Virginia A. Spiegel

Terri Stegmiller

Terri Stegmiller creates colorful, and, at times, pensive, art in a variety of media.  You often find female faces, flowers, and cats in her artwork and you can expect to find some of her fav motifs in her Fiber BONUSES for Foto/Fiber 2012 also. Terri’s artwork has been showcased in many exhibitions and books. She is the author or co-author of four books and offers a wide-ranging variety of tutorials on her website.  Her lively blog is updated almost daily.

1.  How do you find/make time to be in your studio?
My son is grown and living on his own, so that is one big help in me having time for working in the studio.

A detail from one of Terri’s three Fiber BONUSES for Foto/Fiber 2012.

2.  Describe your studio in five words.
Cluttered, too small, sometimes disorganized, full of fabric, my favorite room

A detail from one of Terri’s three Fiber BONUSES for Foto/Fiber 2012.

3.  What would make a “dream studio” for you?
My dream studio would be as big as my house.  I’d have a wide open space with tons and tons of table top work space, tons and tons of organized storage space, and tons and tons of design wall space.

4. Any unique features/studio pets you would like to share?

I have two house cats, but one (Abby) is always much more interested in what I’m doing in the studio and she likes getting involved (snooping and playing) and laying on top of my projects.  Abby is a good helper.  She loves to steal my sewing machine chair as soon as I stand up.

5.  Any exhibits or projects we should know about?

I am a member of a wonderful and talented group–Twelve by Twelve – The International Art Quilt Challenge.  We published a book in 2011 and our challenge quilts have been exhibiting worldwide.  (Note from V. – I reviewed their 12×12 book here.)

  A detail from one of Terri’s three Fiber BONUSES for Foto/Fiber 2012.

***Share the news about Foto/Fiber 2012, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, and be entered to win a copy of Cate Prato’s, Inside the Creative Studio OR one of these great prizes from Fiber on a Whim: A $25 gift certificate OR a pack each of TAP and ExtravOrganza.

“Twelve by Twelve:  The International Art Quilt Challenge” is officially available March 1 in bookstores, but it already available online here at a very good price.

Two word summary of this review:  Buy it.

I have had the book here awhile, thanks to Lark sending a preview copy, but it has taken this long to work my way through it.  That’s a good thing!  Twelve artists from around the world challenged each other every other month to create a 12×12” art quilt with a theme chosen by one of the members of the group.

Sure the whole group challenge thing has been done before, but what makes this group and their art stand out is the joy and camaraderie revealed in this book.  Each chapter features one of the twelve artworks almost full-page sized and the artist of that artwork writes the chapter.  Running along the bottom half of each page of the chapter is one of the other artworks with a short artist statement.

Either (or maybe I should say either/or) these are twelve of the best artist/writers around or they had a superlative editor in Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader.  Each chapter is unique, personal, useful, engaging, and just down right interesting. I kept being distracted by the other artworks on the bottom half of the pages until I finally worked out a system.

First I went to the back of the book and read all the artists’ biographies.  Then I read all twelve small sidebars listed in the back. The sidebars are full of useful stuff such as Demystifying the Thermofax, On Sketchbook and Journals, and Twelve Reasons to Blog.

THEN I looked at and read about all twelve art quilts for each theme and THEN finally I read the chapter by the one featured artist straight through.  That’s why I gave such a hearty thumbs-up to this book; it’s just full of interesting information and insight.

The chapter written by each featured artist clearly points out both the why and how of working in many different styles.  Some artists looked to traditional patterns, some researched word associations, and some looked to contemporary and historical issues related to the theme for inspiration.  Each chapter points out the richness and detail of the featured artwork that might have escaped our first perusal.

At first glance you might think some of the artwork is a bit traditional to be called art quilts. But it is so disarming to read the artists’ own critiques of their artworks and to see how artists progressed throughout the challenges.  I think Terri Stegmiller said it best, “A major benefit I have gained … is the drive to try and push myself beyond my normal limitations.”

I hear again and again that people just want how-to books.  I beg to differ.  I think many readers delight in insights about how fiber artists work, what their studios look like, how they came to be artists, and their joys and challenges in life and in the studio.  I felt as though I came to know each of these artists through their sharing this two-year-long online collaboration.

Visit the Twelve by Twelve artists’ group website here and their blog here for more information about the group and the twelve artists that include Deborah Boschert, Gerrie Congdon, Helen L. Conway, Kirsten Duncan, Terry Grant, Diane Perin Hock (founder of the group), Francoise Jamart, Kristin La Flamme, Karen Rips, Brenda Gael Smith, Terri Stegmiller, and Nikki Wheeler.

Logo by Jeanelle McCall

Stop by tomorrow for the link to the preview of ToteTuesday 3 featuring 13 themed totes and 3 individual artworks.

We have a very strong line-up of fiber-related themed totes including:

3 Creative Studios tote sponsored by Peggy Schoder.  Includes donations from all the artists (Sue Bleiweiss, Terri Stegmiller, and Vicki Welsh).  Sue Bleiweiss is donating this beautiful custom journal.

Altered Cloth: Gingko Leaves tote sponsored by Sue Kelley.  The tote itself (detail shown above) was made by Sue and features hand-dyed fabrics, extensive stitching and beautiful gingko leaves details.

And for some funky fun, this Knitting Toys tote sponsored by Lynn Krawczyk.

Karey Bresenhan and the International Quilt Festival team have donated a total of five totes.  Karey is the Honorary Chairperson of Fiberart For A Cause.  Read more about her totes here.  Three totes, including The Earth Laughs in Flowers tote and contents shown above, will be up for bid on February 16.

Stop by here tomorrow for the link for a full preveiw of all the totes and artwork.  100% is donated directly to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause. Our goal is $12,000.

The Daydream
Terri Stegmiller
10×8″ 

Terri Stegmiller is a prolific artist and writer known for her striking female faces on fabric. 

The Daydream was created with collaged fabric and lace pieces, quilted and painted to create a cohesive background.  Free-motion stitching forms the face with acrylics adding shadow and highlights.  Silk fabric was used for the flowers and leaves, which are supported by stitched stems.  The outer edges are zigzag stitched with novelty yarn added for extra texture. 

Terri is the author of Creative Paper Quilts – Applique, Embellishment, Patchwork, Piecework and the co-author, with Sue Bleiweiss, of Creative Ways with Fibre & Stitch.

It’s never too early to send your Collage Mania jpegs to Karen(at)KarenStiehlOsborn.  Your artwork appears on the Collage Mania pages in more or less the order in which it is received.  Karen is already up to page 6.

All the details are in the Call for Artists.

Collage Mania is May 5 -7 with a goal of raising $20,000 for the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause.