 20 years I have
continued this quest. At this juncture I fully embrace the Fiberart
world and the inspiration and excitement I derive from the simplicity
and complexity of the medium. Being a mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend underlies the themes I portray. There are many women throughout history that light my way.”

Artisan
$550

Fabric, embroidery floss, button, beads
Appliqué, hand stitched

Artisan is autobiographical and universal in nature. She represents myself and all those who reside in the world of creativity. In my own Artwork, I often incorporate the elephant as a symbolic companion. In this piece the elephant has a car sewn onto it, and reference to the animal’s strength and the vehicle also symbolizes routing our journey in this modern world.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:36:00 +0000

Lauralyn Sciretta considers herself a re-emerging artist, after recommitting to her art subsequent to a recent heart attack. Even with her first traditional quilt, she designed her own pattern. In 1999, she recognized art quilts have the diversity to allow experimentation with other mediums such as drawing, painting and photography, not just fabric and thread. Her first gallery acceptance was 2002, a mixed-media art show in a Tucson gallery. Born and raised in San Diego, California, she is now a "desert rat" residing in Tucson, Arizona, maintaining Lazy Lizard Studio within her home that she shares with her husband.

Faded Memories, Diagnosis, Alzheimers
NFS

Freehand-machine "drawing" based on a photograph of my parents.

When my Father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's I frantically photographed, attempting to capture that moment forever before the disease took over. This piece is based on my favorite photograph of my parents. I drew a line in place of my mother’s features representing when he will no longer recognize her.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:34:00 +0000

Originally from Los Angeles, Janet Schultz has lived in Flagstaff, Arizona for 28 years. In 2005, Janet was awarded Artist Residencies at the Jentel Foundation and the Santa Fe Art Institute. These experiences convinced her to quit her job as financial manager for James Turrell in order to be a full time artist. She has work in private and corporate collections.

Maverick
$150

Hand-dyed, hand painted cotton
Machine pieced, machine quilted

I’m fascinated by the juxtaposition of man’s lines and earth’s lines. Man attempts to control the land by placing it into measurable sections. As recent natural disasters show, we cannot erase earth’s lines or its natural balance. Maverick is a real place outside Sheridan, Wyoming.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:33:00 +0000

Diane Savona incorporates many used and salvaged materials in her quilted art. Her work has been shown primarily in the local area where she collects her materials: art from - and for - her community. In the past two years, she has begun to show her work on a national level.

Scratching the Surface
$350

Layers of cotton, silk organza, netting, segments of a vintage calendar towel, phototransfers, snaps and hooks
Machine and hand sewn, fused, phototransferred and cut

By cutting through the recent top layers, I have exposed the vintage cloth and images of the past. The hooks and snaps invite the viewer to connect with the intensely stitched layers.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:31:00 +0000

Kathleen Probst earned a bachelor of science in finance and went on to teach high school mathematics. She has also worked as a whitewater raft guide and a computer programmer. Now, she balances her life between growing boys and creating art. Heavily influenced by the Front Range Contemporary Quilters, she began creating art quilts in 2000. Kathleen has artwork in several private collections. Her work has appeared in mixed media and fiber art shows in Colorado and Idaho. In 2003, Kathleen made her artistic debut in Elements, a show juried by Robert Shaw. Kathleen’s quilts have a playful quality where color is used to manipulate perception of space.

Making the Cut
$650

Cotton, ink, flannel
Scanned objects, computer manipulated, inkjet printed, fused, machine stitched

I believe creating art is one of the cosmic tasks I have been given. It is challenging, frustrating, and rewarding to look at a pile of fabric and give it a voice. To sift through the ideas that find my conscience and play with them makes me a child forever.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:30:00 +0000

Judith Plotner lives and works in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Her work has been exhibited nationally in group and solo shows including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum, Washington, DC, American Craft Museum in New York City, and the Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell, MA. Several publications that include her work are: Fiberart Gallery, Fiberart Design Book 7 and Stamping with Style. She is the recipient of two Individual Artist Grants in New York State and an SOS grant in New York State.

Retribution
$600

Cotton (commercial, dyed and painted)
Dye, paint, monoprint, Xerox, machine pieced and appliquéd, machine and hand quilted

My work integrates my life experiences as an artist, my love of fabric and collage, and my training as a painter and a printmaker. My subject matter is deeply internalized and I incorporate random thoughts and symbols. Text is frequently incorporated as part of the message along with various surface techniques to produce a piece rich in textural layers.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:27:00 +0000

Sue Pierce has been making art quilts for over twenty five years. Her work reflects a crisp and witty sensibility. As an independent curator, she organized Full Deck Art Quilts, a national survey of art quilting which opened up the Renwick Gallery of the Museum of American Art and was traveled around the country by the Smithsonian. Her quilts have been purchased by the state department, national Institutes of Health, the International Monetary Fund as well as a number of corporate and private collections. A lecturer and published author, Pierce has served on the boards of several mid-Atlantic and national Arts organizations.

