About

As a young child I learned to sew, knit and embroider.  In my  forties, I added quilting to my repertoire, while raising two children and supporting an ailing husband.  For thirty years I was  supremely organized, responsible and competent -- by turns a  nurse, a credit-and-collections officer, an investment advisor, a financial planning report writer and workshop facilitator.

At age fifty, I discovered my right brain, and began to experiment  with fabric, fibre, floss, paint and dye.  At first it was grief therapy;  I entered "the Zone" to escape the challenges of my husband's  illness, which was taking its toll on our entire family.

Now the practice of textile art has become pure joy: loose and spontaneous design married to skilled stitchery and embellishment.  I love the look and feel of layers: fabric weaving, rough-edged applique, free-form machine and/or hand-stitching, including beads, buttons and ribbon where the Muse warrants. I use my art to interpret in textiles the world around me, inspired by my rural hamlet, where every street ends in trees.

I find myself called to be playful as well as reflective in my choice of subject matter and interpretation.
My invitation to you?  Enjoy!

Exhibits:

Group Exhibits:

2013:
  • "Mutt and Jeff" - SAQA Western Canada Trunk show, Meet the Best of the West
2012:
  • Thirteenth Annual Lacombe Art Show and Sale:
  • "Nobody Here But Us" - Focus on Fibre Art Association Biennial Juried Show
  • "Mutt and Jeff" - SAQA Western Canada Trunk show, Meet the Best of the West
  • "Circle Play" - SAQA Trunk Show 'C' - This is a Quilt!
2011:
  • "Nobody Here But Us" - SAQA Western Canada Exhibit, Connected Across the West
  • "Circle Play" - SAQA 2011-2012 Trunk Show, This is a Quilt!
  • Solo Exhibit: Twelfth Annual Lacombe Art Show and Sale, Lacombe, Alberta
2010:
  • "Snippets: A Quilt Artist's Learning Curve" - SAQA Synthesis Exhibit (Travelling Exhibit)
  • "Picked for the Ripening" - Focus on Fibre Arts Green Exhibit (3rd Prize, Quilting: Small Hanging; Travelling Exhibit)
  • "One Square Inch" - SAQA Benefit Auction
2009:
  • "Snippets: A Quilt Artist's Learning Curve: - SAQA Synthesis Exhibit (Travelling Exhibit)
  • "In the Beginning" - SAQA Synthesis (Ontario)  Exhibit
2008:
  • "Joy Cometh in the Morning" - SAQA Benefit Auction
  • "Snippets: A Quilt Artist's Learning Curve" - Synthesis - Creativfestival, Toronto, ON (Start of Travelling Exhibit)

Publications:

  • Knitting Through It: Inspiring Stories for Times of Trouble, Nargi, Lela (Editor), Voyageur Press, St. Paul, MN, USA, 2008: an essay: "Knitting Life, Knitting Love".
  • Crafts 'n' Things Magazine, AMOS Craft Publishing, Des Plaines, IL, USA, February 2009: "Knitting Life, Knitting Love", reprinted by permission.

Education:

Textile Art:
  • Design and fabric manipulation: Anna Hergert, Calgary, Alberta, 2004-2006
  • Beginners' Drawing and Watercolour: Sharon Lynn Williams, Calgary, Alberta, 2005-2007
  • Contemporary Hand Stitching, Level One Certificate: Gail Harker Creative Studies Center, Oak Harbor, WA, USA, 2007
  • City and Guilds of London, Level 2 Certificate - Creative Techniques: Quilting: Linda Kemshall, UK, Fall of 2010 - present.
Other:
  • Art and Science of Nursing - McGill University, B.Sc(N), 1974
  • Theology - Thorneloe College, Laurentian University, A.Th., 2000
This page last updated January 31, 2013.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)