Interview with the Artist: Wool Quilts Made in Memory

Terry is a quilter, maker, mosaic artist and more. This series of small quilts have a lovely story behind them. I sent her some questions and here is her writing about these pieces.

“My Uncle Bill died of COVID during the pandemic. He was a hunter and an avid poker player. He didn’t splurge on much of anything but Christmas gifts for his sister and Pendleton shirts for himself. At his memorial I asked my cousin if she wanted me to make a quilt for her from his shirts, which she did. I made a small lap quilt for each of my cousins and one for his sister. I’ve been in the process of making a twin size quilt and a queen size quilt, also for relatives.

I was never close to my uncle, but I found myself feeling tenderly for him as I created these quilts. Normally whenever I am working in fiber arts I am singing a song of blessing for the object I’m making and for the person to whom it will be gifted. The Gambler has been the blessing song I’ve been singing for this body of work.”

Miniature wool quilts, solo show by Terry at the Angelica Kauffman Gallery.

“I began making the lap quilts during the 100 day project last year and started the larger quilt for the 100 day project this year. When I went on vacation I decided to bring along materials for tiny portable quilts. I took each phrase from The Gambler as a theme for each of the tiny quilts. Tarot resonates with me, but playing cards suit Uncle Bill better, so I borrowed images from Tarot and connected them to the corresponding playing card, making each tiny quilt a blend of his energy and mine.

In November of 2022 you included in one of the AKG shows a tiny quilt by @oleaambra, You Bury Me. I fell in love with it, but, sadly, it was NFS. I contacted Olea and she created a commission inspired by it for me, Sweet Bones (see her insta post dated 13 December 2022). She included a tiny pocket at the back of my Sweet Bones quilt, and I was CHARMED by it! So I included a tiny pocket at the back of my The Gambler series quilts. I made a mobile of these quilts for the problem gambling show (a poster of the mobile is traveling with the show through this summer) and the little pockets came in handy as I could pop a penny into a pocket to facilitate balance in the mobile.”

Quilts by Terry as mobile.

Here’s an image of one of those terrific pockets on the back:

Back view showing pocket.

And here’s an image from the opening reception:

Opening reception at the Angelica Kauffman Gallery, quilts by Terry.

Find the artist on Instagram.

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If you’re new here and aren’t totally sure what this is about – I run the Angelica Kauffman Gallery, a miniature art gallery, on the dollhouse scale of 1:12. They’re serious shows of seriously small art. AKG is a member of the international Guild of Micro Galleries. The gallery has been around since 2021 and put on something more than 20 group shows and 20 solo shows. The micro galleries have been out on public display for more than a year, in artists’ street level studio windows, libraries, front lawns (the outdoor version), and in group shows of multiple box galleries in a museum and (coming next year) an art center.

The gallery includes many, many box galleries, one dollhouse waiting for the roof to be finished, one outdoor, waterproof structure, and an architectural niche at the Oak Park Art League in Oak Park, Illinois.