Christo Visits Home Depot #1
$300

Cotton and cotton blends, felt, silk
Pieced, surface rubber stamped, dimensional felt tools wrapped with silk

It’s all about orange. As I designed work for a group exhibit on the theme of hardware, I went to Home Depot for inspiration. I was struck by the commonality of their logo colors and the gates project which was at the time going up in Central Park. Why not wrap tool shapes?

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:25:00 +0000

Katy Kellogg Nygard's relationship with textiles began at age 5 when she fashioned a needle and thread from a bobby pin and a piece of string in order to repair the tattered edges of a favorite childhood blanket. She has since costumed plays, designed and manufactured one-of-a-kind garments and has been quilt making for much of the last decade. Katy's fascination with the hand stitch and its dimensional quality is evident in her recent work. Katy has exhibited her work in national and international juried shows and has received several awards.

Puzzled
$400

Linen and cotton fabric, cotton thread, acrylic paint, dye, resist and discharge medium, hand-carved stamps

Raw edge appliquéd, machine pieced, hand embroidered using artist dyed, painted, stamped and discharged fabric

I live in the mountain west in a rural neighborhood that was once a flood-irrigated agricultural field. Puzzled was inspired by the beautiful aerial geometry of the once plentiful family farms and ranches that are quickly disappearing from our landscape

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:23:00 +0000

Barbara Barrick McKie is consolidating all of her diverse experimental careers with her life-long interest in photography and creative sewing by concentrating on combining surface design experiments with computer photographic manipulation and computer fabrics she creates using disperse dyes. Her prize-winning art quilts have been juried into art quilt shows such as Visions and Quilt National, most national and international quilt shows, the New England Quilt Museum, the Museum of American Folk Art, and the American Quilter’s Society Museum. She has been published in quilt magazines such as American Quilter, Quilting Arts Magazine, and a number of quilt books. Recently she was featured on Simply Quilts TV show.

Nature Kaleidoscope: Seagrapes #1
$340

Polyester fabric, wool batting, cotton backing, rayon thread
Disperse dyed, machine quilted

I created a series based on my photographs that are manipulated and printed on the computer to make kaleidoscopic patterns. This one is based on a photograph of sea grape leaves.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:20:00 +0000

Arlene Mathieu has worked in various art media for over four decades and exhibited throughout the United States. Her work is included in private collections in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Her formal training was in painting, and textiles and design; Mathieu also has a degree in cultural anthropology. Her work in the fiber arts employs a collage technique, with stitching as drawn line. It includes hand-dyed--by Mathieu--fabric in which color is reminiscent of watercolor washes, as well as commercial fabrics, digital photos printed on fabric, Asian and other hand-made papers, and found objects, many of these from nature.

Stepping Into
$600

Fabrics hand-dyed (by artist) and commercial, paper, digital photo printed on cotton
Collage; machine stitching and quilting

Splashes of color, the play of light and shade; feather-like fronds moving in the wind, petals tissue paper thin. Step around a corner, and there, another display. And as always in a natural landscape, reminders of change and the ephemeral.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:18:00 +0000

Barbara Martinson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel at the University of Minnesota. She is currently the Buckman Professor of Design Education and Director of Graduate Studies. Martinson is both a researcher and designer. Research areas include design history concentrating on 19th century illustration, design education, multicultural design, and design process. Both her graphic design and fiber work has been exhibited and published nationally, and has received national awards. She teaches courses in Design, Planning, and Analysis; Design History, Color and Design, and Human Factors for Graphic Designers.

Inappropriate Appropriation
$200

Commercial printed fabrics, fabric markers
Quilting, trapunto

Like most fiber artists I collect fabric in bits and pieces, from both local shops and when traveling. Such is the case with the two fabrics in Inappropriate Appropriation. Both pieces lived quietly in my pile of cloth, until one day I put them together and decided to make a piece about careless appropriation of cultural imagery.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:16:00 +0000

Art Quilts by Jill Le Croissette have been shown in over ninety juried quilt and multi-media exhibits regionally, nationally and internationally. Her work has won 18 awards and prizes. Formerly an academic librarian, she has been a fulltime quilt and wearable artist since 1982. Jill has published seven articles on quilting and related subjects, and her quilts have appeared in books, magazine, video recordings and newspapers, as well as in her own and other websites. Her work is in collections in the U.S., Australia, Britain, France, Spain and Sweden, and in the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Turkmenistan.

