by Cindy Grisdela
Irene Roderick
AUSTIN, TEXAS“She’s Lost Control Again” • 56" x 72"Photos^courtesy^ of^ theartistartist profiartist profi le le
i
t all started with a scrap of
yellow fabric.
Trained as a painter, Irene
Roderick took up quilting in 2016
after retiring from her job as an
administrator in the art department
at the University of Texas. She was
intrigued by the idea of making
‘utilitarian paintings’ out of fabric
and began experimenting with
sewing pieces of blue and white
fabric together without a plan. As
she worked, she moved quickly
from design wall to cutting table to
sewing machine to iron and back
again, auditioning design elements
to see how they interacted. It all
came together when she discovered
that scrap of yellow and put it into
the design on the wall. Something
happened to activate the design that
“gave me goosebumps,” she said.
Irene calls her process ‘dancing with
the wall.’