Fiber Visions

Fiber Visions encourages that growth through challenges. Challenges open many avenues of interpretation which in turn push us beyond our comfort zones to find artistic solutions for our quilts. In addition, we have all broadened our horizons by learning new techniques and expanding our creativity. We each bring our own experiences and processes and share these with the group including botanical dyeing, leaf pounding and printing, Thermofax screen printing, drawing and painting on fabric, ice dyeing, shibori and indigo dyeing, cyanotype printing, painting with thickened dyes, and embroidery. This exposure has inspired us to incorporate new techniques and explore new directions.

A Whisper Challenge is like a childhood game of telephone, adapted to quilts. The initiator chooses a photo and uses it for inspiration to make a quilt. The quilt is passed on to the next person, who is inspired to interpret that quilt and then passes it on. Each participant sees only the previous quilt. When the entire series is revealed for the first time, members see how their work inspired others and how that inspiration was interpreted. The images included with this application represent the work of 10 different group members in response to our third Whisper Challenge. As each piece is viewed in succession, the influence of color, shape and line become apparent. On another level, a sense of safety, home, comfort, shelter, warmth, cold and changing seasons is conveyed using a variety of techniques. The result of a Whisper Challenge is amazing in that even though each participant is limited to seeing only one quilt in the series, the end product reveals a cohesive collection.