Spotlight: Sue Colozzi, Fiber Artist

Sue Colozzi has always had an interest in fiber arts.  She studied weaving in school but later found she preferred fabric as her medium.  After making her first scene out of fabric, she was hooked on what she later learned was called landscape quilting.

Tell us more about your journey from weaving to being a landscape fiber artist. How has your creativity evolved over the years?

I didn’t just suddenly decide to art quilt. I did countless other things that led up to me starting to art quilt. 

Growing up, I remember my mother setting up the card table in our Milwaukee home next to the dining room front window, taking her Singer sewing machine out of the hall closet and setting it up on the table. My mother did a lot of hems and mending, but she also made clothes for the two of us. 

I still have the quilt she made for me that has two inch squares of many of the fabrics used in those clothes. I slept under that quilt growing up, and I still sleep under that quilt in the summer time. She was also very crafty, and made items for our elementary school fair. I still have many of the Barbie doll ensembles she created. I know I get my interest in sewing from her.

Around age 11, I took the required home economics sewing course in junior high school, but I wanted to learn more and signed up for the Singer Sewing Company’s classes at their local store. I made clothes. I made blankets. I did mending projects for relatives. I worked at the local fabric store. 

When it was time to move on to college, I decided to major in fashion design. I (and my professors) figured out pretty early on that fashion design was not going to work for me. I couldn’t draw well enough! In high school, my one elective each year was band (I played the clarinet), not art classes.

So I switched my major to weaving – no drawing involved there (!) and, wasn’t weaving creating fabric? I earned a BFA in Weaving from Syracuse University. I started by learning to weave flat cloth, and gradually progressed to huge woven sculptures. The day after graduation I moved to Boston. 

Of course, how does one support oneself with a degree in weaving? I did have some of my sculptural weavings exhibited in a Boston gallery, and my woven pillows were for sale in an upscale furniture store, but that wasn’t paying the rent. I was working at a fabric store during the day (didn’t I already do this in high school?) and waitressing at night in the bar underneath my apartment. This didn’t seem like a good long term plan.

I ended up going back to school and earned a master’s degree from Lesley College (now Lesley University) in Integrating the Arts into Education. I enjoyed working with children; in fact, growing up my relatives would sometimes comment that I would make a good teacher. This was a way to combine that interest with my art. Meanwhile, over the years, I had lots of various artistic experiences. I designed and made waitress aprons for that local bar where I worked. I made unique Halloween costumes for myself of inanimate objects (an eggplant, an ice cream sundae, an ear of corn, a small pack of McDonalds french fries, a roll of Lifesavers). This was in the early days of soft sculpture.

I worked in an upscale store, sewing and selling pillow furniture. Later, I took a stenciling class and made aprons to sell at the local gift shop. I made custom corsets for my brother’s orthotic company. I made crafty items for my daughters’ school fair and gave demonstrations of the weaving process to the students. Fiber was always a part of my life.

Even as I worked in teaching – long term sub, special needs aide, and fifth grade teacher, I still found a way to include fiber in my life. I included lots of art projects in my lessons, like having a whole class hand sewing quilting squares (geometry). 

I took a historical costume class and while wearing the costume I created, I became Marco Polo for my students and explained to them all the many experiences “I” had in the 13^th century, traveling to China (social studies). When teaching a unit on Ellis Island, I created a improvisational script that assigned each student a role (in costume, of course) as an immigrant just arriving on Ellis Island and going through the screening process (U.S. history). By experiencing what their character and their classmates’ characters went through, they learned (and remembered) what those immigrants experienced trying to enter our country.

I retired from teaching 14 years ago. With increased state-wide standardized testing, I couldn’t do the hands-on arts activities anymore that I (and the students!) loved. Once I retired, though, I suddenly had time to devote to my own creativity. 

