SAQA Michigan Regional Portfolio
Introduction
This portfolio is a sampling of works from members of the Michigan Region of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA). We are a dynamic and active community of over 65 artists across the state, many of whom exhibit their artwork nationally and internationally.
SAQA is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt: "a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.”
Over the past 30 years, SAQA has grown into a community of over 4,000 artists, curators, collectors, and art professionals located around the world.
Front and back covers, inside covers, and header graphics: Jen Boes’ Infrastructure Diptych
Art Quilts from Michigan Region Pause Exhibition
Pause is an art quilt exhibition organized by the SAQA Michigan Region. All of the quilts created in response to this Call (18) are available as a traveling exhibition. Eight pieces were selected by members and accepted for display at the 2023 American Quilt Society Show in Grand Rapids, MI in September 2023*.
About the theme: Pause is a temporary stop in action. Our surroundings, our lifestyles, our very beings seem to be in perpetual motion. If not for the pandemic, many of us might never have experienced the effects of truly taking a pause. For this challenge, artists were challenged to explore the meaning and effects both positive and negative of pause in our daily lives.
Participating Artists
Renee Atkinson
Loren Bach*
Mary Bajcz
Jennifer Boes*
Diana Carnahan*
Shannon Dion
Joan Duggan
Debbie Grifka*
Monica Johnstone*
Kris Ann Lurtz
Karen Mendler*
Janet Roys
Meena Schaldenbrand
Patti Tourville
Kathy Veenstra*
Mary Vinovskis*
Julie Westmaas
Sometimes the Words Are Too Much *
During the pandemic, the cacophony overwhelmed me. This led me to faithful, wordless meditation. My art quilt shows the spiritual practice of centering as I pause the noise. Improvisational piecing with commercial fabrics.
*AQS Exhibit
Jennifer Boes Interrupted *
We enjoy our messy but delightfully chaotic lives, living in beautiful community. And then, something brings it all to a halt: a diagnosis, a death, a friend’s pain. We find ourselves existing in a liminal space, other’s lives going on in the background. Eventually, hopefully, time passes and maybe with a little help we find our way through to reemerge and rejoin the glorious fray ….
Dyed, dye-printed, painted, quilted; cotton.
*AQS ExhibitDiana Carnahan Pause and Reflect *
Too often we are quick to respond, forward a meme, or repeat unchecked facts and information, especially from social media. Pause and Reflect is a reminder to myself to strive to stop and think independently and critically before I agree with or go along with the group. The majority does not always reflect my ideals.
Digitally altered photography, painting, thread painting, hand guided free motion quilting acrylic fabric paints, cotton sateen, ink, thread.
*AQS Exhibit
Debbie Grifka
A Daily Goal*
One of the uses of an ellipsis is to denote a pause in a conversation. I've used this form of punctuation to visually describe my personal goal to pause for a bit every day.
Machine appliqué, machine quilting, cotton fabric, batting and thread.
*AQS Exhibit
Forests represent a challenge on our journey. Though they provide some shelter, they also don't allow us to see very far ahead.
Piecing by hand and machine, and machine quilting. Cotton fabrics, cotton thread ,and trilobal polyester thread.
*AQS Exhibit
Monica Johnstone At the Edge of a Tangled Wood *
This quilt was inspired by a photo I took of my grandson at a Salish Sea beach. He was focused on the activity in the tidal pool, while I appreciated the fresh air and majesty of our surroundings.
Curved, machine piecing, hand and machine appliqué, machine quilted. Commercial cotton fabric, cotton and rayon threads, Inktense products, fabric paint highlights on the jacket.
*AQS Exhibit
Karen Mendler Low Tide *Kathy Veenstra A Moment In Time *
Be still and know I am God! Psalm 46:10
A year ago, my husband, a farmer, lost his battle with Dementia. These are his hands pausing to acknowledge: It is God who created it all, I am just the caretaker. The black sides represent his pause in life, which is momentary in light of eternity with God. This is just a short pause!
Hand painted, Gel plate printed, raw edge free motion appliqued and quilted. Cotton Fabrics, Jacquard Textile Paints, Derwent water-soluble Inktense pencils.
*AQS Exhibit
creating an quilt art.
Freezer-paper piecing; free-motion and walking-foot quilting. Commercial and artistmade fabrics; white muslin, markers; cotton batting; cotton, polyester, and monofilament threads.
*AQS Exhibit
Renee Atkinson Ikat Wool Respite
This piece started in a communal creative group with a session of mark making. I used black, blue and red ink using a variety of household finds to make the marks. The ink made subdued tints. I marked three panels about 11 inches wide by 35 inches knowing I wanted to submit for this call. I taped off potions of each panel which are also pauses for the eye. I deconstructed the panels and reconstructed by adding Yukata cotton. I wanted the seam ravels to show as each end of the cloth I cut for the panels had fringed edges. We pause at the unexpected.
Hand and machine embroidery was added as well as additional cotton fabric squares. The final step was adding the Ikat wool pieces situated in a way to draw the eye around the piece.
