Abstract Art in Quilts

"The main portion of the design is pieced, and then additional layers of transparent fabric are applied to the background areas, creating a soft, diffused effect similar to watercolor. A curved motif, repeated in a number of different ways, is reminiscent of blossoms, buds or flames. The red areas mingle with the blue, bringing to mind the merging of two elements as diverse as fire and water."

-Judy Dales

Whether working with abstract or representational images, Judy's affinity for curvilinear design is evident. The curved shapes dance, float and undulate. The lines flow. The designs are imbued with an elegant grace that reflects the artist’s affinity for curves.

Lonni Rossi developed a written story of Cabins in the Cosmos. She describes it as “a floating colony in outer space of artist and new age philosophers who are fed up with the world that is always fighting and violent. Searching for a different way to live, the colony becomes a beacon of freedom, light and communication for those on earth.” To illustrate the communication aspect of her story, Lonni embellished the surface with 18 computer memory chips and one aviation artifact from the fuselage section of a Douglas DC-3 (an airliner).

"I am a fiber artist. With fabric and thread, design, color, texture and form, I strive to tell stories about the possibility of beauty, encouraging the viewer to imagine something out of the realm of their own reality, thus allowing them the opportunity to dream about beautiful things."

-Lonni Rossi

"The inspiration for this quilt began in a series of ribbon quilts. The design was sketched on graph paper and then enlarged. The ribbons were drawn freehand and transferred to the top."

-Libby Lehman



“When I think of energy, color, pattern and movement, and ‘makin’ a joyful noise’ I think of Libby Lehman’s work. Her quilts embody all of those qualifiers and more. Squares and circles loop, intertwine, fuse and dissolve through spatial illusions that seduce and intrigue. The magic that she creates with needle and thread is unparalleled, and has inspired legions of today’s quilters. Hers is a unique body of work that builds on the past while standing squarely in the present.”

-Michael James

The technique that creates the looping ribbons in this quilt are "freemotion" quilting, a technique in which a quilter uses the sewing machine much as a painter uses a brush.

Many overlapping colors of thread create vibrant shading, texture, and dimension.

Nature is often the inspiration for Erika's imagery, expressed texturally through use of color, pattern, piecing, and hand quilting. Grace is constructed of hand-painted, torn fabrics that have been machine appliquéd to a base. The raw, torn edges, untrimmed threads, and relaxed design style create a surface that echoes Erika’s interest in organic structure. It is part of a series in which Erika uses these techniques to create landscapes that become personal narratives. Erika comments, “The stylized hands among the rectangles at the foot of the trees suggest a path, a metaphor for the human journey. The trees lean over the path, protecting the traveler.”

"A passion for creating something of substance from raw materials led me to quilting. It is this same 'making' that has helped me find the strength and resiliency in what is sensitive and fragile."

-Erika Carter

“My images are abstract and non-geometric and do not rely on a block/grid structure. I am seeking to recreate the apparent artlessness of nature's organic forms. I am fascinated by the flicker of light on moving water, the shimmer of the Northern Lights, the drift of clouds, and the patterns of pebbles washed up on a beach. I am also drawn to structured patterns as in the photography of cells and crystals, to units of aggregated texture such as brick and stone walls, circuit diagrams, and building facades. I have studied Japanese design to see how it combines structure and natural forms."

-Judith Larzelere

"I work abstractly and I am interested in setting up an ambiguous figure/ground dialogue through the manipulation of hue and value"

-Judith Larzelere

“A cell can be described as the functional unit of a larger whole,” writes Sue Benner. “I think about cells as an organizing device in many contexts, but the biological cell is a particular source of fascination for me. These shapes live in my mind and are the building blocks of my world and my art.”

-Sue Benner

While pursuing a degree in molecular biology and masters in biomedical illustration, Sue Benner created her vision of the microscopic universe in painted and quilted textile constructions. Her early work propelled her to become a studio artist in 1980, working primarily in the medium which later became known as the Art Quilt.

Sue is an innovator in her field, creating original dyed and painted fabrics which she combines with recycled textiles to form fields of structured pattern, vivid beauty, and riotous variation.

"Photographs are the starting point of my work. I first search out an interesting subject to photograph. I then do a drawing from the photograph and add transparencies that I call "ghosts" to float in and out of the image, often I also add color by making a small watercolor painting that I superimpose over the first two drawings to create a many-layered image that departs from reality."

-Katie Pasquini Masopust

"I enjoy painting without any inhibition, then searching that painting for a perfect little composition that I can enlarge and make into a quilt. Sometimes I make a painting, then a quilt of that painting, then a portion of the quilt becomes inspiration for another painting, and that painting may hold another composition for a quilt. I like moving back and forth between the two."

-Katie Pasquini-Masopust