Hate is Expensive
$250

Wool, cotton, cotton and wool threads, cotton batting
Reverse appliqué, discharge, hand stitching

In this piece, I tried to show that the damage done by hate can never be mended. Hatred between people and nations is too expensive. It destroys innocent lives and is carried on from generation to generation. We’ve got to learn not to hate other people because they are different.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:14:00 +0000

Judy Langille says “While teaching art to elementary school children, I began to study traditional quilt making and later taught it to adults. My interest in art quilts grew and during this period, I organized many school programs for children and teachers to work collectively on the production of community quilts. I also received several grants, including one from the Geraldine Dodge Foundation, for my work in integrating the arts into the school curriculum. Today I work extensively with fabric dying and printing, using thermofax and photo silkscreen techniques. My fiber art has been juried into many national and regional shows, including Quilt National and Fine Focus 2002 and 2004. I have been teaching textile design at William Patterson University and the Newark Museum Arts Workshop. I am an active participant in the Morris County Crafts Awareness Program, which features selected artists in residence.”

Dotted I’s
$200

100% cotton, discharge paste and thickened dyes, threads and batting
Torn rice paper resist screened with thickened dyes and discharge paste, machine stitched

“Dotted i’s” is part of a new series of work which uses torn paper as a resist, in this case rice paper. The forms that emerge from the torn paper are the inspiration. Discharge paste is screened through a blank silkscreen frame on a variety of black fabrics. Using thickened dyes, I paint the forms that have color removed from them and then repeat the process of discharge and paint several more times until I have my desired composition. The colors and shapes that emerge from within the different black areas of these fabrics create a mysterious new element to my work. These whole pieces of fabric are then layered with batting and a backing and machine stitched with a variety of threads. The stitching creates a line that is drawn onto the surface of the fabric to bring the composition together.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:12:00 +0000

Liz Kuny began her career in graphic design. Her interest in quilting as art began
during the time she was at home raising her three children. For the past 12 years
she has pursued this interest exclusively. Her work has appeared in local art shows
and hangs in private collections. She has had work accepted into Fine Focus 02,
Sacred Threads 2005, and Form, Not Function: Quilt Art at the Carnegie (2005).

Sea Glyphs I
$450

Commercial and hand-dyed fabric, chromacoal pastels, beads
Machine and hand appliquéd and quilted

Fabric is wonderfully versatile, and I challenge myself with each piece to explore new ways to use this medium. I’m sometimes rewarded for my efforts, and often surprised. The possibilities for ways to use fabric in a piece can seem endless, but I love the trial-and-error nature of it. For me, the thrill is in the process. Everything should be this much fun.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:07:00 +0000

As a genetically disposed to fabric and thread person, Iva Jensen expanded the traits inherited to include surface design, marbling, needle weaving, machine quilting, and creating art to wear. An early class in creative stitchery at the Philbrook Art Museum in Tulsa, OK crystalized a generalized vision of fiberarts into a fine obsession to do everything that could be done with a needle and thread, papers, plastics, silk and paint.

As a member of Houston Area Fiber Artists, The Golden Needles Quilt Guild of Conroe, the International Marblers Association, Friends of Fiber Art, International Quilt Association, American Quilters Society and Studio Arts Quilt Association, Iva has exhibited work in California, Colorado, Tennessee, North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas and Istanbul, Turkey. Her work is in private collections in the US.

Promise
$300

Satin and cotton fabrics
Sunprint, machine quilted

I am captivated by the sheer life force that pulls plants up through rocks, concrete and other unlikely places for them to prosper. The innate need to grow overcomes all obstacles and says to me, "See, if I pushed through here, you can do anything too." This dissection of a seed pod speaks to the built in promise of plants, people and ideas. It started out as a sun print on satin. I added machine quilting and bound it with a print that simulates the environment for growth.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Ritter) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:37:00 +0000

Debra Harry’s award-winning quilts have been exhibited in shows across the country. She has won numerous awards, including the Curators Award in the Hoffman Challenge and Judge's Choice at the Quilter's Heritage Celebration in Lancaster, PA. She has done commissioned work for nationally known fabric manufacturers and private collectors. In addition to her quilts, Debra has designed a line of patterns that have been carried by several catalog companies. Debra earned her art degree from Rowan University. She combined her love of fabric and knowledge of sewing with her art background to begin quilting in 1985. Her art quilts incorporate hand dyed fabrics, beading, embroidery and embellishments.

Sea Treasures
$550

Commercial cottons, batiks, fibers, tulle, ribbon and beads
Fabric collage, free motion machine quilted, hand
Embellished, serged edge

My quilts include rich colors, fibers, embellishments and beading. The subject matter usually encompasses ocean themes that explore the beauty of underwater sea life. This piece reflects an ocean theme of sea treasures and the wonderful colors and textures found beneath the sea. Additional interest is achieved with the areas cut away from the middle of the quilt, exposing the darkness behind.