Interview series: Mixed Media Artist, Jane Davila

This weeks interview is with US based mixed media artist, writer, tutor and general all round star – Jane Davila!


Jane writes a regular business and marketing column for Quilting Arts Magazine (my favorite textile mag), has produced 3 really informative books (her 3rd 'Jane Davila's Surface Design Essentials' is just out) and teaches workshops internationally. On top of all of this she somehow manages to fit in making and selling her own art, designing websites, taking her patchwork store on tour to expos around the states and has guest starred on Quilting Arts TV. Not to mention taking the time to fill in interviews for little known Australian blogs :)

'Woodcut Fish' fibre art postcard 4"x6"

Click to enlarge pic
Cotton fabrics, block print, acrylic ink and pearlescent ink, metallic acrylic paint

 1. How long have you been quilting and what first drew you to it?  

I started out as a printmaker and came to quilting when my mom and I opened a quilt shop, The Country Quilter, in 1990 where I got a really good grounding in all of the basic quiltmaking techniques. I love the tactile quality of quilts, it's the same thing that drew me to printmaking – the texture and colors and hands-on processes.

'Strings' 6"x6"
Small fiber piece mounted on stretched canvas, cotton & silk fabrics, stamp, acrylic ink, linen floss

  2. How would you describe your style now? 

I'm definitely an art quilter although I still make pieced quilts occasionally for fun.

 3. How has your style evolved? 

I began with traditional quilts and quickly progressed to more contemporary quilts. Then in 2002 I began making art quilts when I realized that I could bring my art training and quilt training together. My studio space has been set up with my style of work in mind, so that all my favorite materials are close to hand.

Jane's gorgeous studio features lots of natural light, bookcases packed with stunning natural fabrics, paper displayed over rods and a dozen other things I could really get used to having around! Jane made most of her studio furniture herself including the floating workspace in the centre of the room. See her blog for a how she did it here.

 4. Apart from creating art what else to you do within the industry? 

I write books about art quilting for C&T Publishing (book #3, Surface Design Essentials, just came out!), I teach internationally, I write a column for Quilting Arts magazine called Minding Your Business about the business side of being an artist, I teach online courses as well as workshops in my studio, I have a blog, I tweet and I've got several products in development for the art quilting market. I have a sorely-neglected etsy store and I design websites for artists and others. What I don't have enough of is hours in the day for all the ideas in my head!


Last year in March my Mom and I closed our retail store after nearly 19 years. She has retired with my dad (and is finally getting the hang of it!) and I have taken our shop online and out on the road, vending at quilts shows around the country. Flourish, the name of my art quilting supply company, can be found at www.countryquilter.com

'El Diablito' 5.5" square
Cotton fabrics, hand-dyed wool, Loteria playing card, distress inks, hand and machine stitched

 5. What's the best advice you could give someone who wants to try quilting or textile art for the first time? 
Start with a manageable-sized project. Don't start with a king-sized quilt! I think that if you have a positive first experience and you finish what you start in a reasonable amount of time, you'll be more likely to continue than if you bite off too much and get discouraged.

 6. Do you exhibit your work? 

I do. I no longer apply to quilt shows and have much more luck with all media or mixed-media shows. As my work diversifies and moves farther away from traditional quilts, I find that gallery venues are better choices for me. I also work small and my work gets lost at regular quilt shows hanging next to bed quilts whereas galleries and art centers are better equipped to deal with making small work look great.

'La Sirena' 5.5" square
Cotton fabrics, hand-dyed wool, Loteria playing card, stamped text, hand and machine stitched

 7. How do you go about finding and selecting exhibitions? 

I subscribe to a couple of art magazines that list calls for entry and I haunt the internet – it's a tremendous resource for finding shows.

 8. Do you belong to any quilt associations? If so why did you join these ones? 
I belong to Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) and Surface Design Association (SDA) as well as the Nature Printing Society. I had let my membership to some local fine art guilds lapse due to lack of time and funds but plan to re-join this year. I try to find groups of like-minded people, although I don't tend to be a big joiner. I do also belong to some interesting online groups for assemblage and collage artists.

 9. What would you recommend people do who want to seriously get into textile art? 

Study a wide variety of techniques to start to narrow down where your specific interest lies. Take classes from a number of teachers in different venues if you can. Remember that once you've learned and mastered various aspects of your craft it is necessary to produce a lot of work on a consistent basis to develop your "voice", your unique viewpoint. Take in lots of information from lots of sources, internalize and process it and let it out as your original expression. Keep the parts of what you learn that work for you and discard what doesn't.

