Sarah Spencer, who works under the alias Io the Alien, took an introductory quilting class, learned about improv quilting and became obsessed. She uses bold and saturated colors to create her fiber art inspired by street art. As she gets close to finishing a piece, she is always ready to start the next!
How did you get started designing art quilts? Always an artist, or was there a “moment”?
While I was artistic as a kid, I happened upon art quilting completely by accident only a few years ago. I was teaching garment-making at a local art school, and as an instructor, I was entitled to take the occasional free class. I decided to take an introductory quilting class, thinking I would quilt my own fabric to make clothes. Fate had other plans for me!
I was fortunate that my colleague noticed I liked to do things my own way, and that I was comfortable experimenting and playing with fabric. One day, she suggested that I look up “improv quilting”. I went down the rabbit-hole, and I became completely obsessed. One thing led to another, and I found myself taking zoom classes from teachers around the country, and eventually developing my own style. I credit Sheila Frampton Cooper with teaching me many of the techniques I use to make my work.
What do you do differently? What is your signature that makes your work stand out as yours?
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Whether I’m creating an improv quilt, or an illustrative quilt, my work always has a graphic, bold quality.
I gravitate towards saturated color palettes, and I’m very much inspired by street art, which influences many of my designs. I love incorporating thin black lines in my work, and recently I’ve been stitching yarn into my quilts, especially in my portraits, as it allows me to add extra fine detail.
Where do you find inspiration for your designs?
Absolutely everywhere.
For the last 6 years, I’ve hosted a weekly music radio show at an independent radio station in Chicago called CHIRP Radio. I listen to at least 8 hours of new music every week, so a lot of that makes its way into my art.
Also, what I’m reading often makes its way into my work. I recently read a book called “The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls” by Mona Eltahawy, and the fourth sin is profanity. Inspired by the book, I made a series of mini-quilts of a woman’s hand giving the middle finger, which I entitled “Throw One Up (For Mona)”. Truly, I’m never short on inspiration. I have more ideas than I have time to create. I often feel like I need an army of artists to make my visions a reality!
When it comes to creating, are you more of a planner or an improviser?
Both! I work in two distinct styles: improv and illustrative. My illustrative work requires me to plan my design in advance, and I’ll often start by sketching on paper, and mocking up a few different color palettes on my iPad to decide what I like best. My improvisational work is, of course, all improv!
Are you a “finisher”? How many UFOs do you think you have?
I’d categorize myself as a finisher. When I’m working on a big, meaty project, it’s all-consuming. I get very energized by being creative, and I always want to finish what I’m working on so I can share it with the world.
Also, my large, portrait quilts involve me creating a pattern with many tiny pieces. I have to keep myself very organized so I don’t misplace any. I can’t imagine working on more than one at a time!
Aside from a few random blocks that didn’t get incorporated into some of my improv projects, I have no UFOs.
Describe your creative space.
I’m blessed that my creative space is in my home, though it’s not glamorous. I work in my basement. I have a 5 year-old son, and the basement is split between his play area and my studio. I have everything I need to get the job done, though.
I have an old Husqvarna-Viking my mother-in-law gave me which I use for all my piecing, and a sit-down Juki Miyabi for quilting. I also have a large cutting table and a large ironing space, so I’m grateful to have everything I need at home.
Scraps. Saver? Or be done with them?
I’m definitely a saver! I hand-dye lots of my own fabric, and so those are especially precious to me. Any scraps of a usable size get sorted by color and saved for later use.
Do you use a sketchbook or journal? How does that help your work develop?
I have both. I draw in my sketchbook almost every day, though only occasionally do those sketches make their way into my art quilts.
I draw with a black fountain pen on paper to prevent myself from being overly precious and erasing my “mistakes.” I feel like this practice has helped me to develop my eye and my voice, and it’s a great place just to play and experiment without feeling the need to share.
I’m also a big believer in writing my “morning pages” and I write at least three pages in my journal shortly after waking every morning. While there’s a lot of nonsense in my journal, there’s occasionally real gold in there, too. Ideas for exhibitions and large artworks have made their first appearance as part of my journal entries. Importantly, it’s a place where I can write down my ideas without fear of judgment.
Expressing without holding back is so important as an artist.
How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?
I always, always have a project on the go. I feel very out-of-sorts if I’m not working on something creative.
Even if I’m traveling, I’ll bring along knitting or other hand work so I can direct my creative energy somewhere. I prefer to work on one project at a time, and see it through to completion.
That said, as I get close to finishing one work, I often find myself getting the ball rolling on my next project, either through sketching or choosing a color palette that resonates with me. When I wrap up one artwork, I’m always eagerly anticipating the next. You might say I’m a bit obsessive. Ha!
Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?
My absolute favorite part of the process is choosing my palette, and piecing the quilt top. It’s very satisfying for me when I see my design birthed into the physical world.
