Study of Abstract Art in Fibre
In 2026, Susan will explore true abstract art through textiles, blending art and creativity. Anticipate a sophisticated merging of upcycled fabrics, diverse techniques, and texture.
Title of the Quilt: “Contemplate”
Artist Statement: Navigating life’s complexities with intention requires the cross-examination of our beliefs, motives and choices. Such reflection is rarely serene. It can feel harsh, absorbing, messy and even melancholy. Uncovering inner truths will require resolutely digging through the chaos.
Materials: Predominantly upcycled clothing fabric of unknown fibre content; burlap; organza; cotton and rayon embroidery threads; polyester threads; cotton-bamboo batting. Size: 10 ½” x 16” (27cm x 40.5cm)
Techniques: Fabric manipulation; surface manipulation; layering; couching; applique; machine and hand stitching.
Title of the Quilt: “Love Vs Infatuation”
Artist Statement: Love is often described as steady, grounded, and enduring. Infatuation presents as urgent, uncertain and fleeting. Yet the boundaries between them resist neat definition. Is distinction necessary, or can passion and patience coexist, obscured in layers and joined together with fragile stitches?
Materials: Predominantly upcycled clothing fabric of unknown fibre content, hand dyed cheese cloth, polyester threads, cotton-bamboo batting. Size: 10 ½” x 16” (27cm x 40.5cm)
Techniques: Fabric manipulation, layering, machine and hand stitching.
Title of the Quilt: “Fine, Choice, Aware”
Artist Statement: This work examines the tension between composure and awareness and the quiet pressure beneath what we call ‘fine’. What appears settled may, only be sustained by choice. Familiar fabrics suggest comfort like the worn cotton of a favorite shirt or the whispered elegance of a party dress. When twisted and manipulated a restless resistance is exposed. Softness can conceal as much as it reveals.
Materials: Predominantly upcycled clothing fabric and trims including cotton and rayon blends and other unknown fibres; cotton embroidery thread; polyester thread; cotton/bamboo batting. Size: 10 ½” x 16” (27 cm x 40.5 cm)
Techniques: Raw edge appliqué; fabric manipulation; shirring; hand embroidery; hand and machine quilting; couching.
Title of the Quilt: “In Between”
Artist Statement: In this piece, fibre becomes the language for the muddy season between winter and spring in Saskatchewan. Layering and intentional mark making reflect a landscape in thaw, where traces of last fall recede into the earth. Fractured textures and softened edges mirror the thawing earth and receding ice, while muted pastel shadows allude to the emergence of spring and the return of the sun’s warmth. Beneath the surface, a quiet tension develops as dormant life begins to stir, anticipating renewal.
Materials: Upcycled linen tablecloth that was hand dyed and hand painted; muslin; commercial cotton; hand dyed cheesecloth; water soluble wax pastels; ink pencils; embroidery cotton; polyester threads; cotton batting. Size: 10 ½” x 16” (27 cm x 40.5 cm)
Techniques: Raw edge appliqué; fabric manipulation; hand dyeing; hand painting on fabric; hand embroidery; hand and machine quilting.
Title of the Quilt: “Wait, For The Bugs”
Artist Statement: This piece explores the threshold between dormancy and renewal through fibre, texture, and contrast. Dense, tangled forms are set against smooth, luminous lines, reflecting the layered complexity of a garden in transition. Earth tones and muted golds suggest warmth returning, while the surface holds a sense of quiet containment where unseen life persists, unfolding in its own time, according to a natural rhythm that does not need intervention.
Materials: Predominantly upcycled upholstery fabric and trims of unknown fiber content; upcycled rayon and polyester linings; upcycled crochet doilies; jute; cotton embroidery thread; polyester thread; cotton batting. Size: 10 ½” x 16” (27 cm x 40.5 cm)
Techniques: Raw edge appliqué; fabric manipulation; shirring; hand embroidery; hand and machine quilting; couching.
Title of the Quilt: “The Garden Emerges (Spring Study)”
Artist Statement: A garden in spring has an urgent flamboyance like no other time as sun and rain coax the plants to flourish uncontained. Ordered rows begin with intention yet are quickly unsettled with the exuberant growth. In this piece, collaged and layered fabrics overlayed with stitched lines reveal the tension between structure and freedom allowing what appears delicate to firmly refuse to be formalized. This work reflects my garden’s underlying rhythm and the balance between control and abundance. Even the quietest spaces are in the process of predestined beauty.
Materials: Commercial and hand dyed cottons; hand dyed cheesecloth, decorative paper napkin; embroidery cotton; Perle cotton; muslin; polyester threads; cotton batting. Size: 10 ½” x 16” (27 cm x 40.5 cm)
Techniques: Fabric and cheesecloth dyeing; fabric manipulation and layering; hand dyeing; paper cloth designing; hand embroidery; machine quilting.
Title of the Quilt: “Morning Glory Lakeside (Summer Study)”
Artist Statement:
The sights and sounds of daybreak at a Saskatchewan lake are rendered through the layering of translucent cheesecloth over a composite of hand dyed fabrics. The morning mist drapes the lake creating a tranquil serenade beneath the blue skies as the sun begins its journey across the sky. The breeze carries the calm interrupted occasionally by the mournful wail of a loon. The composition moves between this interruption and calmness reflecting the rhythm of summer.
Materials: Commercial and hand dyed cottons; hand dyed cheesecloth; embroidery cotton; Perle cotton; muslin; polyester threads; cotton batting. Size: 10 ½” x 16” (27 cm x 40.5 cm)
Techniques: Fabric and cheesecloth dyeing; fabric manipulation and layering; hand dyeing; fabric collage; hand embroidery; slow stitching.
Title of the Quilt: “Just Beyond The Valley (Fall Study)”
Artist Statement: Hand dyed fabric in the pigments of autumn form the base of this whole cloth quilt. The earth is bejeweled in fragile leaves that have succumbed to the balance of nature; the sun is hot, the creek is cold, and the breezes are cool. Shadow and brilliance are held together in quiet tension as this piece reinterprets in fibre a poem I wrote two decades ago.
Materials: Hand dyed cotton; embroidery cotton; Perle cotton; muslin; polyester thread; cotton batting. Size: 10 ½” x 16” (27 cm x 40.5 cm)
Techniques: Fabric dyeing; hand embroidery; slow stitching.
Title of the Quilt: “Here Comes The Snow (Winter Study)”
Artist Statement: A fusion of fabric drained of colour twirling amongst fragments of darkness narrates the Saskatchewan winter that drags on for months, with days too short and nights too long. The tension of the howling wind is balanced with the calm of fragile snowflakes sparkling in the bright sunlight. Traces of transferred mark-making emerge within the surface, hinting at time’s passage. In this restrained palette, winter unfolds as a study in nuance; where white expands into fields of shadow, light, and quiet transformation.
Materials: Upcycled linen and satin fabrics and trims of unknown fibre content; tombstone rubbing on cotton; commercial cottons; tea dyed upcycled fabric; silver metallic tulle netting; cotton embroidery thread; polyester thread; cotton batting. Size: 10 ½” x 16” (27 cm x 40.5 cm)
Techniques: Raw edge appliqué; fabric manipulation; hand embroidery; tombstone rubbing with wax; tea dyeing; hand and machine quilting; couching.