Quilt Artist of the Week: Nancy Crow
Constructions #65, 2002 by Nancy Crow
I would be remiss to go very far into this Quilt Artist of the Week thing without mentioning Nancy Crow, especially now that she has a new book out. She is undoubtedly the most widely known of all art quilters both inside and outside of the quilt world, and indeed is considered the vanguard of modern art quilting.
She’s also a very active teacher, offering workshops in her studio in rural Ohio as well as incredible-sounding arts and crafts tours of places such as Mexico and France. Her workshops are infamous for requiring students to bring tons and tons of different solid-color fabrics.
Chinese Souls #6, 1992 by Nancy Crow
From her artist’s statement:
When I work on a quilt, I put away all thoughts that are not helpful and channel my energies towards relaxing and becoming one with my fabrics. Since I work intuitively, this is absolutely important. I begin to see shapes in my head and think about how to cut them out of my huge palette of colors that I have hand-dyed in my basement dye studio. Never, ever do I think about what others expect or want or what will sell, but rather I look at my time in my studio as a process of discovery. I love being inside my brain and pushing myself to think in ever more complex ways because I know the ideas are there for the taking. It’s all about being focused and disciplined and making use of one’s abilities. And about being alone, in solitude, so one can think and feel deeply without interruption. I have definitely grown far closer to myself rather than to others because I see my quiltmaking as my experience which has nothing to do with other people.
July 2nd, 2006 at 1:30 am
You’re totally channeling my quilt thoughts these days! A Hop, Skip & a Jump quilt and now this review. I just finished reading Nancy’s first book Quilts and Influences, a copy I found in my quilt guild’s library. Very inspiring book. She’s so open and honest about her process. I’m really looking forward to getting this latest book.