Virginia Greaves
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I have been quilting since 2000. Like many other women before me, the challenges in my life led me to find creative exploration in the needle arts. Very quickly, I realized that I was not the kind of quilter to be content with following someone else’s pattern. I studied technique as much as possible and began developing my own work. I was raised by an oil painter and was invited down the same path but found fiber different enough that it could be mine. Through the progression of years, my work has become more focused on portraits. I find them challenging when portrayed in fabric, both commercial prints and hand dyes, and I delight in finding that little spark in each individual and showing it in my work. Enjoy the gallery of my work. I present it in the hopes of inspiring someone else that needs to find something within themselves.
Small Works
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Lady Oxidation
December 2010 5 x 7 Private Collection Lady Oxidation is based on a model of the face of the State of Liberty. Such a fierce gaze she has.
Altered States of America
May 2010 17 1/4 x 17 1/4 This piece was made for the 2010 Fiber Art Fusion invitational exhibit Motus (Movement). My usual style would not accommodate the theme, so I wracked my brain until I came upon the idea of making an optical illusion. The drop shadow causes an unexpected shift. The eye expects it logically to be one way — and yet it moves — so as the eye attempts to shift from 2d to 3d, it appears that the pieces move. At this angle, the shift is from top to bottom; if the quilt is turned sideways, the shift is from left to right. Fiber Art Fusion: Motus, The Art Place, Marietta, GA September 2010
Eye Know
November 2009 7 x 5 Private Collection I created this as an exchange gift for my Fiber Art Fusion group’s holiday party. I always have a hard time working small but once I chose a familiar subject, it was a much easier project. It has made me question how I approach the eye in my pieces and made me think that I might benefit from making some more eye studies. The eyes are the window into the soul, and if the eye is wrong, the piece won’t capture the model’s personality effectively.
Solomon II
December 2009 7 1/2 x 12
Solomon
November 2008 7 x 5 Private Collection This is a very small portrait of Solomon, a Brittany Spaniel (just like my mom’s), so I have made him in blacks and whites to make it different from my last piece. He is a very old dog — I jokingly refer to him as Methusaleh as he sometimes verges near death and then regains his puppy ways when given what he wants. At this time of year, he spends many hours sleeping in the basement curled up in blankets and he peers out of his cage at you with just this expression of “I’m not going anywhere”when you try to pry him out. This one will go into my Fiber Art Fusion Christmas exchange, and I hope it goes to a happy home.
Early Work
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Ama
March 2006 50 x 50 This is a piece based on a portrait of my great-grandmother Ama. It was her wedding photo. The drawing of the portrait was a UFO as were the pinwheels made from men’s ties. The two seemed to need each other. This is my first human face. I found it very difficult to work with commercial fabrics to get the values and colors that I wanted. This was also a very difficult quilt to photograph. I first tried to photograph it on a sunny day and found that the face was completely washed out. Then I tried on a cloudy day, and surprisingly, it was also too bright. What finally worked was to take it in my studio with the lights off with a flash. Part of the changes to the background of the face were made with the help of Julie Duschack (who by the way does incredible portraits in cloth). She showed me that I could use Photoshop as a design tool, and I have since spent a lot more time learning to use it. The last In Process picture shows a lot of changes made to the quilt in Photoshop including feathers that I…
The Back Door
September 2005 17 x 18 Private Collection This quilt started from the QuiltSwap challenge on the Quiltart internet list. I was very interested in experimenting with fabric paint and applied bronze metallic paint to a plain black fabric using a gorgeous stamp that I had bought without knowing what I would do with it. The heart was created by laying out as many different colors of red fabric that I had in my collection that would fit in that small space. I then added embroidery stitches to hold them together — using red as well as blue to indicate mood changes that spark across the human heart. Then I added it to the background and cut out the door. I loved the leftover pieces so much that I used them on the back, but as I did this, I grew to love the back as much as the front and it become a truly two sided piece. I flame stitched the heart with metallic red thread and added free form feathery shapes around the heart using black thread. I was really intrigued by what the red thread did on the bronze and black — and by what the black thread…
Straight Is the Gate u0026#038; Narrow Is the Way
February 2005 12 x 60 In late 2004, the Quiltart online forum began discussing Fibonacci numbers and using their characteristics for developing the dimensions of a piece that was beyond the ordinay. Olof Davidsdottir issued a challenge to make a quilt in the proportions of 1:5+. Given that the pieces would be long and narrow, she suggested the challenge name “Sraight and Narrow” which gave way to a lot of discussion about the interpretation of those two words. Two members noted biblical passages that made an image begin to form in my mind. The first one is obvious: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24) The other one provided the title for the piece: “straight is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life” ( Matthew 7:14) I also challenged myself to work exclusively from my scraps — which I did except for the embellishments, the camel, and one piece of blue gray just above the camel. My intention was to show the horizon line and indicate as much change in depth as possible through color,…
The Artful Soul
December 2005 I made this piece for my mother for Christmas. She had seen the heart that I made for the 2005 QuiltSwap and wanted me to make her something similar. Since I couldn’t bring myself to make it exactly the same, it only made sense to try and make her heart. It is made from three pieces tied together and is sewn onto Peltex so that it is stiff enough to stand up on its own. The quotation on the back is from Picasso: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” My mother is an oil painter and used her art in the same way that I use mine — in the same way that, I think from his quotation — Picasso used his. The background fabric is black painted with metallic paint using stamps. Sequins, beads, crystals, and metallic threads were also used to give the piece sparkle. The pictures are printed onto fabric using Epson Durabrite inks. They show five generations of women in the matriarchal line of my family.
