You’ll find Serena Brooks working on more than one piece at a time. When she is unsure of where a piece is going, she can walk away and work on another. She finds that machine piecing is the most fun part of the process, and engineering how to put together the pieces can also be the most challenging.
How did you get started designing quilts? Always an artist, or was there a “moment”?
My father was a mid-century architect, and my mother a master seamstress. I grew up surrounded by 1960’s and 70’s modern art and architecture. Our home, which my father designed, had at its center a huge playroom, complete with a wall-to-wall tackboard, a floor to ceiling blackboard, and a wall-to-wall closet stocked with art supplies.
If you ask any of my childhood friends about me, this is what they unanimously remember – making arts and crafts in that playroom. Since I was little, I always had some sort of art project going, but it was much later, when my daughter received a quilt kit for Chanukah, that I became interested in making quilts. We made that first quilt together, then I went onto the internet, found gobs of quilt patterns, and taught myself to make quilts.
I quickly realized that this art form was UNLIMITED! I started recording and watching episodes of HGTV’s Simply Quilts, to teach myself different techniques.
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On the show, a guest named Tom Russell demonstrated an appliqué technique that captivated me! I reached out and asked him, “Where should I go and from whom could I learn, so that I can really master quilting?”. He spent over two hours with me on the phone, giving me an extensive list of books and teachers I would benefit learning from. He sadly passed away in 2015, and was an invaluable resource that I will never forget! I took his advice and followed up with every one of his recommendations.
Do you do series work? How does that affect your approach?
I work in a series in two different ways.
1. I may start a new piece without having a series in mind, but then get inspiration for the next piece WHILE I’m creating it. When this happens, I welcome the new idea(s), take notes and maybe a few experimental photos, and start the next piece after I design the first one.
2. Sometimes, I’ll design with a series in mind, and design three or four at a time with a similar theme, up on the wall — maybe using the same color palette or the same type of shapes but using different sizes or proportions of each in the three or four different pieces.
How do you make time for creating? Do you try to create daily?
I find that I absolutely need to create art every day. And if I don’t, I get a bit cranky. When I’m not making art, I have a full practice as a psychotherapist, and I find that a balance between seeing clients and making art makes me very happy.
How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?
I like having more than one project going at a time, for a couple of reasons.
First, I land at natural stopping points along the way on every project. I could reach a point where I might be unsure about where to go next, or, at times I might feel that something isn’t working, but I might not be able to articulate to myself what it is. It’s amazing that I can walk away, and then walk in the next morning, and the answer is completely clear! Therefore, it helps to have something else to be working on, so that I’m not pressuring myself to move forward when I’m not ready.
Second, I like working on different processes at the same time. For example, I will usually be in the process of designing one piece up on the wall, machine piecing a second piece at my sewing table, and have a third one loaded up on my long-arm as I’m quilting it.
Working on different processes, different color palettes, solving different types of problems along the way, keeps me fresh and interested in moving forward on each.
How did you find your creative niche?
I started learning to quilt by following the instructions in quilting books and taking classes. I learned lots of different techniques from lots of different instructors.
After taking my first workshop with Nancy Crow in 2010, I fell in love with machine piecing and designing improvisationally. Probably influenced by my childhood surroundings, including the bold 60’s and 70’s graphics and TV shows, I’ve always been drawn to big, graphic, solid, straight-edged shapes.
Machine piecing with large swaths of solid fabrics seemed to fit the type of art that I’m drawn to visually. Diving in and learning how to get better and better at machine piecing and improvisational design felt like I was at home.
Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?
Machine piecing as I’m constructing a composition is the most fun AND can be the most challenging part of the design process for me! Figuring out how a composition can be sewn together is like solving a puzzle and is not always easy.
It’s very empowering to figure out solutions that end up being incredibly visually pleasing! And I feel like I’m exercising my brain, which can’t be a bad thing!
Where can people see your work?
I’ve been fortunate to be able to exhibit my work a lot this year, in galleries, publications and exhibitions country-wide. Viewers can also see my work on my website www.serenabrooks.com or on Instagram @serenabrooksart.
Interview published November 2024
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