 10. What inspires you?  
So much! Color combinations in magazines and art, music, lyrics, poetry, nature, words. I carry a little Moleskine sketchbook with me and constantly doodle in it.

 11. What sewing machine / threads etc do you use? 
I have an old Bernina that I adore. It does just enough and doesn't do anything unnecessary for me. I love cotton threads for machine sewing, especially hand-dyed and adore linen thread for hand stitching.

 12. Do you have any formal art training? Do you think it's necessary? 

I am almost entirely self-taught and I continue that education every day. I am endlessly curious about art and life and science and spend a lot of time studying and researching. I do think that having a solid grounding in the basics of art are absolutely necessary to create successful artwork. 

'Anodyne III' 9"x12"
Mixed media fiber collage, cotton fabrics, paper and paper mesh, image printed on linen fabric and hand-colored, stamped text, distress inks, mah-jong tile, over-printed with found objects, hand and machine stitching, chunky zipper edging

 14. What's the most rewarding thing about your career? 

I love teaching and getting a chance to encourage people to try new things and challenge themselves. I love creating art and pushing myself to explore.

 15. How did you learn the techniques you use? 

I learned my basic quilting skills from my mom and from books. Art quilting techniques I learned by experimentation, from books and the internet.

 16. What are your favorite / least favorite parts of the quilting process?

I like the composing part the best, where I audition fabrics, cut and lay out pieces and start thinking about the quilting lines. I like edge-finishing the least so I don't often use traditional bindings on my quilts.

 17. What is your favorite technique? 

I love to paint on fabric. I don't have the patience for dyeing fabric and I try to avoid toxic chemicals and processes in my work, so painting with acrylic paints and inks suits me. I can get a lot of the same effects that dyers get with my paints and inks and there's little to no prep, no setting and no hazardous materials or dust masks involved. To get a beautiful background wash on fabric I add a small amount of acrylic paint or acrylic ink to a container of water and simply brush it onto prewashed white fabric. I can use more than one color, I can throw sea salt on the wet paint for star burst effects and I can scrunch, fold or lay the wet fabric over a surface for even more textural interest in the finished fabric. The paint or ink changes the hand of the fabric only minimally and is as permanent as dyed fabric. And I can whip up as small or as large a piece as I need in exactly the color(s) I need.

'Gyotaku' 7.5"x9.5"
Mixed media collage on bristol board, printed mulberry paper, gyotaku print on cotton fabric, stamped text, transfered text, embossed and printed papers, cotton fabrics

 For more on Jane: 

Books (all available through C&T Publishing):

• Art Quilt Workbook (co-authored with Elin Waterston)

• Art Quilts at Play (co-authored with Elin Waterston)

• Jane Davila's Surface Design Essentials

DVD's:

• One-Page Book (Quilting Arts workshop dvd)

• Jane & Elin Teach You Art Quilting Basics (C&T Publishing)

You can purchase autographed copies of all Jane's books, or sign up (if you're quick, it's just started!) for her online 'Jump Start Your Art Career' course by emailing Jane.

View more of Jane's work on her website or check out her etsy store.

I love feedback! Please comment below if you have any thoughts on this article or what you'd like to see more or less of in future interviews. –Neroli Henderson

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Interview series: Textile Artist, Felicity Hopkins

This week I'm pleased to introduce an amazing, multi talented, avant guard textile artist, Felicity Hopkins. Felicity manages to combine her full time career as a social policy analyst specialising in Aboriginal / Indigenous issues with her passion for creating one of a kind, multi-layered, truly creative pieces of mixed media art. What's even more impressive is that she does this while juggling 3 kids, 3 cats, 3 chooks, a dog and a partner!

Felicity's art reflects feelings and concepts rather then pictorial representations - it has become a vital part of her life and an integral medium to express her world view. Overall winner of the Buda Textile Awards (2008), her influences include Judy Watson, Andy Goldsworthy and Mark Rothko. 

'Glimmer – Such A Shame She Never Married' 71x65cm (28x25.5")  $1800

Blanketing, silk, brocade, pieced ribbon squares, doilies, organza, tulle.

Buda Textile Awards 2008 - Winner of both overall and mixed media sections.

