Gallery of Magical Quilts

Room 2

Periodicity
© Nancy Pagani

Nancy has a magical relationship to numbers.

Nancy says:

"My work has always been based on a grid. The quality of orderliness inherent in a grid provides a framework in which to explore any number of questions. My first works were based on the Fibonacci number sequence, using pieces of fabric cut to this formula, which occurs often in nature, and is the basis of the 'golden mean.' Over time these pieces were recut and recombined, providing more complexity to the surface. For the past two years, still using a grid as a starting point, I have been playing with the question of opposites such as fuzzy versus smooth, value and color contrasts, straight versus crooked. Using fabric that I have painted and dyed, and combining different weights of canvas and cottons, I am searching for a non-directive simplicity that allows viewers to experience their own feelings about the piece."

Beginner's Mind IV: Spring
© Marilyn Felber

Marilyn sells her work in contemporary craft and art markets and teaches quilting classes on essential forms and in methods of depth and illusion.

Marilyn says:

"I am searching for light, for space, for what wants to be expressed in the cloth. I believe we are in service to this craft, like ancient masons or ethical farmers. We try our ideas, stumble on limitations, and have to accept surprises--like birds popping up everywhere unexpectedly. I like this continuous searching, 'learning the steps to living growth,' as Taoists define art."

Santa Fe Pickup
© Marcia Stein

Marcia's "Santa Fe Pickup" is part of a series of quilts based on photographs that she took in Santa Fe and the South of France. The quilt received an Honorable Mention in the Art, Large category at the 2000 International Quilt Association Judged Show in Houston, and is in the private collection of Sally Davey and Nick Lawrence of New Pieces, Berkeley, CA.

Marcia says:

"I was captivated by the truck and impressed with the effort that must have gone into its restoration."

Tiamat
© Martha Brown

Martha lives in Canada and sells commissioned works as well as patterns and kits. "Tiamet" was juried into the 2002 AQS Competition in Paducah.

Martha says:

"Tiamat and her mate were the parents of all the gods and goddesses of Babylonian Mythology. Tiamat was the goddess of all the salt waters. Upon her death, her back and wings became the support for the heavens, her body was used to create the earth, and her eyes became the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Her tail joined heaven and earth. The quilt is constructed of more than 700 machine-appliqued pieces."

Heartwood
© Maya Schönenberger

Maya teaches, lectures, and exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Her Quilt "'Urban Sprawl II" was accepted at Quilt National 2001, and "Heartwood" won the 1999 Green Quilts Award. Her work is strongly influenced by her concerns for the environment.

Maya says:

"Humans will always be part of Nature. Similar to the growth of trees in the rain forest, where in regular cycles, sapwood turns into heartwood, and old, fallen trees turn into nurse trees, generation after generation of humans develop and change our world."

Myrl is the inspiration behind M. Deans House of Design in the Philippines, which employs some 150 people who make beautiful quilts by hand. "The Enchanted Doorway II" won first place in the Group Quilt Category, as well as Mary Leman Austin's Judge's Choice Award, during the 1999 International Quilt Association's Festival in Houston.

Myrl says:

"The blue arch beckons you from afar, Drawing you deep inside, Deeper ... ever deeper, Into its mystical, magical realm." (See the larger image page for the complete poem that inspired this quilt.)