Meet the Art Quilt Experts
Ann Johnston wrote and published Color by Accident: Low-Water Immersion Dyeing in 1997. Ann transforms fabrics into breathtaking quilts with artistry and emotion, drawing inspiration from the world around her. With each stitch, she infuses her artwork with a unique narrative that speaks volumes. Ann has produced several books and videos about quiltmaking, which you can see on her website and video platform.
Versatile Tool for Dye Painting
Explore Ann’s world of hand-dyed fabric, where every stroke tells a story. With decades of experience, Ann will demonstrate using her favorite tool for dyeing fabric. Her methods effortlessly blend creativity and emphasize practicality. Ann will showcase fabrics that illustrate her techniques and show quilts that use these fabrics. Learn how her favorite tool can be used in many ways to give you unlimited variations on your own dyed fabrics.
Beverly Kirk has taught and lectured in local and regional guilds since 1997, focusing on African-American historical quilting techniques. Beverly specializes in storytelling and making statements with fabric art quilts, guild lectures, and Zoom presentations. Beverly loves sewing and quilting, teaching classes, and entering exhibits locally and nationwide in the US and Costa Rica. Fun fact: In 2008, Beverly won a 7-day quilt cruise in the western Caribbean sponsored by Bernina.
Quiltin’ the Soul of Harriet Powers
Harriet Angeline Powers speaks to us today as a legendary folk art quilter born into slavery but used her quilts to tell the story of her daily and spiritual life. Her most famous quilt, The Bible Quilt, depicts scenes of the Bible along with local folktales of her community. In this session, get inspired by an overview of Harriet Powers and The Bible Quilt. Learn from this appliqué how-to session using lace and cotton figures of a dove, a camel, a high-stepping elephant, and a serpent, as depicted in her beautiful narrative quilt.
Carolina Oneto, a Chilean quilter, discovered her passion for quilting 12 years ago. She has dedicated herself to teaching and sharing her expertise for the past eight years. Her vibrant quilts showcase mastery of color, curves, and transparency, reflecting her commitment to inspiring and innovating within the quilting community.
Playing with Color Value
Gain a deeper understanding of how color value can elevate and transform quilt designs with Carolina. Delve into various aspects of color, focusing on the concept of value and its crucial role in selecting fabrics for new projects. Through multiple examples, Carolina will demonstrate how to create movement using value and sequences within quilt designs. You’ll learn how to imbue your quilts with captivating interest, striking contrast, and seamless fluidity by harnessing the power of value.
Jen Houlden is a designer, teacher, and artist who takes inspiration from the world around her and loves sharing her passion for quilting. Jen’s quilts and art come alive by capturing a sense of movement through her use of color, texture and fibers while working with both traditional and non-traditional quilting techniques. Jen enjoys teaching from her island studio and will make you feel right at home in her virtual classroom.
Minimalistic Landscapes: Less is More
Embark on a thrilling journey into textile artistry as Jen guides you in breathing life into a static image, transforming it into a vibrant landscape of fabric. From the initial sketch to the final stitch, Jen guides you through simplifying the scene, infusing it with movement and texture. Explore fabric choices, angles, and quilting techniques to capture the depth and dimension of your project. Let the fabric and stitching do the talking to create a simple, dynamic landscape where less is more!
Jenny Kae Parks contracted an incurable case of Quilt-pox in 2001 with her first project—quilted placemats. Since 2013, she has hosted 150+ video demos for The Quilting Company, Quilting Daily, Fons & Porter, Quiltmaker, and Craft U. She has hosted 100+ live videos on Facebook and YouTube. She is passionate about color and helping other quilters: “My objectives, whether teaching, filming, or designing, are to entertain, educate, and encourage quilters of all skill levels.”
Classic Art with Scraps
Got scraps? Buckets of colorful fabric, too small to use but too beautiful not to? Learn how to transform scraps into a beautiful piece of art. Using the fusible web, scraps, and your favorite classic painting, see how to make a palette, transfer the images, and fill in with color and finishing techniques. A classic made for you by you!
Julia Graves started sewing at ten years old and has always loved fabric, sewing, and general needle arts. She honed her quilting skills through a unique apprenticeship—crafting a quilt for each of her nieces and nephews (there are 35!). Since then, she has made many quilts for special people. Julia’s classes are not just about the stitches; they’re a vibrant exploration of color. Julia enjoys infusing color insights into every lesson, making learning a delightful and fun experience.
Landscape and Pictorial Quilts
Join Julia Graves for an immersive journey in crafting breathtaking landscapes and pictorial quilts! This demonstration covers the step-by-step process of selecting your subject, making your sketches, picking out fabrics, and embellishing your final project. Learn about design principles, explore construction techniques, and witness Julia’s stunning quilts along the way! From sketch to stitch, you will see how effortlessly your favorite photograph can transform into a quilt masterpiece.
Laura Wasilowski’s method of free-form embroidery combines the warm, familiar art of hand embroidery with the heady thrill of improvisation. Her passion is transforming fabric from a flat, plain surface into a world packed with color, texture, and pattern. Having the skill and patience to stab something over a million times, she continues to invent new ways to mark fabric with the stitch and hopes to inspire others to do the same. Laura is a Creative Spark Instructor with ten online courses on art quilting, hand embroidery, and appliqué elements.
Creating Silk Art Quilts
Indulge in the luxury of silk and craft a stunning art quilt with Laura Wasilowski. Discover the secrets of working with the finest silk fabrics, from preparation to assembly. In this workshop, you’ll learn what types of silk fabrics to use and how to prepare them for design. Next, you’ll see how to construct the design on silicone release paper using free-cutting and pattern transfer techniques and how to steam set the quilt top to wool batting to prepare it for stitching. In the final lesson, you’ll discuss hand-embroidery threads and needles and see a demonstration of several hand-embroidery stitches to decorate the quilt.
