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Marilyn Gillis |
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Why do I make quilts? As long as I can remember I have loved fabric - handling it, looking at it, collecting it, and sewing it. Early in my life I began to experiment with surface design techniques applied to fabric and found intense pleasure from combining my artistic leanings with my love of fabric. The elements of line and texture have always had immediate visual appeal to me; quilting produces both at once. Adding color to my design ideas is both challenging and a very exciting and satisfying part of my work.
Why do I make art quilts? The most articulate response I can give is summed up in this quote from C. Valentine Kirby. "I feel within an impulse, perhaps that divine impulse which has moved all races- in all ages and in all climes, to record in enduring form the emotions that stir within... Moreover I must make my creation good and honest and true, so that it may be a credit to me and live after I am dead revealing to others something of the pleasure which I found in its making". My quilts usually begin with only the germ of an idea, and as I start to work the process engages me and controls my direction. Perhaps the most exciting moment of every quilt occurs when the quilt seems to take over and the design just speaks to me about where it should go. Sometimes that is near the beginning, and sometimes it is so close to the end that I fear it won't happen. My quilts evolve. The greatest influences on my art come from nature, and feminism. There is such an abundance of inspiration from these sources; the challenge is deciding which ideas eventually become quilts because there will never be enough time to produce all the quilts I have in my head. |