If you love piecing or want to sharpen your piecing skills you will enjoy this workshop…no fusing here! This is a new and different way to interpret a photograph into a beautiful quilt.
Material Matrix is a technique I developed and was originally inspired by the work of painter Chuck Close. I have always loved piecing, as opposed to raw edge appliqué, especially as it applies to interpreting a photograph. My first attempt at this technique was an 80” by 80” self portrait, and I have been creating quilts in this technique ever since. There is a quality of puzzle-solving to this technique, which I find exciting and challenging, in a good way.
Students will be making this image of an Eastern Bluebird, named “Blue Boy”, and will select fabrics from the color photo I include with the supply list. The supply list is easy to assemble. The important thing in selecting fabric is variety to create a stunning portrait of the bird. In the workshop I will supply you with a color photo of the image with a grid applied to it, and you will use this to create 2-inch finished squares, some comprised of several pieces. You will learn to “see” in a whole different way. If you love piecing, or want to improve your piecing skills this will be a beneficial workshop. The finished size of this project is 26” by 30”.
The first couple of days will involve getting used to the tool I will supply you with, and getting the gist of the technique. As you become more comfortable with it, the completed sections of your image will begin to grow. I am a hands-on teacher, and will be doing demonstrations all along the way. I will help you create the eye and highlight for it, at which time your bird will really come to life. At the end of our session we will sit together and I will show samples of my quilts, talk about finishing your piece, and going on to grid your own photo in the Material Matrix technique.
There is a $5 class fee for handouts and the tool I supply.
Topics covered in the workshop include (but are not limited to):
~Easy curved piecing
~Composition, value and color
~What makes a good photo for this technique
~How to grid your own photo
~Using fabric paint for details
~Using Perfect Circles
~How to make a matched binding
Supply List
About Sandra Bruce
Being a commercial illustrator and letterer for 25 years and her love for sewing has squarely placed Sandra in the perfect position to become an art quilter. Having always sewn her clothes from an early age, she then became a quilter as an adult. Sandra started as a traditional quilter but quickly segued into art quilting, in part thanks to her friendship with neighbor Therese May, known for making art quilts beginning in the 1960’s.
Making her Self Portrait in the technique she created called “Material Matrix” in 2012 was the beginning of the journey, which she continues to this day. Inspired by the painter Chuck Close, and prompted by a challenge in an art quilt group she belonged to, Sandra created an 80” by 80” quilt of her face. She used a wide variety of fabrics, piecing 2” squares to create the image, including piecing within some of the squares. She then longarm quilted it, injecting quilted words about herself into the background thereby making it a true self portrait. She has taught this workshop nationally and internationally, enjoying the richness that travel and meeting new people brings.
Her favorite subject is people, portraits in particular, which brings many skills into play in order to reproduce a likeness that is compelling to view. When not teaching or working on her own quilts, Sandra longarm quilts for a short list of clients, using her free-motion skills. She loves traveling, making wearable art clothing, creating polymer clay jewelry and playing pickleball.
Rates & Enrollment
Day Student Tuition: $1,095.00
Full 5-Day Package*: $2,948.28 (double occupancy pp) or $3,162.12 (single occupancy)
*5-Day Workshop Package includes: Tuition for 5 full class days, 6 nights of dinner, lodging, breakfast, daily cookie and fruit breaks, unlimited coffee and tea, and welcoming wine and cheese reception. Your choice between a room to yourself (single occupancy) or bring a friend and split a room (double occupancy).
Get more information about your options to enroll here.