Patty Hawkins

     Creating my own fabrics is truly like chocolate cake, without all the calories; just delicious beyond words! It is glorious fun to dye fabric!
I espouse the Wabi Sabi thinking which finds beauty in imperfection. An unpredictable silk screen approach gives me the most amazing organic markings and my "scarred aspen tree bark" fabric is produced by shibori pole wrap dyeing.
      These unique fabrics allow the visual impact I strive for in my fabric collages; especially the depth of our Colorado landscapes. Lights and shadows of the day; the seasons of aspen and their skeletal structure; amazing rock formations; reflection scribbles; the stunning mountains, or new motifs in ordinary surroundings are my motivation. Visual textures are added of machine stitchery or a layer of tulle. Earlier mountain quilts, "pieced" like jigsaw puzzles, were thanks to the set-in gusset technique we joke of having to learn in high school.

Before moving into art quilting, my earlier work was watercolor. THE CRAFT. POETRY OF THE PHYSICAL, 1987 exhibition at the Denver Art Museum, with quilts of Nancy Crow and Michael James mounted as stained glass windows, was pivotal to realize quilting was much larger Canvas" format for playing with color and fabric. My Mother was a fantastic seamstress, sharing her talents. Her own sense of color ignored the notion that others said, in the stagnant 50's, blue and green don't go together and I say, look at nature's beautiful color combinations to confirm this.

Resume:

2005, Longmont CO Cultural Center and Museum exhibited 20 art quilts and 30 of my husband Wes's handcrafted small wooden chairs. It was such a treasure to exhibit together; showing what fun we have making art! We will be featured in 2007, at The ART CENTER of Estes Park.

2006,I am honored with the QUILT JAPAN PRIZE, similar to a Lifetime achievement award. 2005, I served an Artist Residency in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. 2 Quilt Visions and 5 Quilt Nationals are distinguished juried exhibitions including my work; also invitational Full Deck, Pot Luck and Oxymorons. TV's Simply Quilts features me in a segment. Open Your Eyes, Patterns Everywhere and Take a Concept, Collage It are classes I teach at conference venues: Quilt Surface Design Symposium and Quilting by the Lake; also locales throughout Colorado.