Weaving was a lot of fun when I was in college and worked alongside other weavers in the classroom, but weaving when I was on my own was a very solitary experience. My loom was a 45” floor loom – not easily transportable and needing a certain amount of space in my small rental apartments. I didn’t know any other weavers to share ideas or skills with, and my work and school schedules didn’t allow time to make connections with other artists. I did continue to weave for a few years, but I found myself spending more and more time at my sewing machine instead. Particularly after I married and had children. I couldn’t sit in the basement and work on my loom, but I could pull out my sewing machine in the dining room (hmmm, sounds like my mom!) and work within sight and earshot of what was going on around me.

In the 80s, I would often see quilted scenes in oversized embroidery hoops. At one point I just decided I was going to create a scene with fabric. I enjoyed doing it, and especially after retiring, I continued making these scenes using photos of places I loved in Boston and on vacations. I didn’t know there was such a thing as an art quilt.  It wasn’t until I was reading a magazine one day and saw the term “landscape quilter” that I realized that’s what I was.

How does your environment influence your creativity?

What inspires me most to create is the world I see. I see places I love and I want to create them with fabric. One of my first quilts was of the view from our condo in New Hampshire. Looking down the hill, we could see a pond and beyond it the lake and boat docks. I look at that quilt now and sometimes cringe at its simplicity. 

Ten years ago we sold that NH condo and bought a home on Cape Cod, and now the majority of my quilts are of Cape scenes. From our house in North Falmouth I can see the Shining Sea bike path. The path was previously railroad tracks, so it’s fairly level and easy to ride. It begins about a mile north of us and ends 10 miles later in Woods Hole, winding along the southern shoreline of Falmouth. Along the route are marshes, ponds, cranberry bogs and beaches, some that can only be seen from the bike path. This is the inspiration for many of my quilts!

Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works?  Do you tend to be more of a planner or an improviser?

I tend to have an obsessive nature. If you ask my family, they’ll agree and remove the words “tend to” from that first sentence. So improvising a scene with tiny pieces of fabric is actually relaxing for me. 

Using my photos as inspiration, I try to capture the scene as realistically as possible. I start with the sky and work my way down to the foreground, experimenting with different fabrics and trying different methods to achieve a particular area.

I use raw edge appliqué, fusing the pieces onto a base of muslin over cotton batting. My first quilts had lots of satin stitching around each piece. It was needed because I didn’t know about fusible products. What a discovery that was!

Over time I’ve loosened up and use my stitching as a means to add texture rather than just securing pieces in place. No more satin stitching around every piece!

One thing that dates my work – does it have a border or not? All of my earlier works had borders and a binding. The last few years I’ve put on a facing, instead, and turned the edges.

I build areas with cut pieces of fabric, sometimes with several layers, and then free motion stitch over them to add detail. I generally use satin stitching over my sky pieces to keep them from fraying. My trees and shrubs are secured with loose zig-zag stitches. My grasses are often thread sketched. Areas of water are formed with layers of organza over a taffeta or satin base. If I’m not happy with an area I just created, I try something new on top of it.

Lately I find myself adding more and more three dimensional areas to my otherwise flat quilts.

Are you a “finisher”?

Absolutely!!! I like to finish a piece before moving on to a new project. 

When I’m in the middle of a piece I know where my current supplies are in my work space. I might have a stack of fabrics I think I’ll need under the table. There might be tiny grass-shaped scraps at the edge of the ironing board that I intend to use. I would never move all of that to start a new piece, but this philosophy does encourage me to complete a piece if I really want to start a new one.

There have been only two pieces that I ever tucked away to work on later. Both are of small towns in Italy with lots of detail on the houses  One I have completed – “Sant’ Angelo – Wish I Was There”, and the other is a view of Procida, which is still not finished but tucked away with the fabrics I’m using on it.

Scrap Saver? Save ’em or not?

Do I save scraps??? I have large color sorted storage tubs for fabrics bigger than let’s say an eighth of a yard, and bead boxes (sorted by color) for fabrics that are less. A scrap has to be really tiny (like smaller than a fingernail) to end up in the waste basket.

Describe your creative space.

My studio is an upstairs bedroom at the end of a hallway. I have an eastern and western facing window. I have shelves filled with tubs of fabric. I use my ironing board as a work space, since I’m always fusing pieces to the background.

