
Emoticon, 61-1/4” x 50”, copyright Regina Alexandra
I found Regina Alexandra’s work by doing a Google search for “modern quilts” … why, she has the very domain name modernquilts.com! There is an obvious parallel between pixel art and patchwork (maybe you’ve come across this or this on your internet travels) and I love Ms. Alexandra’s more abstract, minimalist merging of the traditional and the digital. I asked her via e-mail how her “Faces” series developed:
Honestly, sometimes it feels like some of my ideas are just dropped into my head by some outside source at the oddest moment, without warning, and then, there they are! But I was in the planning stages of some very bold, modern graphic quilts at the time. (I was a graphic designer for many years, and that influences my work, as you can see) And in retrospect, it’s no surpise I ended up doing the Faces series, because I am really taken with the face and its expressions: to me it represents a snapshot of humanity and the underlying bewilderment, surprise or amusement at simply finding oneself in the human condition!
The quilts are machine-pieced, but hand-quilted … I love to see the human hand or element in my work and in art, and what better way, than via the irregular, unplanned and spontaneous hand stitches? It’s fun to see something so minimalist and modern from afar, but then to walk up close and be surprised by the imperfect, often dense, hand stitches.
Yes, the “Faces” series has just begun! Several interesting, new and surprising designs for the series are in the works, with more suggestions of pixellation. The quilts can take several months to make because of the hand-stitching and certain time constraints.
Ms. Alexandra also makes art quilts with very soulful, personal themes. You can see from her about page that she comes from a long line of sewists and her art quilts are a loving tribute to those who came before her.