Spotlight: Karol Kusmaul, Fiber Artist
Karol Kusmaul's first quilt was a project she and her class of third grade students put together for a school fair. Now she makes graphic art quilts - portraits, landscapes...
Art Quilts
Art quilts, at first a curiosity in both the quilt and art worlds, are now a contemporary genre of their own. They reflect the artmakers’ vision and creativity as much as paintings do. Beginning with fabric or other fiber-based material, art quilters conceive abstract or representational art. Fiber is their palette. Piecing, appliqué, thread painting, collage and more all play a role. Fiber artists create landscapes, portraits – any image they can conceive.
Browse through the art quilts and quilters for your own inspiration, then make your own.
Applique Art Quilts
Spotlight: Kathy McNeil, Appliqué Quilt Artist
Meet award-winning appliqué quilt artist Kathy McNeil! She began her creative journey as a young child, then later discovered the possibilities of making pictures from fabric. Her most challenging piece...
Spotlight: Lucy Levenson, Folk Art Designer and Textile Artist
Her brave use of color when combining fabric, stitch and paint sets Lucy Levenson apart from the crowd. With intricate details, her fanciful work invites an up close and personal...
Abstract Art Quilts
Spotlight: Sherri Lipman McCauley, Fiber Artist
A paint flinger. Sherri Lipman McCauley's description of her process does more than hint at her improvisational style. Sherri's art cloth begins with plain white fabric that she transforms into...
Spotlight: David Owen Hastings, Graphic Designer and Fine Artist
Growing up in a household full of creatives, David Owen Hastings learned to sew on his grandmother's 1950's Singer - but David made clothes for his GI Joe platoon. His...
Spotlight: Alexis Deise, Contemporary Quilter
As a contemporary quilter, Alexis Deise works in series to focus and dig deeper into ideas that are important to her, all while honoring the women who built an enduring...
Thread Painted Art Quilts
Spotlight: Hollis Chatelain, Textile Painter and Humanitarian
Inspired by her humanitarian work in Africa, Hollis Chatelain creates art quilts that raise awareness of the human condition in the third world. Back in the States, she wanted to...
Thread Painting
Thread painting is a type of free motion embroidery where the thread "paints" images your quilt top - the quilt top is your canvas and the thread is your paint. I...
Spotlight: Lea McComas, Thread Painter & Fiber Artist
As Lea McComas travels the world and immerses herself in rich and vibrant cultures, her art reflects the human experience. With fabric and thread, she captures moments that highlight the...
Landscape Art Quilts
Spotlight: Luana Rubin, Designer, Artist, and Creative Entrepreneur
How do you spot Luana Rubin? She's the one with a gazillion balls in the air! Painter, photographer, art quilter, color forecaster, philanthropist, world traveler and fabric industry entrepreneur, Luana's...
Spotlight: Vicki Conley, Potter and Art Quilter
As a scientist, Vicki Conley loved doing research. It was while "researching" for a new job that she took a pottery class and never looked back. But she kept looking...
Spotlight: Susie Monday, Fiber Artist and Teacher
Raised in a creative home, at the age of 9 with the gift of a "real" artist box, Susie Monday became an Artist-with-a-Capital-A. She believed it, and so it was...
Modern Art Quilts
Spotlight: Jacquie Gering, Modern Art Quilter
Jacquie Gering begins each quilt with an idea, but lets inspiration lead throughout her process, sometimes taking the work on unexpected, but welcome, turns. Known for her use of clean,...
Spotlight: Sylvia Schaefer, Modern Quilter and Pattern Designer
Can art and science get along? Of course they can! With a Ph.D. in marine science, Sylvia Schaefer approaches quilting from a scientist's point of view, always asking, "What if?"...
Spotlight: Geraldine Warner, Fiber Artist
Fiber artist Geraldine Warner had never quilted, but knew she wanted to somehow paint with fabric. Working mostly with silk, she immerses herself in every part of the creative process,...
More Art Quilts
Spotlight: Regina Marzlin, Fiber Artist
Unlike many fiber artists who learned to sew from their mothers and grandmothers, Regina Marzlin was surprised to find herself drawn to textiles as an art medium - she didn't…
Spotlight: Jen Broemel, Fiber Artist
With training as an architect and the improvisational instincts of an artist, Jen Broemel creates fiber art that is both structured and free-flowing. The layers of hand stitch that float…
Spotlight: Barbara Schneider, Fiber Artist
Fiber artist Barbara Schneider sees details that most of us overlook in the natural world, then translates what she sees into cloth so that we can see it, too. Her…
Spotlight: Wen Redmond, Mixed Media Artist
Pioneering 21st century processes in the field of fiber art, mixed media artist Wen Redmond combines stitch with digital manipulation of images printed on unusual substrates. The result is ethereal,…
Spotlight: Leni Wiener, Fabric Collage Artist
People--and how they communicate without saying a word--fascinate artist Leni Wiener. Through fabric collage she captures gestures and attitudes that express the human condition without a word being spoken. Leni…
Spotlight: Ann Shaw, Art Quilter
With her unexpected use of printed fabrics as her palette, Ann Shaw begins with photographs, then abstracts design lines for the pictorial quilts she creates. Careful planning of stitching lines…
Spotlight: Michelle Jackson, Fiber Artist
When you see fiber artist Michelle Jackson's work, it will come as no surprise that she has much to say and that she speaks fluent color and value. Her experience…
Spotlight: Barbara James, Textile Artist
As a professor with the Ohio State University Extension, Barbara James enjoyed a career of teaching family and consumer sciences and community development, focused on local community issues. So she…