are you ready for 20 questions?

sure, just trying to get my itunes going but no dice.

Ok, You and I were at Wooster. In the Early 80s. Did you take a photography class in the Art Department?

yes

aha, who was that with?

woman, I don't know her name.

Did you also do a sculpture class with Walter Zurko?

photog teacher didn't like me & vice cersa. Never took the sculpture class. wish i had.

Dang, I can't think of her name. Did you dream of getting an art degree back then?

day dream?

yes

even after the bad experience with the Photog woman?

yea, but maybe that was the start of my fear of it too. Then again, i once found an old piece of art
work from a sophmore class in highschool that the teacher had graded and he said I had no talent in just about
those words. Yuck

dang! that's rough! I think we can say he was wrong.

were you interested in fibers back at Wooster?

No. I didn't really know anything about "fibers" back then. It was later, when I moved to Boulder.
My mom bought me a sewing machine if I would make her a quilt, the traditional kind. Pretty soon I knew I didn't
like following someone elses pattern, so i started making art quilts. Making it up as I went mostly, but took
local classes, too. Also, Judy Chicago had an impact on me that intersected with this early fabric work.
Really, Did you have any sewing experience prior to that?

not really. I had taken "private" art lessons when I was a kid and one thing she had me do/asked if
I wanted to do was do a little quilting, so I made a pillow cover for my mom. I also remember making a few things
in Home Ec, like one stuffed animal I was proud of because i loved the fabric, and i did a little hand stitching
on the back when I signed it. My mom always insisted that I sign and date all my 'art'. We also made clothes in
Home Ec and I didn't follow the rules so well so they weren't really wearable, and I didn't enjoy it too much.
I enjoyed trying to do it, but not so satisfied with the results.

How did Judy Chicago influence you?

especially early on?

I was SO very lucky to find her book Through the Flower when I was about 20 (maybe before I left Woo?)
at a used book store. It was tattered and worn when I got it, so whoever had it had READ it, and so did I.
I hung on every word. It was her experience of being a woman in art school in the early 70s. She was in the
minority and they made her well aware of it. It was VERY much a man's world then, maybe still. Anyway,
she wouldn't cave and she made HER art whether thay liked it or not. I don't think she set out to make
"feminist" art, but they said what she did was too this or that, which turns out was soon labeled feminist. Certainly not what the guys
were doing. SO she became my art hero. It opened my eyes to the existance of women artists. I knew there
were woman who made art, but she educated me!

So how did she influence me early on? She pointed out that there were women doing things differently,
and using different materials. Not just paint and brushes. And doing it for different reason, and it was just as
legit as anyone elses art.

nice!

Did you make the quilt for your mom?

Yep. It's yellow. She loves it. I have made many for her. She supported my habit, paid for thread
and materials, etc.

When was it that you made that first quilt?

Probably 1987 or 88

When was it that you built the studio?

about 1993

When was it that you got accepted to the MFA program at CSU?

thinking

2004

So what prompted you to build the Studio?

I had quit my real job, sales, had gotten together with Charlie. We were talking about building a
house, just fantasy really at that point, but I started looking around. I was interested in alternative building,
so worked on an earth ship up in Ned one winter. Charlie had gone out to VT to work with his brother building log
homes. Both were beyond us as far as DIY, so we learned about straw bale and thought we'd try it. And it was a
great excuse to build a studio! My mom was supportive of my art, so she supported that effort.

You made reference to your "habit", as if it were an addiction. When you built the studio did you
think of yourself as a creator of Artwork?

Yea. For awhile I even had on my bio that my studio is my largest sculpture to date.

nice

But it took awhile for me to really take it on as a, i don't know, title, or description of what I do.
"Artist" is heavy for some reason. Alot of expectation attached.

Yes.
Yes. You use thread in your work like Mattise uses line. You said you aren't the only
one working in that manner. How did you come from quilts to thread work?

That's very nice.

yes and true

how did you get there?

Right. Art school.

I knew I wanted out of quilts, which has it's own long story, and was working on it on my own, but
most things were still coming out as quilts. Then when I got to school I knew I had to break my own mold.
that is WHY I went, so i made myself do it.

So what did you present as a portfolio, upon application to the MFA program?

