In this new showcase I’m featuring four Modern Quilters that you will love!
Claudia Shearer
My name is Claudia Shearer, and I’m an artist/contemporary quilt maker from San Francisco. I started quilting around 15 years ago when my children were young but no longer toddlers, as a creative outlet and counterbalance to professional work and family responsibilities. I have always gravitated toward the arts, having studied photography (old school B&W), music, and enjoy making things with my hands. I was initially self-taught mainly through quilting books and magazines and I was drawn to the modern quilt movement during the early online/Flickr days.
I work improv style usually without sketching things out in advance. This is to say I solve design problems while creating, a process I find pleasurable, rewarding, and sometimes frustrating. My designs are abstract; I tell stories through fabric, creating visual impact with organic shapes, creating depth through value, and conveying emotion through color play. I draw inspiration from all around me (I take lots of photos) from my urban surroundings and the natural California landscape. I go see art whenever I can. My work draws from images, experiences, or memories, but sometimes I simply sew fabrics together and see where it leads me.
Featured Quilts:
Purple Haze, 2020 (this quilt won Best Mid/Mod Wall Quilt at the Pacific International Quilt Festival “PIQF”
Humboldt IV, 2021 (just finished this quilt, it was a commissioned work inspired by the Northern California coast)
The Gleam, 2018 (abstract using silks and cottons)
Giova Brusa
Hello! I am Giova Brusa born in Colombia, currently living in the US. My quilting journey started around the same time as my fiber/embroidery journey. A bit more than 10 years ago as I was trying to figure out my path (I’m still figuring that out btw), I took a patchwork class while living in Amsterdam. It taught me many things but most importantly that I didn’t actually enjoy all the precision, measurements and straight lines. Thankfully my teacher Elsbeth said; “you can do anything you want.” Ohhh! Sweet words! I became obsessed with the back parts of quilts.
Remembered being introduced to the Gee’s Bend quilts some 20 years earlier and have been doing basically anything I want since then.
My work is usually small and very personal. The act of stitching one little square next to another one is quite revolutionary for me. Each one takes me closer to healing, to understanding my past, to making peace with it all. I fluctuate between stitching words, applique, assemblages and mini quilts. I’m fascinated with old fabrics, particularly old French domestic ones. Anything with holes,rust, in tatters or frayed is perfect in my opinion. I’m attracted to the same colors, over and over. I find inspiration from poetry, architecture, and artists such as: Tracey Emin, Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hess, Rachel Whiteread, Magdalena Abakanowicz to name just a few. My love with both thread and needle constantly surprises me with all the wonderful things that could be created just by showing up.
Machteld Hauwert
‘m Machteld, born in the Netherlands, but living the last 21 years in Spain, with my hubby and 6 year old. I’ve been a fashion designer for more than 22 years, and love my job, and in my free time I love to sew as well.During the pandemic, I’ve noticed the healing and therapeutic benefits of patchwork! Creating quilts with beautiful fabrics & developing ideas for new quilts has been the best thing that could have happened to me during that time.
I’ve explored how quilting gives me comfort and a feeling of coziness.What I was taken by as well, is the big community of quilters, and how friendly it is. It gave me the encouragement to dive into the world of designing quilts. I love bold shapes, bright colors and big contrasts in quilts.
My new quilt design has hearts grouped together, and to me they are a symbol of togetherness.Togetherness and coziness are very important in the Netherlands.These two words describe the heart of my Dutch culture.What quilting can bring me now, is balance and happiness.
Constance Kincius
I’m Connie Kincius Griner, a retired physician, and current rabid quiltmaker. My sewing journey started as a pre-teen, when my Aunt Sophie took me under her wing and helped me make a turquoise wrap skirt. I continued garment sewing through my teens and early 20s, then had a long hiatus while I completed medical school and residency.
When I became a mom in my early 30s, my sewing genes reactivated, and I fell down the rabbit hole of English smocking. Inevitably, my daughters reached an age when clothing made by their mother was no longer appreciated. Fortunately, my friend @stephiestitchesfound a quilt teacher willing to give us lessons and accommodate my crazy work and on-call schedule. (This was way before the era of online learning.)
My first quilts were very traditional, hand quilted, and made for beds. Because of my intense work life, I spent most of the next 2 decades buying quilt books and fabrics and amassing UFOs. When I retired at 60, I took full advantage of my new freedom, attending quilt shows large and small, taking dozens of Craftsy classes, and spending glorious hours at my sewing machine.
In 2015 I entered a complex pieced and quilted block-of-the-month quilt (designed by Sue Nickels and Pat Holly) into the American Quilters Society Albuquerque show, and was floored to win an award. This recognition gave me the confidence to try original design, and I revel in the opportunity to show my quilts to the world. My designs have won awards in Houston, Paducah and elsewhere, and I still am a bit in awe at the improbability of it all.
My style is pretty hard to pin down, but there are a few recurring themes. Turquoise is my favorite color and gray is my favorite neutral. I love text on quilts. I come from a family known for its quirky sense of humor, and that is reflected in many of my pieces. Science-based quilts are also right up my alley.
Four years ago I was blessed to become a grandmother, and now a great deal of my time is devoted to making quilts for my 4 grandbabies.
