Sally Wright was the one in class doodling on book covers. Watching HGTV’s “Simply Quilts” sparked a desire to create a quilt for her son. Now, she creates her own designs in art quilts for the wall using a variety of textile and fiber art techniques.
How did you find yourself on an artist’s path? Always there? Lightbulb moment? Dragged kicking and screaming? Evolving?
I’ve always sketched, drawn and doodled.
In elementary school I was the kid in the back drawing all over my book covers and assignment papers.
I have also always been a crafter – needlepoint, crewel embroidery, Christmas ornaments, knitting, and crochet have always been a part of my life. Anything that I can do with my hands.
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My undergraduate degree is in Art History, but I was never required to take a studio class, which I now regret. I always identified as a creative person.
How did you get started making fiber art? Why did you choose that medium?
I wasn’t much of a sewer early in my life. Except for a summer at age 12 taking classes at a Singer Sewing store where I made the world’s ugliest dress.
After we had our son, I did buy a rudimentary sewing machine for Halloween costumes, etc. The light bulb went on when my son was 7. I would watch HGTV in the morning as I got dressed to go to work.
Alex Anderson’s “Simply Quilts” was a daily inspiration. One day after watching all those talented quilters Alex interviewed it occurred to me that I would be remiss as a mother if I didn’t make my son a quilt.
I went out and bought a book – The Quilters’ Complete Guide by Marianne Fons and Liz Porter. The format of the book is a sampler – as you work through the chapters you learn an amazing number of useful techniques and at the end you have the makings of a pieced quilt sampler. The resulting quilt was a little dark and very traditional, but meaningful to me because I included both my sons and my hands and a portrait of our house and by the end I was hooked. I knew so little that I went out and bought ready made binding to finish it and had my husband do the hand sewn final stitching. He has always had a better hand stitch than I did!
After a few years working alone in my very tiny shed sewing space behind our garage I took a few classes at my local quilt shop – Sewing Arts in Santa Monica – and met a lady who became a fast and longtime friend. She invited me to visit as her guest the Santa Monica Quilt Guild. I joined and a whole other world opened to me. I quickly realized that traditional piecing was not quite enough for me, that I preferred to make quilts for the wall rather than for the bed and that I could use my quilting skills to express my imagination.
What motivates you artistically? Where do you find your inspiration for your designs?
My art history background and my career as a professional antique dealer have inspired me to a great degree. Antique Turkish tiles, Roman archaeological remains, Florentine Pietra Dura inlay and the watercolors of Maria Sybilla Merian can all be found in my art quilts.
The natural world, be it flowers from our garden, seascape views, fossils from my son’s childhood collection, autumn leaves collected on a hike all have their place, too. Memories of travel also show up whether it be Mt. St. Michel in France, a Japanese garden in Kyoto or the swans swimming in a moat at a British palace.
I love to combine lots of techniques – raw edge appliqué’, whole cloth painting, thread painting, digital imagery, free motion quilting, surface design and embellishment all have their place and help me define my ideas. Sometimes a just a gorgeous piece of fabric like a stack of Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics or Wendy Richardson’s over-dyed prints from Quilt Tapestry Studio will inspire me
When it comes to creating, are you more of a planner or an improviser?
I am both. I do use a sketch book to attempt to define and control my ideas, but there are times when I go off on a tear just free cutting and gluing without measuring! I have a framed poster from Nashville’s Hatch Show Print given to me by a friend that says “Measure Twice, Cut Once”. I wish I took that advice more often.
Are you a “finisher”? How many UFOs do you think you have?
Yes! I may have a couple of projects simmering at the same time, but I usually finish them. I prefer to finish one before starting another. I do not have a lot of UFOs. If it’s not working, I get rid of it.
Do you have a dedicated space for creating? If so, what does it look like?
I started my quilting journey in a very tiny space behind our garage in southern California with only room for a sewing table and stacks of bins for fabric.
Last year when we decided to make a huge change and mover closer to our son and daughter-in-law in the South, the one promise I made to myself was that there would be a large light filled sewing space in our new Huntsville home. The very first day of house hunting we found a one story ranch style home with a good garden for my husband and a fabulous sewing space for me. A previous owner had taken the original garage and turned it into a family room. It is large, light filled and a bit away from the rest of the house. There are wonderful views out large windows to the hills beyond. It is part sewing space, an office for me and my computer, a comfortable seating area, has its own bathroom and lots of storage. I’m in heaven!
Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?
Bella Camellia started as a digital photograph of an old pink camellia in our Southern California garden. I had been experimenting with using digital imagery and used Photoshop on my computer to manipulate the image, heighten the color and another app (I forget which one now) to give the image a watercolor appearance.
I sent the digital file off to Spoonflower to have it printed over two yards of cotton. When I got it back I added textile paints (I like Jacquard and Pro Chem) to add more color and more shadows to the image.
I free motion embroidered a bee in the center of one of the flowers as a focal point. Next I realized that I wanted to add some dimension to the large blooms, so I added some batting behind them and then free motion thread painted lines in various shades to resemble veins in the petals and again add some shadow and highlights. I stitched around the edges, cut away the excess batting and then layered the whole quilt in wool. I free motion quilted the leaves and background in 100% silk, my favorite quilting thread.
I’m proud to say that Bella Camellia was shown both at International Quilt Festival Houston and Long Beach and at Road to California and a SAQA Regional show at the Santa Monica at the California Heritage Museum last winter.
How has your work changed over time?
I started as a traditional piecer, but was soon seduced by the art quilt world. I still, however, love the process of sewing two pieces of fabric together and still occasional piece a more traditional piece as a charity quilt, or for a gift to a new baby. I’m also enticed by the improv movement and have experimented with that a lot recently.
How have other people supported or inspired you?
I am constantly inspired by the work of quilters I admire. Some I see on the internet and others whose classes I have enjoyed. Teachers that have most inspired me are Patt Blair and Susan Brubaker Knapp for painting on fabric, Sharon Schamber and the wonderful Diane Gaudynski for free motion quilting, Lenore Crawford,Susan Carlson for raw edge appliqué and collage and Jane Sassaman for it all.
I think my Guilds – Westside Quilters, Heritage Quilters of Huntsville and the Rocket City Modern Quilt Guild – have inspired me by showing a wide range of work and bringing top teachers as well as friendship.
Perhaps my biggest inspiration and influence has been my art quilt group in Los Angeles. There are 6 of us. We call ourselves The Fiber Fanatics and show each other our work monthly. We share ideas, critiques and encouragement. I have learned an amazing amount from these ladies. Pre-Covid we met in person, but now we have become used to Zoom and now that I live a good bit of the continent away, that continues.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
Can’t remember who said this, but “Find your voice and stick with it”
Which part of the design process is a challenge for you?
Starting! Making that first foray into your fabric stash, cutting that first cut. Getting on with it! Stop thinking and just start! Procrastination has a part in it.
Where can people see your work?
First on my website at www.SallyWrightQuilts.com
Currently my “Swan Song” quilt is in the All Creatures Great and Small exhibit at the Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange, Texas through December and three of my pieces are part of Evolving patterns: Legacies of Quilting now through November 4th at the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
I try to make a small art quilt every year for the Cherrywood Challenge and right now two of mine are traveling in the Diana Challenge and the Monarch Challenge which is debuting at International Quilt Festival Houston in November.
I’m proud to say that Bella Camellia was shown both at International Quilt Festival Houston and Long Beach and at Road to California and a SAQA Regional show at the California Heritage Museum in Santa Monica last winter.
Interview posted October 2023
Browse through more art quilt inspiration on Create Whimsy.