Quilts. The work I had been doing on my own, and some new 3d work, fabric bowls, my own method and
mostly before others were doing them. There are alot of folks doing them now. Anyway, I showed him quilts and
maybe talked my way in a bit.
I gotta tuck Sam in. I'll be back in 10.

ok

I'm back.

Sam's tucked?

all cozy warm in his little bed!

My investigation isn't done yet. Are you ready to get back to it?

OK. Yep I'm ready to go.

Tell me why you wanted to get away from quilts

Well, when you walk into a gallery and say you make quilts, what might you expect their reaction to be?
And when I got into art quilts I was making it up as I went. But i was behind the curve just a little, and art
quilting really took off. SO now there are a gazillion women doing them, some so incredible, some that resemble others.
prefer to do my own thing. Also, I got hooked on working in sheer fabrics and pushing the limits more there. You know, there are
some technical definitions of quilts. Again, someone elses rules.

right on.

I still love to look at them, good ones. Incredible ones. And I love fabric and color, so I haven't
given all of that up yet.

Did you let your MFA acceptance guy ask you if you wanted to go further with Quilts, or did you tell
him you wanted to break out of Quilts?

I think he asked. I think I said I was looking for a complete make over. At one point he looked at my
older work and said, are you sure you aren't a painter? cause I was doing florals and landscapey things.

That's intetresting.

Do you consider yourself to be a Feminist Artist?

I am a feminist and an artist. I am not so sure I am doing feminst art. That's a very interesting
topic. What IS feminst art today? It is different than it used to be. I did some research on that at school, and
want to do more.

It's an interesting question. "What is Feminist art".

And what is feminism?

What is it that you think of when you express yourself as a feminist?

when you say "I am a Feminist".

What do I think of? I think that women are treated as second class citizens. I think that we still
live in a "mans" world, a patriarchy. I think women get paid less for the same job, their our work is valued less
than a man's, especially our art! And I am disgusted by that. But I am also starting to believe that no one is
going to "change the world" on a huge scale, but they/we can on a smaller scale, here and there. Do I want to talk
about changing the world? I guess not.

Well, what I was going to say, not to change the sub from feminism, which really is one of my
favorites, is that I see now what he meant by, aren't you a painter. I used color, fabric and the surface as if it
were a 2D canvas. Fabric is 3 dimensional, it flows, we wear it, it has historical significance, and I was just
treating it as a flat canvas for the wall. "Fibers" can be so much more!

I am just beginnning to scratch the surface.

very nice.

But you are scratching. And that is really cool

Thanks. I love it.

Ok, so you just got a piece accepted to Surface Design Association Student Textile Exhibition, How
does the acceptance of your work to these shows influence your work?

It is like a pat on the back. Too trite. It's an afirmation that I am on the right track. If I do
something and it continues to be rejected, I think that either people aren't ready for it, or I am coming on too
strong. I have to consider my presentation.

When my work gets accepted I think that I hit that nail on the head, or at least near the head.

"When we get stuck, or whenever, there is a little more to say about fiber art as a painting."
Tell me about fiber art as painting.

Maybe when I get something accepted I stop pushing in that area, and when I get rejected I keep
pushing. Hmm. I'll have to think about that more. I try not to take acceptance or rejection at face value. It really
is so much about THE JUROR and how a piece works in a particular show. But on a gut level, I guess I take it
pretty personally. Now want to go to fiber art and painting?

yes.

Well, Fiber Art is so much more than the flat surface on a wall. It CAN be that, but doesn't have to be.
Why stop there? Take the hisroy of the stitch. It's ancient, as funtion first I suppose, and for it's formal
qualities immediately therafter.

And the use of fiber as clothing. What does clothing say about a person? It has cultural implications.
Class implications. Fabric can be a second skin to protect. To nurture. And what about pattern? Pattern is endless!
Pattern brings nature from outside in. Think of all the floral patterns you have seen. Think of the tapestries of
old, before paper, they recorded history. It goes on and on.

History of the Stitch. Pattern brings from outside in.

Just scratching the surface!

These topics we need to explore, but I need to tuck myself in here shortly.

Yep, nite

nite

Oh, And THANKS!!!!!