Artist statement

I am an artist making large scale abstract quilted textile art.

I begin each piece using expressive lines and shapes from fabric and stitch seam lines that look hand drawn and painterly. I approach my work improvisationally cutting textiles into shapes and “drawing” the lines that become stitched seams. There is a sense of the “hand of the maker” in my work. Art, craft, science, technology merge in my work. I focus on blurring the line between quilting and fine art. 

The color in my work is inspired by my outdoor adventures and urban life. From backpacking in the lush green forest in Maine to kayaking in California’s Channel Island caves, SoCal beaches and NY’s Hudson River. I also bring in shapes from city buildings, bridges, train tracks, gates and archways.

I create the composition by arranging the pieces on a 14’x8’ design wall. Sometimes I rearrange the elements many times to achieve the best figure/ground tenstion. I then sew the pieces together leveraging an engineering process to achieve a flat quilt while preserving the hand cut lines and curves.

My professional and educational background in engineering, technology, and cybersecurity trained my brain to be curious, absorb information through diffuse awareness, and assimilate disparate facts and images into a cohesive vision. My goal is to make beautiful art following good design principles, and I often incorporate a deeper meaning from social justice or environmental concerns.