My work explores the architecture of improvisation — how structures emerge, shift, and hold together through the act of making. Large-scale and strong, quilts are the arena in which a dynamic, syncopated rhythm of construction takes place. I work at times fully improvisationally and at other times from templates I’ve drawn — though even these begin as drawings shaped by a quilter’s mind, aware of fabric as structure, and they’re always subject to revision as the work unfolds. These quilts are not the product of design, then, but of action; they are two-dimensional sculptures before they are images.
Influenced by built environments and the body’s relationship to structure, the quilts record movement, decision, breakage and repair. My improvisational work is the continual practice of seeking a level, then changing the conditions and seeking it anew. In this way, the work displays a logic of being in the world, of maintaining balance in a constantly shifting environment.
Exhibitions and Residencies
2024 byContrast, SAQA NJ/NY Regional exhibition, traveling
2023 Fantastic Fibers 2023, Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY
2021 Uncommon Threads, SFVACC/SCORE, presented online
Structures, Studio Art Quilt Associates, virtual gallery
QuiltCon Together, Modern Quilt Guild, presented online at quiltcon.com
2019 City-Wide Open Studios, Artspace, New Haven, CT
Celebration of American Crafts, Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT
2018 In Range: Faculty Biennial, Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT
Artist-in-Residence, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT
Bibliography
2024 Fritz Horstman, Interacting with Color: A Practical Guide to Josef Alber’s Color Experiments, New Haven: Yale University Press
2023 Angled, SAQA Journal (Vol. 33, No. 2)
2016 Dan Mims, Work, and Play, The Daily Nutmeg, October 18.
2015 Sherri Lynn Wood, The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters, New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, p. 69
Filmography
2022 Dear Edward, Apple TV+ series, two quilts featured on set
Artist Talks and Lectures
2022 Rhythmic Grid online workshop hosted by Sherri Lynn Wood, Guest Speaker
2018 Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT, Artist Talk
2007 North American Print Conference, Philadelphia, PA, The Accident on Lombard Street
2005 Americanist Colloquium, Yale University, New Haven, CT, A Certain Slant of Light: The Oppressive Sun of American Impressionism
2005 Against the American Grain: The New American Art History, Yale University, Session Moderator
Teaching & Experience
2017-2020 Faculty, Fiber Department, Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT (Shibori Dyeing, Improvisational Quilting, Visible Mending)
2018-2020 Gallery & Programs Manager, Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT
2019 Visible Mending workshop, Cate’s Sew Modern, Guilford, CT
2018 Working with Natural Dyes workshop, New Canaan Public Library, New Canaan, CT
2018 Improvisational Quilting workshop, New Canaan Public Library, New Canaan, CT
2017 Working with Natural Dyes workshop, Common Ground, New Haven, CT
2005-2007 Writing Partner, Yale University Writing Center, New Haven, CT
2002-2007 Teaching Fellow, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1999-2000 Gallery Administrator, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, NY
1999-2000 Artist’s Assistant, Sarah Sze, New York, NY
Education
MPhil Art History, Yale University, New Haven, CT
MA Art History, Yale University, New Haven, CT
BA Art History with High Honors, Minor in Studio Art, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, Phi Beta Kappa
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