Carolyn began making things
as a child, learning to sew when
she was young. She continued
her interest in art, art history, and
sewing through college and after
marriage and starting a family. She
sewed everything from draperies to
pajamas, learning to tailor coats and
suits.
She was working as a writer and
editor at a California university
when art quilting icon Jean Ray
Laury came to prominence. Laury’s
advancement of quilts from beds to
museum walls intrigued Carolyn
and infl uenced her to take up
quilting. From editor to quilter
wasn’t a big leap.
“In producing publications, I
was as much interested in photos
and design as I was in punctuation
and grammar. I’m a detail person,
and my work required critical
thinking, which is a big part of
quilting,” she says.
Carolyn began exploring
quilting and other art media—
and never stopped. Describing
herself as a “workshop junkie,”
she says that not having to make
a living from her art has given her
“the freedom to play any way I
pleased” rather than worry about
cultivating a signature style. But
while her body of work at fi rst may
not look cohesive, there are some
through lines: color, playfulness,
storytelling, and a balance of
composition and spontaneity.
Carolyn is inspired by the
workshops she takes with
internationally famous artists, art
shows, Studio Art Quilt Associates
(SAQA) challenges and events,
her travels, and more. In the
last few years, she has traveled
to France and Norway, and was
especially infl uenced by the sights
that connected to her Norwegian
heritage, like the Sámi people and
the midnight sun.
“I came home full of ideas,” she
says.
News events also move Carolyn
to create. The 2017 mass shooting
in Las Vegas during a music festival
left her wondering “how to work
this out in my mind without going
nuts.” She took a washed canvas
she’d bought at a hardware store,
grabbed a bunch of pens, and
began writing down the words
of journalists and commentators
speaking about the tragedy, like
‘carnage,’ ‘second amendment,’ and
‘triage.’ She also quoted from the
stories about victims, such as, “He
was walking toward the stage tohear his favorite song.” Working
on this quilt helped her process the
tragedy, she says.
Image technology also
inspires Carolyn. Her passion for
photography led her to work with
Polaroid transfers, serigraphs,
and fused images on clothing,
in the past. She has long been
‘friends’ with Photoshop, and more
recently she’s developed a creative
relationship with the iPad.
“The iPad has had a lot to do
with my recent successful quilts,”
Carolyn says. She uploads images
to the device digitally and then tries
different apps and algorithms until
she fi nds a combination she likes,
often serendipitously. “Wild, Wild
Plum,” for example, emerged from a
photo of a golden pear.“Ignition” (2010) • 15" x 15"
This quilt features one of Carolyn’s own hand-dyed shibori fabrics. She believes shibori
dyeing is one of the most exciting techniques to come along since she started quilting.