Ikat wool, Yukata cotton, muslin, ink, embroidery floss, thread, batting, plastic rings used in embroidery, metal ring
Footprints in the Snow
During the day, I pause and look out the window and observe. One cold, winter day, I wrote a poem about what I observed and called it Footprints in the snow. The only creature venturing out that day was a squirrel and his activity evident. I captured the squirrel as he paused on a log to survey the opportunities of his environment. This piece is a mix of watercolor and thread painting. The squirrel is a mix of fabric and thread. I wanted to represent a winter day so I used very muted tones.
Batik, muslin, watercolor paint, thread, batting, cotton yardage.
Mary Bajcz
Coneflowers
During the pandemic, I paused making artwork to focus on masks, quilts, and mittens. Now I'm spending more time on artwork.
Beloved of birds, insects, and people, who doesn't love coneflowers?
Machine pieced, quilted, and couched, with fused applique and hand embroidery. Cotton and wool yarn.
Shannon Dion Pausing at Agate Beach
I love water. Taking time to pause on the beach is good for the soul. I have been to the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and the Mediterranean sea. All were inspiring and awesome to behold. Lake Superior is equally amazing and worthy of the awe IT inspires. I find it hard to not just stop and stare out to the horizon every time I am lucky enough to be able to go and visit. Michigan holds many treasures, some known, some not so much. The Upper Peninsula and Lake Superior are two of those treasures.
Raw edge applique, machine quilting, Batik cottons, thread and batting.
Joan Duggan What Pause is This?
As I spend my time creating art quilts, sometimes I pause and take up my knitting needles and create something with yarn and then sometimes I pause and take up my beading needle to create a piece with beads. This time, when the pauses came fast and furious, I paused and wondered "What pause is this?"
Fused applique, knitting, bead embroidery, and machine quilting, commercial fabric, lambskin, sequins, crystals, glass beads, metal rings and beads, wool yarn, metallic yarn, and thread.
Pause to me is waiting. Waiting for tomorrow because today was a little harder than yesterday.
Waiting for your dreams to come true, waiting to spend time with family or friends. And when those come to be, pausing to reflect on the good or bad that happen while waiting.
Hand pierced hexagon (epp), hand dyed solid fabric. Batik fabrics and hand dyed cotton.
Kris Ann Lurtz Waiting
Janet Roys Chaos to Tranquility
My ice dyed quilt represents the dark days of COVID. My pause is the lighter areas where many quiet hours were spend in my sewing room. Planning and quilting this piece were my salvation during this time, and I completed a number of quilts--some new and some UFOs. Creating Chaos to Tranquility has been a cathartic experience.
Ice dyeing fabric, beading, hand quilting, straight quilting, free-motion quilting, artist binding. Ice dyed cotton fabric and cotton fabric, Sulky and polyester thread, beads.
Meena Schaldenbrand
Life on Pause: Drowning in Heart Breaking Grief
My happy life was painfully interrupted by my husband's cancer and death. My mountain of grief is just the tip of the iceberg and barely visible to others. My immense loss resulted in wildly fluctuating emotions in the glacier underneath as well as the moving chunks of ice all around me. The grief process includes an abundance of tears shock, denial, pain, guilt, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Realizing that grief is a passage, not a place to stay permanently, I return to living my life all alone, one step at a time, I still struggle as I look for sunshine and hope every day.
Beading, hand embroidery, machine quilting, hand quilting, painting dryer sheets. Beads, sequins, cotton, bubble wrap envelope, dryer sheets, Caran D’Ache wax pastels, watercolor paints.
Patti Tourville Snowflake
Imagine looking down onto the snow covered landscape from high above. Visualize the roof tops stacked with white fluffy snow, see the tall lumbering pine trees with limbs hanging heavy from the weight of the snow, see all the empty fields with a fresh blanket of snow. Then, as you begin to zoom in on the details: you notice a single delicate snowflake, full of lines echoing all the shapes the snow has created. Those lines join together to make a whole, or maybe they create a space to reflect in, or to wonder how all of the beauty of the snow was missed before.
White cotton layered over charcoal cotton to help define the lines, then machine stitched and machine quilted. 100% cotton quilting fabrics and cotton batting.
Julie Westmaas Sidetracked
I have a saying, “That was like getting the train out of the station…” when starting a new or difficult venture. The idea of the caboose left by itself, stemmed from that saying. The process led me to incorporate other symbolism (the church, waterfall, flowers, and forest) that speak to me. They all hold the meaning of pausing and taking time to reflect. Thus, giving the feeling that even though the caboose is stuck, the elements in the quilt beckon me to linger and explore. This was evident for me personally in my PAUSE over the last couple of years.
Whole cloth white painted background. Painted using Inktense, fabric crayons, and acrylic paint, thread painted, quilted. The caboose and church were made separate using raw edge applique. Cotton fabric, Thread 60 wt., 50 wt., and 40wt, Inktense pencils, Caran d' Ache Fabric crayons, acrylic paint, fusible Pellon Thermolam, tulle, Misty Fuse.
Additional Works by SAQA Michigan Members
The following art quilts are representative works by additional regional members featuring a variety of techniques and themes.
Barbara Bushey
Gales of November
Ellen Meeker Cannery