 1. How long have you been quilting and what first drew you to it? 
My very first quilt was a joint effort with my then boyfriend, now husband back in 1989 – I bought quantities of Laura Ashley squares which we manically sewed into long strips on an ancient sewing machine propped on a rickety coffee table. The top was finished quite quickly but wasn't turned into a real quilt until about 2002. 

I was first drawn to art quilting by seeing Susan Mathews' sunflower quilt featured in Quilter's Companion magazine. We were driving home to Melbourne from Byron Bay in 2003 and stopped in Goulbourn for lunch. I went into a newsagent to find something to read and was captivated by Susan's quilt on the cover. 

'Connections' 64x71cm (25x28")  $1200

Indigo dyed cotton, hand torn strips of fabric from old linens, felted wool, copper plumbing connectors, foil, machine stitched then hand stitched with copper wire. Steeked and hand sewn into a triptych.

 2. How would you describe your style now? 
Mine :) experimental, expressive, bold. I like mixing up techniques and playing.

 3. How has your style evolved? 
I soon found I wasn't precise enough to persevere beyond a few traditional bed quilts. I found using other peoples' patterns didn't provide enough of a creative outlet so I started making journal quilts with other members of the Australian and New Zealand art quilters yahoo group. Making A4 sized pieces allows for creativity and experiments without worrying about wasting materials.

I can't emphasise the role of mentors enough – I have met some amazing quilters who have been so generous in sharing their knowledge and experience and who have become friends both in real life and via the internet.  Particular influencers and encouragers include Dijanne Cevaal, Susan Iacuone, Annabel Rainbow, and Arlee Barr.

 4. Apart from creating art what else to you do within the industry? 
I have a blog www.textileseahorse.blogspot.com which I use as a way of keeping myself honest. If I post about a project I have started I need to finish it otherwise people ask!


I have just started to put my quilts up for sale – it never occurred to me that anyone would to buy them until I won the Buda prize and someone said it was a shame my quilt wasn't for sale. My big goal for 2010 is to set up a website selling my pieces.


 5. What's the best advice you could give someone who wants to try quilting or textile art for the first time? 
Just jump in and give it a try – there's no such thing as failure. If something doesn't turn out the way you expected it to turn it into something else.

'Burnt Landscape #1'  46x51cm (18x20")  $350

Layered fabrics of wool, silk and wool fibre, synthetics, tulle and organza stitched and burnt back with a heat gun.

 6. Do you exhibit your work? 
I find sending submissions to quilt and art shows incredibly stressful but also rewarding. 

There is the risk in putting my stuff out there and being rejected but then the thrill when my pieces are accepted and even win prizes :) I am trying to push the boundaries a bit by submitting to art shows under the mixed media or the 'any medium' category/stipulation – so far without

 much luck! It seems to be very hard to get textile work accepted as art gallery-worthy

I put in an entry to the Buda Homestead Textile Award in 2008 hoping to be accepted and ended up winning my category and best in show which was amazingly thrilling. Last year I had 2 pieces exhibited in Victorian Quilters' One Step Further.

Currently I am one of 30 Australian quilters with work showing in 'My Place' an exhibition curated by Dijanne Cevaal – Diajnne called for submissions from Australia, New Zealand and Southern Africa for quilts reflecting their creators sense of place and belonging. 

Even more exciting was being asked to participate in an exhibition called Southern Lands, also curated by Dijanne. It's still rather stunning to have my work hanging alongside quilters whose work I have admired for years.


 7. How do you go about finding and selecting exhibitions? 
I usually scan magazines such as Australian Textile Forum and Australian Art Almanac for art and quilt shows seeking submissions.

I think making personal connections with other quilters is vital - participation in My Place was through Dijanne's blog and Southern Lands was by invitation. Similarly I was invited by Annabel Rainbow to join a group of quilters mainly in England who are making quilts to submit for the Birmingham Festival of Quilts.

'Brave New World' 28 x 46cm (11x18")

Felted wool, painted interfacing, ribbon, Textiva film, sequin waste, orange bag plastic netting, organza and tulle. Machine stitched and heat gunned.

 8. Do you belong to any quilt associations? If so why did you join these ones? 
I'm not a very good group person and the first quilting group I went to was a mixed experience... I was accepted by some friendly quilters but firmly snubbed as a newbie by others. I ended up feeling too intimidated to go back. 