I have an antique thread chest with spools organized by color. I have organizers underneath it with replacement spools for almost every color in the chest. (Did I mention I was kind of obsessive?). I have favorite pieces of other artist’s work on the walls. I don’t have any of my own work hanging in my studio (unless it’s for a headshot background) since I really don’t want to look at older pieces when I’m working on something new.

I can honestly say I know where almost everything is located, and I don’t mind working in a messy space since I made the mess. I always celebrate finishing a quilt by cleaning the room afterwards. 

Do you critique your own work?

As my work is very detailed, I often have to pin it to a white board (foam board covered with felt) and look at it from a distance. I usually rely on my own opinions as to whether or not I’ve captured the image as I’ve wanted to, though I do sometimes ask a family member their opinion or bring the piece to a monthly critique group that I belong to.

Do you enter juried shows?

I show my work locally at shows sponsored by my small quilt groups, my local guild, and some local galleries. I frequently show my work on the Cape at the Falmouth Art Center. In addition, I submit work to several local and national/ international juried shows each year. My work has been accepted into multiple well-known exhibits, including the International Quilt Festival in Houston, AQS Paducah, SAQA regional and global exhibitions, and this year the Yeiser Art Center in Paducah and Quilt Visions in San Diego.

I don’t create work for a particular call for entry, but if I’m working on a piece that fits the entry requirements, I’ll try to finish it on time. I find a number of shows have size requirements that are much larger than my work.

How do you keep track of your work?

I make an “art history” document for every piece of art that I create. I include a photo along with the basics – size, date created, price, materials used, and techniques incorporated. I also have spaces to list where it has been shown and places in which the image has been published. If the work sells, I list any information I might have on the buyer.

I keep these documents in a binder, separated by sold or unsold, and wall pieces or small framed pieces. This makes it easy to reference the facts about a quilt and I like to share a copy of it with my buyers. My quilt appraiser is very appreciative of the information, too!

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work? 

This is an important question for me right now. Last fall I decided to stop working on new quilts because my cataracts were making it difficult to distinguish colors correctly. One day I was auditioning three different numbered spools of blue thread on a sky fabric, and all three shades looked the same. I really hadn’t heard other artists discuss this complication, but I decided I was not in a position to offer my annual workshop in Falmouth (as who was I to advise on color?), and I didn’t want to create new work that I might be unhappy with when the cataracts were removed. 

Instead of spending my afternoons sewing, I spent my time on other favorite activities – gardening (when possible) and reading (always possible). I had my first surgery a few weeks ago, and my color perception is already improved enough that I can sew again, but I’ve noticed it’s not easy getting myself into the sewing room. I’m not willing to give up my work, but I also can find all kinds of things to do instead that don’t involve all of the decision making that’s required when I’m working. So this is temporarily an issue for me right now. 

What motivates you to keep making quilts?

I think of my work as an on-going process. I do it for myself. It’s my escape from the world into my creative center, where I have control. 

Creating a scene allows me to lose myself in my work. I play with my fabrics and listen to my favorite music and I’m in a whole other place. Beyond following a deadline for a submission or exhibit, I don’t like to set goals that will create pressure.

Art quilting has become such a central part of my life now. Many of my friends are quilters, my monthly activities often relate to quilting, and my personal successes are largely my quilting. It’s become such a central part of my life that I feel to stop quilting would greatly diminish who I feel I am right now.

I like to imagine that my quilts share a unique view of the seascapes and neighborhoods they depict. I enjoy sharing my work, one on one with people, and hope my viewers see a new perspective on a familiar site or gain an appreciation of how fiber can be used as an artistic medium.

Where can people see your work?

My website (www.suecolozzi.com) includes an “Events” page which lists the exhibits in which my work is included. All of my work is posted on my website, and I post new work on my Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/suecolozzi

Here are links to additional information about my work:

Zoom interview, sharing my work, studio space, and process. After Laura’s introduction, my interview is minutes 3 – 22.