Dian & Ken Stanley

Fiber art is my way of keeping my sanity. Iāve been involved with this field since childhood when my mother taught me to sew doll clothes. I soon graduated to making my own clothes and then my motherās too. I expanded my field of interest with weaving and have been published several times in fiber art publications. Four years ago I traded my thirty year old Singer sewing machine in on a top of the line embroidery machine and Iāve been hooked ever since. Iāve now moved into wearable art and embellishment. My husband and I have always talked about collaborating on something and this quilt was our first project.

Ken Stanley

Collaboration has always been a large part of my art making process. That collaboration has either been idea sharing or the process of critical review and appraisal of a completed piece of art. This was my first opportunity to work in a new medium, fiber and this was a chance to collaborate with my wife, a fiber artist. My role, as I saw it, was merely to work on the idea concept. It soon became evident that skills I had used in other art disciplines could be helpful and at times a real drawback in this collaboration. As we worked through the project I soon realized the great visual things that were possible with quilting. My wife did a great job of helping me realize that a great idea could involve hours of very hard work for her. Trips to the fabric stores and my wifeās fabric closet only made me want to do more. But thanks to strict size requirements, a deadline and my wifeās great humor and ability to say "no" allowed us to complete "my" first quilt.