May 1 - June 21, 2009  

Patricia Gould: and Jean McLaughlin Cowie are passionate about their medium and the way it can used to express emotion.  For Gould and McLaughlin, contemporary art quilts are an important realm of the art world in that it is a medium which has transcended traditional ideas about fine art versus craft and painting versus sculpture. 

Patricia Gould: With a BA in Fine Arts/Art History, and sewing since the age of eight, it’s no surprise that I chose fiber art as my passion in life. A true fabric addict, many different types of fabrics find their way into my quilts and wearable art and I never met a color I didn’t like. Travel was a very important part of my upbringing and my family visited almost all the National Parks in the US and Canada before I was out of school which gave me a deep appreciation for our precious Mother Earth and her creatures. Since 1993, I have been making landscape art quilts, drawing inspiration from trips to China, East Africa, Russia, Antarctica, and extensive travel throughout North America and Europe.

Jean McLaughlin Cowie has lived most of her life in the west where the bold landscapes and stunning, expansive topographies have heavily influenced her work.  Largely self taught, Jean has perfected the necessary technical skills to construct any design, enabling her to break from more traditional methods to create pieces that are out of the o rdinary. She holds a degree in Apparel Design from Montana State University. Jean began her life-long love of fiber arts in the early seventies, where her early works in traditional quilt patterns emerged as clothing, handbags and household items as well as quilts. Through experimentation with very non-traditional designs, Jean fashioned one-of-a-kind wearable art for many years. The three dimensional quality of clothing challenged her to develop the technical expertise and artistic skill with asymmetry and balance that are signature qualities of her current work.  Jean has returned to the quilt format, as wall art, as it has proven to be the best showcase for her distinctive contemporary fine art.

For more about the artists:  http://www.angelfiredesigns.com/index.html

http://www.paintedrockquiltdesign.com/