In this new showcase I’m featuring four Modern Quilters that you will love!
Maryline Collioud-Robert
I was an exchange student in the USA in the 70ties and discovered patchwork and quilting there by sleeping under an old quilt made by the grand-mother. From then on, I’m self-taught and have been making quilts for 47 years. 45 years ago, I was lucky to take a workshop with Michael James and enjoyed it so much, my love of colors had found a sounding board!
I make intense textile surface with patchwork and appliqué, mostly in mosaic style. I like to study colors interactions between fabrics, as well as gradations, progressions, contrasts…
My first inspiration is always visual, either starting from a color combination or from observing nature. I like to work on series, although whenever I’m deep into a series, I suddenly have another inspiration and start on a new one. I have so many ideas, I could quilt and create full time for the next 100 years! (And I have so much fabric at home that I could do just that!!)
I’m interested in the Modern Quilt movement, but more as an observer. I do not define myself a modern quilter, I do not make « modern » quilts as per the official definition. I’m just a quilter, an art quilter or a contemporary quilter. In fact, the quilts I was making 40 years ago were much more “modern” according to the current definition!
I teach and exhibit internationally, and I really enjoy the quilting community which has developed itself over the years. I love to teach, but don’t care to travel as much any more, that’s why I created a line of quilt patterns. A new adventure!!
Lucinda Walker
I first made a quilt while I was stuck at home undergoing treatment and recovery from a serious illness. I had always wanted to try quilting, and suddenly putting it off until “someday” didn’t feel right. I taught myself, using books and online videos, with whatever fabric I had around the house. At that time I had no inkling that an enormous community of quilters existed. I was just tinkering away alone, and learning mostly from my mistakes. I soon discovered that friends from my cancer fitness group were also quilters, and slowly this wide world of quilting began to open its doors to me. I later joined the Modern Quilt Guild where I have met many of my most cherished friends and learned more about quilts than I ever thought possible.
Back in college, I had gone to art school; my focus was on ceramics with an emphasis on tile-making. I loved working in grids, with repeating motifs, or with pieces that fit together. When I later shifted my focus to quilting, it became clear that quilting is a perfect synthesis of textiles and ceramic tile: it’s like making tiles out of fabric.
My quilts today are abstract and semi-improvised. I regard quilts as artworks, and I love that they can be expressive and experimental. I enjoy the freedom of working without a pattern, but I also find comfort in working within a structure or with a plan. I usually start with a sense of what I want my quilt to look like, with a general procedure in mind, but I allow for flexibility, responding to the piece as it develops, open to changing course as I go. I don’t always make my sewn fabric creations into quilts. Sometimes I put them in a frame instead, preferring to treat them as artworks for the wall. I am still exploring, experimenting, and playing with fabric, finding ways to express myself through this medium I love.
Maday
I’m an art educator, Visual Storyteller & Janome Artisan living in the Midwest, USA, passionate about sustainability, social justice and urban gardening, committed to maintaining a public garden space in the downtown area where I reside. I began teaching myself how to sew over 11 years ago. My maternal grandmother was the only family memberI had seen machine stitching growing up in Cuba.
I lead workshops in a variety of subjects, encouraging creative, sustainable approaches as a way to build confidence and community, with a back to basics approach, and consciousness about resource use/waste.
Working towards a sustainable future includes: learning new skills, supporting renewable energy, repairing our clothes, slowing down on consumption, growing food responsibly, preserving cultural traditions and Respecting Each Other’s contributions. Those are things that I value greatly.
I want to use, reuse and re-imagine leftover materials to make something whole again; in doing so, I respect the human and environmental resources that go into textile production. I don’t consider myself a quilter, rather a fiber artist. I like to draw on cultural traditions, my own and others, to infuse a work with vitality and interest. I like to create using as many techniques as possible and really appreciate hand-stitching. I love curve piecing because of the energy and organic aspect it offers. I consider myself an explorer and believe that everything “goes” together in creating textile compositions. We can’t have a modern movement without cultural traditions.
My goal moving forward is to ensure that there is more cultural representation in textile/fiber arts and that companies learn, alongside a diverse group of artists from around the world, to include immigrants in their creative initiatives.
Porfiria Gomez
My name is Porfiria I am a native New Yorker. I was raised in the Bronx. While growing up in the Bronx my mom shared stories with me of her grandmother quilts. How she would lay on top of them, she sparked my love of quilting with this stories. She taught me at an early age how to quilt. Hand sewing pieces together to make beautiful works of art. As I became a mum my quilting passion returned. I began to create quilts for my children. When I quilt I strive to showcase my childhood. By using solids colors and prints that tie into my hispanic culture.
