Artist’s Statement

I create, in modern fabrics, tributes to the textile art heritage of many cultures.  I work to produce a fresh vision that carries the flavor of traditional  pieces without recapitulating them. I have studied scores of these textiles firsthand, and hundreds more in photographs.  From the rich colors and bold motifs of ethnic weavings and embroideries, I’ve built a visual vocabulary that I can draw upon for my art.  Along the way, I’ve learned about the geography, history and ethnology of the vast but often little-known territories that gave birth to much of the decoration and design we live with today.

My primary inspiration comes from antique and modern carpets and other weavings used in traditional societies around the world.  In the desert regions of Iran and Afghanistan, for instance, a rug may be a floor covering, the outside door of a tent, or an interior wall.  A stack of rugs can serve as a bed, a table or a seat.  In Africa and India, a large rectangle of cotton or silk may be a skirt, a table cover, a baby carrier or a man’s robe.

The makers of the textiles that inspire me come from tribes and villages in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Far East, South America and Africa.  Many of them are women, and they do not consider themselves as artists or their work as art.  Some of them are nomads who move continually from place to place, carrying their belongings in saddlebags on the backs of camels or donkeys.  Others have never left the villages where their great-grandparents lived and died.  Their equipment is rustic – for example, they may fashion a loom from four wooden poles laid on the ground in a rectangle.  They decorate their work with an immense variety of images and symbols that have survived among their people since “time out of mind.”  I think that the appeal of their designs is universal.           

I make my work to hang on walls, and my pieces are assembled and finished as fabric collages.  Each one is a “sandwich” of three or more layers of fabric.  The top layer consists of many pieces of fabric and threads, sewn and fused together in various ways. Some of the fabrics I use are hand-dyed.  Others are produced commercially here or in Africa, India, Indonesia and Japan. The middle layer of the sandwich is thin cotton batting, like soft felt.  The back is fabric again, usually one large piece or a few pieces sewn together.  Often I embroider the top layer of fabric, and I always sew lines of stitching through all of the layers in order to bind them together.  These lines of stitching (technically, “quilting”) create a relief design on the top and back surfaces.

Biography

My initial professional preparation was as a historian of Africa and the Near East.  I graduated from Harvard Law School in 1978, and practiced as a partner at a downtown Boston firm.  I have been making fabric art for over a decade, during which I have studied color and design at the DeCordova Museum School in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Resume

Juried, Invitational or Judged Exhibitions

2007

"Quilts Crossing Borders," Kreznick Gallery, Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts*

"Unbound," World Quilt Expo, Manchester, New Hampshire (traveling to additional venues through 2008)

2006
“Layers and Milestones,” Thompson Library, North Grosvenordale, Connecticut*
“The Creative Force,” Houston International Quilt Festival, Houston, Texas

2005  
“Red,” University Place Gallery, Cambridge, Massachusetts
“Inaugural Exhibit,” Belmont Gallery of Art, Belmont, Massachusetts
“Fabric Harmonies,” Dana Art Gallery, Wellesley, Massachusetts

2004  
“Messages in Thread,” Wellesley Public Library, Wellesley, Massachusetts*
"Inspired Stitches,” Newton Free Library, Newton, Massachusetts*
“Enchanted Places, Magic Carpets,” Municipal Art Gallery, Jackson, Mississippi; two-person show
“Art Quilts at the Sedgwick,” Sedgwick Cultural Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“Image and Essence,” Landau Gallery, Belmont, Massachusetts*

2003  
“January Thaw,” The Center for Arts in Natick; Massachusetts

2002           
New England Images at the Lowell Quilt Festival, Massachusetts;
“Meditations,” The Center for Arts in Natick, Massachusetts

2000  
New England Images at the Lowell Quilt Festival, Massachusetts;
“Art at Harvard Neighbors,” Harvard Neighbors Gallery, Cambridge, Massachusetts

1996-2000  
A Quilters’ Gathering, Westford, Massachusetts.  Honorable Mention, 1996

1996 and 1998 
Vermont Quilt Festival; Northfield.  Second Place, 1996 and 1998

*  Shows by New Wrinkle, a group of six textile artists who work separately, but meet periodically to critique each other’s work and to plan exhibits

Teaching

2006  
Jackson Stitchery Guild, Jackson, Mississippi

2000  
Quilters’ Connection, Arlington, Massachusetts

1995-1999  
Harvard Neighbors, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Memberships

Cambridge Art Association

Studio Art Quilt Associates

Publication

View from the Fringe, pp. 4-5, New England Rug Society, April, 2004

Gallery

Sage Moon Gallery, Charlottesville, Virginia