• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to footer
Create Whimsy

Create Whimsy

Inspring makers and sharing their stories

  • Quilting
    • How to Quilt
    • Free Quilt Patterns
    • Art Quilts
    • Modern Quilting
    • English Paper Piecing (EPP)
    • Foundation Piecing
    • Crazy Quilting
    • Improv Quilting
    • Easy Quilt Blocks
    • Quilt Tutorials
    • Machine Quilting
    • Hand Quilting
  • Embroidery
    • Hand Embroidery
    • Machine Embroidery
    • Sashiko
    • Embroidery Tutorials
  • Beading
    • Bead Embroidery
    • Off-Loom Bead Weaving
  • Sewing
    • Scrap Fabric Sewing Project Ideas
    • Making Clothes
      • Costumes
    • Bags
    • Babies
  • MORE
    • Surface Design
      • Eco Printing and Dyeing
    • Appliqué
      • Fusing
    • Jewelry Making
      • Wirework
      • Handmade Bracelets
      • Handmade Necklaces
    • Mixed Media
      • Collage Art
    • Kumihimo
    • Weaving
    • Crochet
    • Knitting
    • DIY Organization
      • Decorative Containers
    • DIY Home Décor
      • DIY Throw Pillows
    • Recycle DIY
    • Felting
    • Crafts
    • Occasions
      • Easter
      • Mothers Day
      • Fathers Day
      • Fourth of July
      • Halloween
      • Thanksgiving
      • Christmas
      • DIY Valentine Ideas
    • Paper Crafting
    • Metalsmithing
    • Painting & Drawing
    • Pottery-Ceramics
    • Toys & Games
    • Sculpture
  • Newsletter Sign Up

Art Quilts

Category: <span>Art Quilts</span>

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 materials, quilt artists 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, abstract art or address social justice issues – any image they can conceive.

Art quilters are also referred to as fiber artists or textile artists. They use a wide variety of materials to make a visual impact with their work. Works can include surface design with paints or dyes, raw edge appliqué and a variety of media.

They work with traditional quilting methods or works in an improvisational style. Most of all, they are lifting fiber arts as a visual arts medium.

Browse through the art quilts and quilters for your own inspiration, then make your own.

Applique Art Quilts

Flirting

Spotlight: Karol Kusmaul, Fiber Artist

Karol Kusmaul made her first quilt as a project with her class of third grade students for a school fair. Now she makes graphic art quilts - portraits, landscapes and...

All You Need is Love by Kathy McNeil

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...

Lush Summer

Spotlight: Lucy Levenson, Folk Art Designer

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

Touch of Color by Sherri McCauley

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...

Kibun Mood by David Owen Hastings

Spotlight: David Owen Hastings, Textile Artist

David Owen Hastings is a textile artist whose work appeals to those who love organic processes and the beauty of nature, color and texture. David combines his monotype-printed paper with...

American Album

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

Compassion

Spotlight: Hollis Chatelain, Textile Artist

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 Alice

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...

The Long Goodbye by Lea McComas

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

Rocky Mountain Poison quilt

Spotlight: Luana Rubin, 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...

Slot Canyon by Vicki Conley

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...

Cactus quilt at sunset

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

Homage by Jacquie Gering

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,...

Meeting of the Geese

Spotlight: Sylvia Schaefer, Modern Quilter

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?"...

Flow by Geraldine Warner

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

Visibly Mended quilt by Brandon Wulff

Spotlight: Brandon Wulff, Fine Art Quilter

Brandon Wulff grew up in a fiber family. He took up quilting as a hobby to support his sister who started a quilt shop. It didn't take him long to…
Multi color star by Hilde Hoogwaerts

Spotlight: Hilde Hoogwaerts, Textile Artist

Hilde Hoogwaerts discovered quilting while living in the US. She has traveled extensively around the world experiencing different cultures and ways to express creativity. Now, she incorporates colorful African wax…
Quenching Their Thirst fiber art by Janine Judge

Spotlight: Janine Judge, Textile Artist

Janine Judge creates intricate textile art inspired by her travels around the world. She begins with a sun dyed background and finishes with thread painting. How did you find yourself…
Joyful Blues fiber art by Sheryl St. Germain

Spotlight: Sheryl St. Germain, Poet, Essayist and Fiber Artist

Sheryl St. Germain discovered fiber art as a way to do something tactile to complement her writing. She works improvisationally, making works in response to her writing, using a variety…
Dancing Feet fiber art by Tania Tanti

Spotlight: Tania Tanti, Fiber Artist

Tania Tanti has been a maker and creator her entire life. She now paints her colorful and award-winning designs on fabric and then adds stitching (a lot of stitching) adding…
Dance Contest at the Salty Dawg by Julie Sevilla Drake

Spotlight: Julie Sevilla Drake, Artist, Poet, Storyteller

Julie Sevilla Drake has been an artist and a stitcher since a young age. She is mostly known as an art quilter, but also creates painted collages, acrylic paintings, and…
Monet in Yellow art quilt by Rita Lynne

Spotlight: Rita Lynne, Dimensional Art Quilter

Rita Lynne translates her life experiences into 3-dimensional art quilts and art vessels to tell her stories. She starts with ideas in her head. As she works on the project,…
Call and Response: Dakar fiber art by Toni Kersey

Spotlight: Toni Kersey, Fiber Artist

Toni Kersey came to art quilting later in life. She refers to her process as 'Spirit Dancing', working improvisationally with commercial fabrics, and fabrics she creates with dyeing and surface…
Untitled QuiltMarkings quilt by Julian Jones

Spotlight: Julian Jamaal Jones, Multidisciplinary Artist

Julian Jones creates abstract textile art, he tells his story in code to protect his narrative from the world around him. Working in textiles connects him to his family history…

Navigation

Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 … 34 Next

Footer

Learn More

  • About Create Whimsy
  • Work with Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Browse

  • Occasions
  • Destinations

Makers

Spotlight Stories

Marketing for Makers / Biz Tips

Copyright © 2025 · Create Whimsy®