I have found online groups a much happier experience – I belong to the Southern Cross Quilters, Down Under Quilters and Australian and New Zealand Art Quilters although I tend to lurk on each of these groups.

One of my most rewarding group experiences has been with the Art Quilts Around the World which sets a quarterly challenge theme and exhibits them on the group blog. Being part of this group has forced me to think hard about topics I wouldn't have chosen and made me consciously choose challenge materials such as paper, lutradur and copper wire. Getting positive feedback from other group members has also increased my confidence as an artist and contributed to me developing my own style.

 9. What would you recommend people do who want to seriously get into textile art? 
Set aside time every day to think, plan or do some textile art – listen to the muse and be open to inspiration from or by anything.

'Land Sea Alchemy' 48x40cm (19x16")  $545

Felted wool, rusted silk, Tyvek, silk fibre, knitted wool hand spun by the artist, copper wire, silk saris, organza, synthetics, beads.

 10. What inspires you? 
At the moment my main inspiration is the spirit of central Australia. I first went there in 2007 and was immediately captivated by the landscape and feeling of the country. I can't see a time when I will run out of ideas inspired by this area.

Other inspirations are ideas, feelings, states of being – I have a series of  quilts planned which will explore ideas of hell and purgatory, including feelings of grief and envy. Ideas are usually stimulated by particular colours or groups of colours working together or violently clashing.  I don't make figurative pieces – for me it's all about the colours and the textures.

I keep a notebook with me at all times to capture ideas for pieces – I often pull over to the side of the road as an inspired idea slides through my brain while I'm driving. If you don't write it down it tends to disappear or lose its potency – it needs to be pinned down and fixed in a notebook before the colour and life leaks out. 

 11. What sewing machine / threads etc do you use? 
I have a Janome memory craft 6600 which I just love although I would prefer it if bobbins could be made a whole lot bigger. I get frustrated when I have to stop quilting to change the bobbin, although it's good to have a prompt to stop, get up and stretch.

I use Guterman and  Mettler threads but have most success with Fujix King Star  which I buy from Embroidery Source in Fairfield. I do have a vast collection of hand stitching and embroidery threads – everything from DMC to Caron and lots in between.

 12. Do you have any formal art training? Do you think it's necessary? 
No and no - with the reservation that I would love to be able to draw “properly” and plan on doing a drawing course when I get the time. I feel this is a great gap in my repertoire and my sketchbooks would be much lovelier and less clumsy if I could draw!

Sometimes I think about doing a formal textile art course but am a bit reluctant at the moment – partly due to lack of time and partly not wanting to corral my artistic freedom too much.

'Mandala' 26x40cm (10x16")  $300

Ink and fabric paint dyed velveteen, layered with felted wool and cotton backing. Machine and hand stitched.

For more information on the construction of this piece on Felicity's blog, click here.

 13. What's the most rewarding thing about your career? 
Making something that expresses something inexpressible – I research and write for a living and having a sideline that is artistic allows me to express myself in a completely different way. I have also developed much more courage in giving things a go – I've got over having to be perfect.

 14. How did you learn the techniques you use? 
I learnt a lot online, noodling around on the blogs or using Mr Google to research techniques. Bloggers are amazingly generous with their knowledge and expertise. I like to look at someone's technique and then work out how it fits with the look I want to get – usually a quicker and dirtier version. I don't often get long stretches of time to create, so I tend to work in bursts – assembling, stitching and burning with a heat gun rarely happen on the same day.  I put a lot of time into thinking and planning so when I do get some time to create I can jump straight in.

 I also have a large and growing collection of books – current favorites are Margaret Beal's Fusing Fabric,  Colette Wollf's Manipulating Fabric, India Flint's Eco Colour and Contemporary Whitework by Tracy A Franklin and Nicola Jarvis.

 15. What are your favorite / least favorite parts of the quilting process? 
 I loathe binding, hanging sleeves and labels – the absolute worst part of the process. Luckily I tend not to use binding anymore – my pieces don't need it and look better uncontained. I can't get out of sleeves and labels though :)

My favourite part is the inspiration through to seeing the piece emerge from the chaos of fabric, thread and stuff that is my sewing space. I'm not usually that thrilled by the finished piece at first – I need to put it away and come back to it before I'm happy with it. 


As always please add any comments for Felicity or myself, or general thoughts on the interview in the comments section below. I love to get feedback and want to hear from you if you have any thoughts on what you'd like to see more or less of in future interviews. –Neroli

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