Eye of the Artist: Approaches to Critiquing Quilt Art--Critique workshop (maximum of 12 quilts per two-hour session). For this workshop you may bring one completed quilt or (even better) a work in progress. Please be prepared to give a brief explanation of what you hope to accomplish in the quilt. Then, in a friendly and supportive atmosphere, we will closely examine several aspects of each quilt, critiquing it as a piece of contemporary art within the quilt mode. Each critique lasts 8 to 10 minutes, and is shared with your group. One of the goals of these workshops is to encourage quilt artists to critique their own work. [Photos shown here, by Lisa Chipetine, are from the SAQA/NY critique workshop at City Quilter, August of 2006.]

The usual fee for a critique session alone is $150, for up to 12 quilts, plus travel expenses. I am happy to double up on critiques and can do two sessions in one day if two groups near each other would like to share my travel expenses.

I am also conducting digital GROUP PORTFOLIO REVIEWS for guilds or other organizations that wish to have a group of quilts selected as representative examples of their best quilt art, for submission to potential publishers or exhibition venues. The group must submit all the images on a CD viewable by a Mac, with a Word document listing the quilts and their dimensions. My fee is $300 (up to 100 works reviewed, in overall and detail images) or $400 (up to 150). If you wish to have an accompanying essay of approximately 500 words, there is an additional fee of $300. (I retain copyright to the text but you have non-exclusive worldwide rights, in perpetuity.)

My previous workshops in studio art have included fabric painting and stamp printing (NY Quilts, 1999), photo transfer (Houston Quilt Festival, 1998), and cyanotype printing (Peters Valley Craft Center, 1995). I currently teach art history and contemporary visual culture at colleges in and near New York City.

I am available for slide lectures, exhibition walk-throughs, and critique workshops concerning studio quilts, for beginners as well as more advanced quilt artists. I also offer a basic studio workshop for beginners: Creating Quilt Art with Surface Design Techniques. My current lectures are:

Approaches to Critiquing Quilt Art

America and Quilt Art in the 1960s and 1970s

Blueprinting for Quilt Artists

Jurying and Curating an Art Quilt Exhibition: Choices and Voices
(the 2006 Surface Tension exhibition--see "Curatorial" in my site)

Behind the Scenes with the Artists: The Making of MetroTextural
(reduced lecture fee of $200 for venues booking the exhibition, and for quilt groups sponsoring the exhibition)


September 2006
Presenting Behind the Scenes with the Artists: The Making of MetroTextural
at the Museum of European Cultures in Berlin.

Fee structure (maximum of 15 people for studio workshop):
Group portfolio review $300 (up to 100 works); $400 (up to 150)
Lecture (one hour, including discussion) $400
Critique workshop (2 hours) $150
Half-day studio workshop (3 hours) $400
Full-day studio workshop (6 hours, plus critique) $650
Total for lecture plus critique workshop $500
Total for lecture plus half-day studio workshop $600
Total for lecture plus full-day studio workshop $850

Creating Quilt Art with Surface Design Techniques

This workshop for beginners, conducted in a relaxed and encouraging atmosphere, explores various surface design processes and techniques. Rather than making a completed project, you will learn several ways to enhance your surfaces. You will practice masking, stamp printing, painting, photo transfer, and embellishment. Students provide their own supplies.

Students should bring:

  • Prewashed white cotton fabric, one piece ca. 22 x 22 inches square (such as muslin or slightly heavier)
  • Three quarter-yard pieces of cotton fabric, each a different solid color
  • Adhesive tape (1-inch wide is fine)
  • Waxed paper (like you have in your kitchen)
  • Two new compressed sponges (to cut into shapes for stamp printing)
  • Any interesting stenciling stamps you may have (such as for wall decorating)
  • Any interesting kitchen tools, such as a timbale maker, with a flat surface (for stamp printing)
  • Child’s sneaker with tread pattern, or other patterned surface
  • One flat brush, one round brush (both fairly small)—in acrylic fibers
  • One narrow black foam brush, and another one ca. 2 in. wide
  • Two or more colors of fabric paint (such as Createx or Deka, or “all-purpose” acrylic paint from an art supply store); small bottles are fine
  • One small container of “extender” for fabric paint (to make the paint translucent)
  • Small pile of newspapers, or blank newspaper (any large, clean paper)
  • Paper towels
  • Small spray bottle
  • Plastic spoons and a few paper cups
  • Scissors (preferably with your name on them)
  • Embroidery needle and basting needle
  • Embroidery thread and basting thread
  • A few items such as lace, feathers, buttons, sequins, metallic trim, or ribbons (for embellishment)
  • A few small images printed onto transfer paper if you want to try photo transfer
  • PLEASE BRING any photos of your quilts that you would like to share with the group.