My biggest challenge is doing what I consider the “grunt” tasks, which for me includes basting and binding. If I could farm those tasks out, I totally would!
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
I’ve been blessed with wonderful mentors in my art practice who have shared wisdom that I take to heart. At this moment, one piece of advice sticks out to me, and it involves dealing with rejection in the art world: if you’re not getting a rejection letter at least once per month, you’re not reaching high enough.
That advice has completely reframed how I look at rejection. I consider myself an emerging artist, and I’m very clear on my goal to make a career from my art. In order to do that, I must be willing to share my work and apply for new opportunities, and part of that process is dealing with rejection. It’s something every artist who shares their work deals with, whether they’re visual artists, musicians, writers, dancers, or actors.
If I’m not getting rejection letters it means one of two things: 1) I’m not applying to enough opportunities, or 2) I’m applying to opportunities with a low barrier for entry. As someone that wants to grow my career as an exhibiting artist, neither is acceptable to me.
Having said all that, rejection still hurts! It stings, and I’ll often find myself moping for a day or two before dusting myself off and trying again.
Tell us how rejection has influenced your work.
While I’m always going to create the art that I want to create, there are some ways in which rejection has pushed me to get better. For the longest time, I was doing my own photography. I was decently good at it: I know about lighting, framing, and how to do basic color-correction. As I started applying to more prestigious opportunities, I realized that my photography skills were limiting my potential. I just couldn’t compete with the professional art photographers whose work you see in catalogs and magazines… nor did I want to! I’ve since started hiring professionals to photograph my work. It’s an investment, but it shows that I have respect for my work and how it is seen.
How has your creativity evolved over the years? What triggered the evolution to new media/kinds of work/ways of working?
I’m always working on a project, and I’m also always learning.
Fabric manipulation comes pretty naturally to me, so if I see something another artist does that I like, and I can’t figure out how to do it on my own, it drives me nuts! When that happens, I’ll seek out a teacher who knows the technique and learn from them.
Every time I make a new large work, I’m trying something new -pushing my own limits in some way, whether it’s using a new technique, a new material, or refining a process. I like to think that I’m getting better with every quilt I make. It may seem weird to say it, but I can’t wait to see what my quilts look like in a year from now!
Do you enter juried shows? Do you approach your work differently for these venues?
I apply to juried shows often, both in the quilting world (ie: quilt shows) and in the fine art world. My favorite place to share my work is in galleries, next to traditional fine art media, because folks that wouldn’t normally attend a quilt show get to see my work and discover the possibilities within the textiles tradition. I love seeing the delight on peoples’ faces when they realize they’re looking at a quilt!
As for whether I approach my work differently for juried shows, the short answer is no. I create the art that I need to create in the moment, and that is that.
As a side note, I’ve always struggled with themed calls for art. I don’t like them. For me, the meaning comes in the making. I never set out to make a piece of art necessarily about something, for example “the climate crisis” or “human connection” or anything like that. I begin my art with a nugget of inspiration, and as I pour time into the work, often over hundreds of hours, the piece tells ME what it’s about.
Even my portraits, while they are images OF people, they are always ABOUT something greater. For example, my quilt, The Security, is a portrait of my husband, though it ended up being about healthy masculinity. All Hail the Queen started as a portrait of Queen Latifah, who I reimagined as an Egyptian queen, and it ended up being about the power of boundaries and self-knowledge. The people I portray are ancillary to the greater meaning.
So to come around full circle on your question, yes, I love showing my work wherever I can. If I see an open call for art that has a theme, I’ll apply to it if I have a piece that already fits, but I won’t create from an external prompt. My art always comes from within.
Do you keep track of your work? Shows that you’ve entered? Tell us what works for you.
Yes I do! I maintain a CV, and every time I get accepted into a new show, I update it. Also, I have an events page on my website, which I try to keep as up-to-date as possible so that folks can find me. I worked in the corporate world for a few decades before devoting my time to my art, so I’m still relatively business-minded. All those event pages are great for my website’s SEO (search engine optimization)!
Where can people find your work?
The best place to find my work is on my website: https://www.iothealien.com/. I maintain a newsletter, called The Alien Broadcast, that I religiously send twice per month, in which I share behind-the-scenes looks at my latest works-in-progress, upcoming events and classes I’m teaching, and what’s inspiring me at the moment. I also participate in the occasional fine art market, and sell small textile works that I mount to canvas. I always give my newsletter subscribers first dibs on any work I create for sale, so it’s a great place to secure my original art.
I’m also very excited to announce that my quilt, All Hail the Queen, was selected to take part in Quilt Visions 2024 at the Visions Museum of Textile Art in San Diego. I just about fell off my chair when I got that acceptance letter! I’m so honored to have been included in the exhibition. I’m still pinching myself.
Interview posted May 2024
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