Sea Dragon
August 2005 25 1/2 x 21 Private Collection This is a sea dragon, a creature that looks like a cross between a seahorse and a piece of seaweed. The inspiration for this piece was a picture I took at the Chattanooga Aquarium. ArtWorks Gallery, May – July 2006
Bell Tower
May 2005 76 x 76 This quilt was inspired by the tile floor in the bell tower of Grace Episcopal Church, Anniston, Alabama. Despite its impression of a beautiful patchwork form, the design presented many challenges to present in cloth. The on point tiles had to be as small as possible to keep the overall size of the quilt manageable, but the intricacy of them mandated their size and led to changes in the outer edges of the quilt. Also, although the majority the quilt is on point, the four corners are not. The trapunto design used to fill these corners was drafted after studying the square celtic crosses presented throughout Grace Church. Pacific International Quilt Festival, October 2005 Quilts at the Falls, October 2005 (Gadsden Quilt Guild) 2nd Place, Traditional-Large ArtWorks Gallery, May – July 2006
Mermaid Tavern
September 2004 18 3/4 x 18 3/4 In 2004, Tomme Fent challenged members of the online quilt forum QuiltArt to exchange gallon ziploc bags of things from their studio and exchange them anonymously within a membership, create original works using these pieces, and then return the piece and the remaining stuff to the original owner of the bag. When I received my bag and laid out all of its contents, my first thought was “mermaid.” There was a wonderfully reflective material, some wispy yarns, and several beautiful shells that someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make holes in. I showed it to my husband without commentary and his first idea was also a mermaid. So that is where she began. I sketched a drawing and made the preliminary background with a great water fabric in the bag and some pieces that I had hand dyed. Then I cut out the main shapes and worked on composition. I added silver foil, ribbon floss, metallic yarn, and thread painting. Fabrics include cotton, silk, lace, Angelina fibers, tulle, and various shiny polyesters. I knew that I wanted a lot of beading and charms so I proceeded with just the top…
Madam
June 2004 46 x 36 1/2 I made this piece after finding a butterfly in my garage. He was lying perfectly still with his wings open and didn’t close them even when I got very close. I took several photographs. I liked the one that made it look like he was inspected through a microscope although I’ve had a couple of people (including a judge) tell me that they wanted to see the entire butterfly. (To each his own.) Soon after I took the pictures, he closed his wings and died. He fell to pieces and was gathered in the wind. I used all fabrics from my stash except one — the black and gold. It was difficult to portray the colors in this particular genus, but I find that if I stand several feet away from the piece when viewing, the effect is similar to the real butterfly. Pacific International Quilt Festival, October 2004 Quilts at the Falls, October 2004 (Gadsden Quilt Guild), 2nd Place, Applique Wall Hanging Artworks Gallery, May – July 2006
Dalmatian Downs
August 2003 40 3/4 x 61 1/4 These are the Dalmatians from my childhood. The design was developed from an old photograph that had been lost for years in an old dresser drawer. Gadsden Quilt Guild: Quilts at the Falls, October 2003 1st Place, Applique Twin/Lap American Quilt Society Quilt Show u0026#038; Contest, April 2004
Childhood
April 2003 52 1/2 x 75 Exploration of machine trapunto feathers and intricate free motion quilting added to the more than 100 hours of quilting in this piece. Quilt Symposium of Alabama, July 2003 Best of Show 1st Place, Pieced Medium Gadsden Quilt Guild: Quilts at the Falls, October 2003 Best of Show 1st Place, Pieced Twin/Lap American Quilt Society Quilt Show u0026#038; Contest, April 2004 Quilt Symposium of Alabama: Best of Show 10th Anniversary Exhibit, June 2011
Blog
Resume
Art Quilts XV: Needleplay, Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler, AZ November 2010 – January 2011 (Duodecim) International Quilt Festival/Houston: A World of Beauty, November 2010 (Rwandan Lady) Fiber Art Fusion: Motus, The Art Place, Marietta, GA September 2010 (Altered States of America, Cracked, We the People) Art Quilts XIV: Significant Stitching, Chandler Center for the Arts, Phoenix, AZ, November/December 2009 (Chameleon; Sweet Dreams) International Quilt Festival/Houston: A World of Beauty, October 2009 (Adelpho, Unconditional) East Cobb Quilt Guild: Georgia Celebrates Quilts, Marietta, GA September 2009 (Shoshanna-Judge’s Recognition, 2nd Place; Sweet Dreams) Fiber Art Fusion: Exploring Dimensions, The Art Place, Marietta, GA September 2009 (The Price of Passage) Sacred Threads, Reynoldsburg, OH, June 2009 (I Am the Vine, You Are the Branches) Fiber Art Fusion: Transformation, The Art Place, Marietta, GA, July/August 2008 (Keeping an Eye on the Garden) International Quilt Festival/Houston: Journal Quilt Exhibition (non-juried), October/November 2007 (Now You See Me) International Quilt Festival/Houston: A World of Beauty, October/November 2007 (Faces in Cloth IV; Faces in Cloth V) Art Quilts XII, Chandler Center for the Arts, Phoenix, AZ, October/November 2007 (Faces in Cloth II) Fargason Center Gallery, Anniston, AL, January/February 2007 (one person show) International Quilt Festival/Houston: A World…
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