Leni Levenson Wiener is a fabric collage artist, C&T author, and instructor. Her work has been exhibited throughout the US and abroad. Leni is an international teacher and often coaches emerging artists on how to find their unique and cohesive artistic voice. She is proud to be a BERNINA Ambassador and regular contributor to the We All Sew blog site and numerous quilt magazines.
Finding Your Unique Artistic Voice
Explore techniques and materials with Leni Levenson Wiener to hone your creative voice. Your voice is a unique and recognizable artistic style that is distinctly your own; it’s the ultimate form of self-expression that reflects your personality and vision in a way no other artist could. Discover the process that resonates with you, amplifying your message and passion. Also, learn how to write effective Artist Statements and Artist Bios as you embark on a journey of self-expression.
Linda Sullivan, Creative Spark Instructor and co-owner of Colourwerx is a color and fabric design expert with over 25 years of experience as a professional quiltmaker. She is passionate about bold, bright colors, perfect piecing, and machine appliqué. Linda is always searching for new ways of tackling everyday quilting issues. She believes anyone can overcome quilting frustrations with just a few tips and tricks (and maybe some machine appliqué, rickrack, and buttons).
Using Stitches to Embellish Appliqué & Backgrounds
Learn how to set up your machine for successful decorative stitching with Linda Sullivan. Linda will demonstrate the various stitches available on most machines, what they look like against the edges of appliqués, and how to use them to embellish and texturize appliqué shapes. Explore how to use a variety of decorative stitches to decorate or quilt the background of quilts to create more texture and pattern.
Lisa Call has created a large body of artwork (over 1000 quilts) in the past 25 years, which she actively exhibits across the globe. Her award-winning work is widely collected and is in numerous public and private collections. She has taught in-person and online quilt-making and art courses for 15+ years, focusing on creative practices, working in a series, abstraction, and intentional piecing. Lisa intends to provide students with the vocabulary and tools needed to return to their studios with ideas to move forward confidently after their classroom experience. Lisa lives on the Kapiti Coast, having moved to New Zealand in 2015.
From Placemat to Fine Art
Go on a creative adventure with Lisa Call as she shares tips for achieving a polished, professional presentation for your quilts on canvas. Explore different methods for more small quilts, as small as 3-4", up to works as large as several feet. Put the glue aside and learn stitch techniques to proudly and professionally display your quilt on canvas. The result is a professionally mounted artwork ready for exhibition and display on the wall. No more mistaking quilt art as a placemat!
Lorraine Woodruff-Long is a transplanted Texan firmly rooted in San Francisco. She is a self-taught quilter focusing primarily on color, improvisation, and recycled/repurposed fabrics; her quilts pulse with energy, color, and movement. Lorraine creates commentary quilts to provoke thought and explore our times' political, social, and environmental challenges. She teaches improvisational quilting at City College of San Francisco Extension and local quilt guilds. Her passion is to fuel and spark student creativity and personal expression through improvisational quilting. Fun fact: She speaks Swahili.
Express Yourself! Creating Text for Quilts and Fiber Projects
Learn how to create and use custom appliqué lettering for quilts and sewing projects. From the mundane to the shocking, adding text to express your creativity adds a personal touch to your fiber art. Using alphabet templates and fusible paper backing on fiber, learn to create and attach your custom text to your next quilt or fiber project. Express everything from “Happy Birthday” to “Smash the Patriarchy,” and let your next project make a statement!
Margaret Abramshe is a retired middle school teacher and expert quilter. Her quick wit and fun sense of humor make her lessons fun and engaging. She has been on the last two seasons of Quilting Arts TV, where she shared her love of art quilting with others.
Elements of Art for the Art Quilter
Join Margaret Abramshe as she shares design elements and how they can be used to create, evaluate, and inspire your projects. Explore materials commonly used by art quilters to amplify individual elements and understand how to select which elements to use to inspire new ideas. By the end of the session, walk away with the skills to re-evaluate the material in your home studio with fresh eyes and plenty of inspiration.
Mel Beach is a San Jose, CA-based, fun-loving artist, and teacher who loves to create daily through play! Mel enjoys rolling the dice as part of her six 100-day projects, including 100 Days of Hand-Carved Stamps. To learn more about Mel Beach and see more of her creations, please visit her website: www.melbeachquilts.com
Block Printed & Stitched
Get inspired with Mel Beach as she shares her collection of finished art quilts that are layered with painted and block-printed Evolon non-woven fiber, free-motion quilting, hand embroidery, and embellishments. From materials to the process and techniques, Mel will share her expertise in painting and block printing on Evolon, stitching, and a unique way of finishing with Puffy Paint. Discover how to work with Evolon and its unique properties to use in your future art quilt projects.
Vicki Conley is a Creative Spark Instructor and has been a professional artist for 40+ years, working with ceramics, printmaking, and art quilting. She lives in the mountains of sunny New Mexico, where she owns a gallery. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and was part of Quilt National 2017. Vicki has an eye for interpreting the natural world and is best known for her original national park poster art quilts. Vicki enjoys teaching quilting techniques, hoping others can add them to their toolbox.
Fun With Transparency
Have you ever wondered how artists get that look of one thing floating over another? Vicki will explain the principles of transparency in an engaging presentation and demonstrate them using fabric. Grab your fabric scraps and try it. As a bonus, she will show you a fast edge-finishing technique for small art quilts, including hanging corner pockets!
Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) is our PARTNER SPONSOR and assisted in the outreach for instructors. SAQA is a global community of artists and art quilt lovers. Whether you're a new artist or an established professional, SAQA can take your art quilting to the next level.
